Health Notes

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 3, 21 June 1944, Page 2

Health Notes

By H. K. & D. W. Adamson, (Osteopaths).

It has been stated in official quarters in England that the common cold is responsible for more absenteeism in industry than any other cause. This is not surprising when one considers that the average person succumbs to a severe cold at least once per year. That is, a cold that is sufficiently severe to keep him in bed for two or three weeks at a time. Of course, many people get away with nothing more than a minor cold or two annually, and some may even escape it altogether, but. an amazingly large proportion of our people suffer several colds annually, and some may be of sufficient severity to prostrate them for several weeks at a time. Now, if one were to believe the advertisements one reads there is an endless number of cures for colds. Indeed, many people pin their faith on this or that remedy, which is easy enough to understand, because, as every cold usually runs a comparatively short course, it is natural enough for the sufferer to give the credit of "cure" to the remedy h«uses. Nevertheless, the scientists do not rate these cold "cures" very highly. In fact, about eighteen wionths ago an intensive investigation into the cause and cure of the common cold by a group of English Hcientsts made the somewhat startling discovery that all such remedies 1 or abortive treatments were utterly useless us- such and furthermore, that the various vacines administered to develop immunity, were equally as worthless. True, these findings merely substantiated the views previously held by many prominent specialists, one of whom in particular expressed himself thus: "If all the cold remedies were suddenly taken away from sufferers, it would not make an iota of difference to the progress of a single cold." Such being the case, just what are you doing for your present cold? Remember, you have the choice of two alternatives. Firstly you can do everything for it that medical science has, at present, to offer in.the way of remedies, vaccines, sprays, etc., in the hope that the scientists are wrong. Secondly, you can do nothing at all about it with the knowledge backed up by scientific research that you will be no worse off. However, here is something you can do with a full guarantee that it will lessen the severity as well as shorten the duration of any cold—fast. Yes, just fast. Abstain from all solid food for a duration of from three to five days, but drink copious amounts of hot water, plus citrus fruit juice, if obtainable, instead. Forget all about the old grandmother myth about feeding a cold and starving a fever. Its both nonsensical and contradictory, because actually, a cold is a fever, a local fever in which local congestion inflammation and fever are characteristic features, and why it is called g a "cold" is a mystery. A cold is !| more than an indication of one's j general physical well-being than a disease in itself, and that is why it so quickly responds to treatment which aims to eliminate accumulations of bodily impurities from the system and for which p'urpose the short fast and hot water have no equal.