[우리문화신문=유용우 한의사] A cold is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract, including the nose and throat, and is one of the most common acute illnesses in humans. Symptoms such as sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, sore throat, cough, low-grade fever, headache and muscle pain appear, but usually heal on their own without special treatment.
Viruses that cause colds are always around us, but they are not easily expressed thanks to the body’s immune function. Then, the infection appears in areas where the immune system is weak or the defense is weak. It usually appears as a runny nose cough cold through the respiratory tract, a body cold with chills and fever through the skin, chills due to infection through the urinary tract, and a cold that reveals pain when urinating.
1. Our body has an impeccable defense system, but
Humans are in constant activity to maintain their existence. Inside, it develops to maintain its own life activity, and outside, it constantly communicates, defends, absorbs, and emits. Human activities to protect and develop oneself when interacting with the outside can be called breathing, digestion, and immunity. These human activities have completed adaptation to nature over countless years, and progress is still being made in the direction of development.
In oriental medicine, under the premise that “a human being is a microcosm,” it sees that the truth and rules of the universe exist in one’s body, and human beings themselves mean perfection. If my body is intact, it means that I can cope enough even if a virus invades from outside.
In other words, human beings were born so that sufficient defense can be achieved in the skin as a channel for communication with the outside. It is said that it was born so that sufficient buffering, defense, and immunity are achieved in the respiratory passage, and faithful digestion and immunity are achieved in the digestive mucosa. Even if an intrusion is allowed due to a temporary burden, it is possible to eventually defeat the intrusion and lead a normal life because there is a built-in defense system that can solve it. Without this defense system, humans would not be able to endure even a single moment due to the invasion of countless viruses and bacteria wandering in nature, and survival itself would be difficult, and the current survival itself proves that there is such a complete system.
However, being infected with a virus can be seen as a virus that is strong enough to disable my defense system, or a situation in which my body’s defenses do not work.
The situation in which humans exist while communicating with the outside world is a process of constant warfare and can be said to be an uninterrupted back-and-forth. Humans survive by winning most of these battles. And even if he loses, he overcomes with a way to solve it. They only need help when they are old, overworked, or critically injured and have become insurmountable circumstances.
And in normal conditions in everyday life, most have the ability to defend against the invasion of all bacteria and viruses, but infection occurs when the defense is lowered in a specific situation. This deterioration in defense occurs when the overall condition deteriorates and becomes helpless. Infection occurs through weak gaps formed by the absence of partial defenses. These gaps are caused by the external environment or by internal circumstances.
2, catch a cold when external environmental factors create a gap
It is believed that the cause of a cold is caused by an external factor that invades the body, which is expressed as extrinsic or pungsa in oriental medicine. In fact, more than 200 different viruses cause the common cold. Among them, 30-50% are rhinoviruses and 10-15% are coronaviruses. The pandemic situation of Corona 19 over the past 3 years can also be called a cold caused by a corona mutant virus.
Adults catch a cold 2 to 4 times a year, and children 6 to 10 times a year. The cold virus enters through a person’s nose or throat and causes infection. When secretions from the nose and mouth of a patient with a cold virus come out through sneezing or coughing, the cold virus in it is present in the air and spreads by touching the mouth or nose of a healthy person. Therefore, the cold virus spreads easily if there are cold patients in close proximity or in crowded places.
In addition to this respiratory infection route, you can also become infected with the cold virus when you touch a towel stained with respiratory secretions from a cold patient and then rub your eyes, nose, or mouth with that hand. You catch a cold more easily in the fall and winter when you spend more time indoors, and in regions without winter, you catch a cold more easily during the rainy season. The flu may have some symptoms similar to the common cold, but it is caused by a different virus and has different symptoms, complications, and treatment.
① Wind causes cell temperature to drop, creating temporary defenselessness
It is understood that catching a cold in oriental medicine is an invasion of wind evil, and various prescriptions are suggested to solve it. When I was studying at an oriental medicine college, I remembered that as a way to understand this, I solved the Chinese character for wind and understood that the bugs hidden in the wind were viruses and that they infect them. However, at some point, I came to see the wind as the wind itself.
When the wind comes in contact with our body, it blows away the body temperature of the skin and gives coolness. However, strong and continuous wind extremely lowers the temperature of skin cells, leading to a state of paralysis in which cells stop. At this moment, all cell functions are temporarily paralyzed and defenseless against external invasion. Soon, if exposed to excessive wind or constant wind, it becomes a situation where it is easy to catch a cold.
② The cold frequently creates gaps
People know that the rough image of a cold is that when the weather gets cold, the body can’t overcome it and catches it. In fact, the cold of winter shrinks the body, slowing down our body movements and making us vulnerable to change. Soon, there is no problem when I feel cold and feel comfortable and natural, but when I feel cold and the cold penetrates the body, the capillaries around the skin and mucous membranes in contact with the outside contract, and blood circulation stagnation occurs, leading to deterioration of skin function. allow gaps along
In the midst of this, the general cold is well overcome by one’s conscious and unconscious defenses, but the wind that penetrates the gaps of carelessness and the wind that I do not recognize disturbs the defense and allows intrusion. Soon, short-lived changes such as going to the bathroom from a warm bedroom, sleeping while sleeping, and behaving after taking a shower become bigger loopholes than strong winds.
3. Internal causes catch a cold while allowing gaps
In general, it is said that the most commonly accepted cause of a cold is a decrease in immunity. Soon, our body has developed lymphatics that can defend the human body from the outside when breathing in the nose, respiratory tract, and lungs. In particular, there is a huge lymph node called ‘Baldair tonsil’, and a cold comes easily when the immune function of these lymph nodes is lowered. In particular, when breathing through the mouth, the temperature of the tonsils is lowered and the immunity is rapidly lowered, so cold symptoms come easily and the symptoms become severe.
Next, there may be a decrease in basal body temperature regulation. Basically, the activity of our body depends on temperature. In other words, the metabolism of cells depends on the temperature, and the activity of white blood cells, which can be said to be immunity, also depends on the temperature. Therefore, when the cell temperature decreases by about 1 ° C, the immunity decreases by about 30%.
In particular, the skin and externally exposed mucous membranes, which are responsible for the defense function of the human body, are responsible for the defense function while coping with changes in temperature and humidity in a moist state. It should be kept hydrated and hydrated. However, if the moisture of the mucous membrane is not maintained due to inability to actively adjust to temperature changes or poor control of humidity, the defense is rapidly lowered, making it easy to catch a cold.
① Allow gaps when food is stale
The most common situation in which both adults and children catch a cold is when they are exposed to cold air, and the following most commonly occur when they feel sick after overeating or eating unhealthy food.
The mucous membrane of our body is an active organization that communicates with the outside along with the skin. These mucous membranes have one characteristic, which is that they function actively when they are relaxed. Therefore, when in a relaxed state, pleasant, comfortable, and burden-free state, the function is active, the efficiency of breathing is high, and the digestive power is also active, so you eat well and digest well.
However, when the digestive function is reduced due to tension, if you forcefully eat or overeat even in an active state, the digestive mucous membrane receives an excessive burden, resulting in light starvation or severe indigestion. The state of stagnation refers to a state in which movement of the digestive tract has stopped, and blood circulation in the digestive tract mucosa is stagnant. This flow stagnation affects the entire mucosal circulation, and even the respiratory mucosa deteriorates, making it vulnerable to defending against viruses entering during respiration.
For this reason, the easiest situation to catch a cold is when you eat cold rice (gimbap) while traveling and your body is tense because it is cold. At this time, it becomes a situation where it is easy to catch a cold together.
② Extreme tension and relaxation allow gaps
Our body goes back smoothly while maintaining balance in the repetition of appropriate tension and relaxation, activity and rest. However, if excessive tension continues, it will break down at some point, and if relaxation continues, it will stretch and lose its rhythm, and the physiological function will be disturbed. In particular, children who are timid or easily nervous are prone to this tendency, and are easily caught a cold by allowing gaps at the moment when they hate everything and are bothered by it.
In addition to the tension and relaxation of external factors, this situation also affects rapid emotional ups and downs. The most representative situation is a situation in which the energy flows backward in a situation in which the person is upset because of unfairness, and then the pulse is released, and the situation in which the energy is disturbed due to an explosion of irritation. At this moment, our body is in a defenseless state without the power to defend itself, and if the virus enters at this time, it becomes infected as it is.
③ If you can’t sleep properly, allow a break
If we divide our body into two divisions, we are active during the day by consuming and damaging the body, and maintain our existence through the act of recovering and regenerating during sleep. Therefore, if you do not fully recover the burden of the day through full sleep, the burden that is consumed and damaged gradually accumulates, and at some point you face bankruptcy.
There are many standards for sound sleep, but the final conclusion is how you wake up in the morning. If you wake up lightly in the morning, you are ready for the next activity through sufficient rest and recovery while you are sleeping. do.
In addition, there are various situations in life where immunity is lowered, externally a situation in which the daily temperature difference is large, and internally a state in which energy is consumed due to overwork, etc. It is easy to catch a cold when you allow a gap for the virus to enter.
