Preventing colds

[Hatori]

In repsonse to DocBrowns comment about cold climate etc, I do it regardless of weather and in fact Vladimir Vasiliev used to do it in 3 feet of snow when he lived in Siberia so I don't think climate matters however as with most things, consultyour doctor or physician beforehand.

[disgruntled]

you could always use a bath tub/shower (i am assuming) so long as the temperture of the water is cold enough.

as far as hypothermea (sp?) goes, it is not as easy to die from as most people believe. first off, a good canadian boy like you must have heard of the polar bears.... no not the animal, i understand that our physiology is very different ...... i mean the crazy people that jump in ice cold water in the winter.

i also once saw on the discovery channel a thing on how to survive if you fall through the ice and they said that you could actually last a long time without dying from hypothermia, most people don't die from that, they drownd (sp?). they keep trying to get up, but the ice breaks away until they run out of energy, sink, and die. they explained the special way to get out of the water without breaking the ice, but they said that if you are running out of energy you are best off just to wait for someone to find you. and there have been cases of people that did that and just hung onto the edge of the ice so long that they actually froze to the edge of the ice......

[reviewer]

Hatori, that is interesting. Do you have any links to a scientific study that supports this method? I would be interested to hear about the mechanics.

[sirdarksol]

Originally Posted by Hatori

As a practitioner of Systema I employ several Russian Health methods that have been passed down from Vladimir Vasiliev. The main one is the water training. I pour a bucket of cold water over my head every morning and every night. When you body reacts to the cold water, it increases your core temperature very rapidy to almost fever levels. This burst of heat within the body kills any viruses including dormant ones.Your temperature then returns to normal. By following this routine, I have successfulyy avoided a single cold since starting this training. Now we are entering the interesting stage as we are almost in winter and you can imagine the looks I get from my neighbours as they watch me standing outside in the dark, semi-clothed pouring a lrage bucket of water over my head!

Ok, I've been thinking about this and researching before I post this reply.
This post is not a statement that the above practice doesn't work, just that the reason claimed is incorrect.

The following temperatures are all in Fahrenheit, because that's what I've learned them as, and that's what my sources reference.

First of all, viruses are hardy little buggers. When I said that they prefer cool, dry areas, this didn't mean that a warm or wet area would outright kill them. Rather, it merely gives the body a little jump in beating them. The body will take every advantage it can get, however, and add all of them together in an attempt to beat an infection. However, it takes temperatures reaching 150 degrees to instantly damage the genetic structure of the virus enough to kill it.
In cases of lower temperatures, it takes hours at a temperature of 120 degrees to kill sufficient numbers of a virus in order to head off an infection.

Human core temperature usually hovers around 98.6 degrees. This goes up as the hypothalemus responds to an infection in the body. As I said, the heat helps the body fight the infection. Perhaps it is better to say that it hinders the replication of the virus.
There are infections/substances that can cause a fever to go out of control, up to 107 degrees and beyond, and anything beyond 107.6 is considered a medical emergency, because the proteins in the body begin to unfold, which makes them relatively unusable to the cells, and a person will begin dying.
One can also trick one's body into developing a fever. The method described above seems to be a way to do so. However, these techniques are temporary, and the body will very quickly realize the trick and work to correct it. A healthy human body under relatively moderate conditions can very rapidly restore a temperature of 98.6 through a variety of methods.
Further, this trick of body temperature will only work with part of the body. When the temperature outside of the body lowers rapidly, the body constricts the blood vessels on the outer shell of the body, preserving as much body heat for the core as possible. Viruses don't just live in the core, they live everywhere in the body, which means that even though the production of the ones in the core of the body is hindered, the ones in the outer shell are doing just fine (and may even be reproducing faster).

So, remembering that it takes hours at a temperature of 120 degrees in order to kill a virus, and that the body will quickly recover from a shift in temperature caused by this trick, it is very unlikely that this technique will be killing any cold viruses directly.

If there is anything to this, it likely has more to do with some sort of stimulation of the immune system.

Another thing to note (that has nothing to do with the above system) is that standard antibacterial lotion does nothing to kill viruses, only bacteria. The mechanical act of handwashing does, however, dislodge the viruses, washing them down the drain. Thus, soap, lather, and rinse is the only part of the act that will actually do anything to get cold viruses off your hands.

[Shirindo]

Originally Posted by Hatori

As a practitioner of Systema I employ several Russian Health methods that have been passed down from Vladimir Vasiliev. The main one is the water training. I pour a bucket of cold water over my head every morning and every night. When you body reacts to the cold water, it increases your core temperature very rapidy to almost fever levels. This burst of heat within the body kills any viruses including dormant ones.Your temperature then returns to normal. By following this routine, I have successfulyy avoided a single cold since starting this training. Now we are entering the interesting stage as we are almost in winter and you can imagine the looks I get from my neighbours as they watch me standing outside in the dark, semi-clothed pouring a lrage bucket of water over my head!

All I can say is.......

[reviewer]

sirdarksol, thanks for your post. It summarized what I was thinking. I don't mean to demean or deny anyone's claims, but, from the standpoint of medicine and science, I didn't understand how it could possibly work, either.

[sirdarksol]

Originally Posted by reviewer

sirdarksol, thanks for your post. It summarized what I was thinking. I don't mean to demean or deny anyone's claims, but, from the standpoint of medicine and science, I didn't understand how it could possibly work, either.

I want to clarify that I am not saying that it doesn't work. I am merely saying that the reason given isn't scientifically valid. There is stuff that works that we (humanity) don't understand. I am not a "seeing is believing" person, but I also will not ignore science.

[nangel78]

I just got a cold and yes I do wash my hands frequently along with exercise. I have been drinking green tea, taking meds, and getting plenty of rest.

[disgruntled]

i think the rest is really the key. nangel, do you notice a big difference when you drink green tea? or is more just a way to drink plenty of fluids?