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If you feel you have good immunity to common viruses, etc, to what do you give credit?  Genes?  Diet?  Exercise?  Something you take?  Something you do?

 

This is 100% your personal thoughts.  You need no data nor science backing nor does anyone need to refute "whatever" for someone else (if nothing else, because the placebo effect is often validated). I'm merely curious - spurred from a local conversation, of course.

 

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We miss most colds, all flu, and rarely get anything intestinal and I often give credit to our living on a farm and being exposed to oodles of things over the years from critter feces to pollen. We also don't keep a pristine house (though it's also not a Hoarders candidate).  If you happen to find cleaners around (except toilet, dish, and laundry detergent), it's likely to have expired.  Dust is common.  I like spiders.  I think our bodies need to build up a good immune system.

 

Secondary credit is given to our more laid back lifestyle, reasonably decent diet, and usually getting 7-8 hours of sleep nightly or as a combo of overnight and nap.

 

My kids have caught more going away to college - leaving the farm and the less hectic life.

 

I can't give credit to genetics.  My parents catch pretty much anything, as does my sister.  They all live separately.

 

If we do feel a cold coming on we turn to Cold Eeze zinc lozenges.  For us, they work roughly 80+% of the time (or there's that placebo effect again), but we average one cold (or less) per year I think, and that will only last a day or two.

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I credit isolation and number of people I'm exposed to. That's been the biggest variable in my life. When I don't have small children and lots of activities I never get sick. Add small children and children's activities and voila! Viruses.

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Food for thought:  it's possible that, in certain cases, a troubled immune system may not react to a new germ as vigorously (cold symptoms) as for a more healthy immune system.

 

More generally, when I think about the health of the immune system, I also think about the enormous complexities of (1) genetics relating to methylation and to liver processing, (2) the individual's microbiome in the gut.

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Getting enough sleep on a regular basis, and careful handwashing if I am in contact with people/shopping/traveling.

 

I eat well and exercise, but I notice that I am more prone to infections if I don't get enough sleep. And I have to deal with hundreds of people who live in cramped quarters, so I wash hands very frequently in flu season after contact with people and rarely get sick.

 

We never had any digestive issues, even though we are not very finicky about foods and rather lax in the kitchen; we hike and climb and are frequently dirty. I think regular exposure to germs strengthened our immune systems

Edited by regentrude
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For me, diet has had a profound impact.  

 

I had a pretty typical experience with illnesses when I was growing up:  nothing too severe, but not particularly immune either.  I became a vegetarian in my late teens, and for the first year or so it was fine.  But after that, I started getting sick more and more often.  It got to the point where my immune system was so weak that as soon as I'd get over a cold, I'd get food poisoning.  And as soon as I'd get over that, I'd get bronchitis.  It was just one thing after another, so constantly that I had to finally face the fact that the diet I thought was so healthy really wasn't.  

 

So I started eating meat again, and it definitely got much better (especially the food poisoning - years of vegetarianism had reduced my stomach acid to the point where it couldn't fight off anything, so eating meat again made that one better right away).  But I never fully recovered, and to this day, a simple cold affects me MUCH worse than it does most people.

 

When I tried a diet kind of at the opposite end of the spectrum from vegetarianism/veganism, super low-carb ketogenic, it was like a miracle.  Suddenly, colds were minor nuisances for three days instead of knock-me-on-my-butt ordeals lasting a week to ten days.  And those colds did NOT lead to secondary infections like sinus infections and pneumonia like they had before.  I could be near a sick person, and maybe possibly not get sick - a miracle I tell you!  :D

 

Unfortunately, I had to go off of the ketogenic diet for unrelated reasons (for me, ketogenic diet plus perimenopause turned out to be a BAD combination!) so now I'm back to being sick for a week or more with every stupid cold, and at greater risk for secondary infections.  I still avoid sugar, so that helps somewhat.  And I'm a bit of a hermit, which helps even more.  I get the flu vaccine every year, I take vitamin D, I wash my hands like crazy, and I avoid sick people to the extent that I am able.  That's the best I can do.

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I was raised in a big family, I've been getting the flu shot for 20 years. I'm pretty good with hand washing but not obsessed with it. We spend a lot of time outdoors. I avoid anti bacterial soaps, avoid hand sanitizer except in a pinch, I don't take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. I try to avoid commercial chicken and pork. We have had indoor dogs or cats for most of my life. I don't think any one of those by itself keeps me healthy, but they all help.

 

We eat relatively healthy and I can definitely tell when I haven't been eating as well. I got strep about a month ago. I hadn't been eating well, I hadn't been exercising, and I hadn't been sleeping well. This past year I haven't been as healthy as usual and I see a correlation to sleep and diet.

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If you feel you have good immunity to common viruses, etc, to what do you give credit?  Genes?  Diet?  Exercise?  Something you take?  Something you do?

 

This is 100% your personal thoughts.  You need no data nor science backing nor does anyone need to refute "whatever" for someone else (if nothing else, because the placebo effect is often validated). I'm merely curious - spurred from a local conversation, of course.

 

---------------------

 

We miss most colds, all flu, and rarely get anything intestinal and I often give credit to our living on a farm and being exposed to oodles of things over the years from critter feces to pollen. We also don't keep a pristine house (though it's also not a Hoarders candidate).  If you happen to find cleaners around (except toilet, dish, and laundry detergent), it's likely to have expired.  Dust is common.  I like spiders.  I think our bodies need to build up a good immune system.

 

Secondary credit is given to our more laid back lifestyle, reasonably decent diet, and usually getting 7-8 hours of sleep nightly or as a combo of overnight and nap.

 

My kids have caught more going away to college - leaving the farm and the less hectic life.

 

I can't give credit to genetics.  My parents catch pretty much anything, as does my sister.  They all live separately.

 

If we do feel a cold coming on we turn to Cold Eeze zinc lozenges.  For us, they work roughly 80+% of the time (or there's that placebo effect again), but we average one cold (or less) per year I think, and that will only last a day or two.

 

I've noticed a huge difference when I began to use probiotics.  I also use colloidal silver spray and increase vitamin C if I feel I am fighting something.  We do try to eat organic.  We never do flu shots.  The only year my husband ever got ill was the year they were doing flu shots in his office, and a bunch of people got ill, for whatever reason. 

 

Other than that, I've always been pretty healthy, so I'm going to hope I have the good genes.   A friend and I both got Swine flu before it ever hit the mainstream media.  She went to the ER and I didn't.  But that could be accounted for by various standards of what is ER worthy.  Who knows? 

 

Edited by TranquilMind
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I spent several years working in the Emergency Room.  The first year, I was sick all.the.time.  Constantly.  (Keep in mind I'd already worked in hospitals for several years prior to this.  The ER is a germ fest like no other.)  After the first year, I rarely caught anything.  Between having little kids who go to preschool and hanging out with the sick people in our community, I think I've built up an immunity to most of the common viruses and, to this day, rarely catch what's going around.  

 

 

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Farm living.

 

Raw milk.

 

No toddlers and babies in the house.

 

The ability to hunker down when someone gets sick rather than dragging the kids out to school and parents to work before we're completely healthy.

 

Sleep.

 

I don't get great sleep but my kids do. I don't know how in the world kids manage these days on the sleep that they get. My kids need at least nine-ten hours and most kids I know in school don't get that much.

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I spent 8 years coaching gymnastics - it was like working in a petri dish. The first year, I came down with everything under the sun (I also taught preschool that year) - coxsakie, ear infections, so many colds, walking pneumonia, strep, you name it. Each subsequent year, I was less sick and by the time I left the gym, I was rarely sick. 

 

I tried cold-eez for when a cold is starting, but for some reason they make me super nauseous. I've heard great things about them though. 

 

I use elderberry syrup in the winter as a preventative and take a good multivitamin that has a probiotic. I am good about washing hands and get a flu shot. DH "forgot" to get the flu shot for the last 3 years and managed to get a nasty flu each year that laid him up for a week in bed. DS and I avoided it thankfully!

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Handwashing, hand sanitizer in the car, exercise, and plenty of sleep. Also, I think that because my kids swim 1-2 times a day in a chlorinated pool (frequently outside, even in the winter) they kill off germs pretty quickly. Also, kid in germiest sport (ds2 in judo) strips down and showers before anything else in the house. He also gets the flu shot and so does dh.

 

Colds come mostly in the fall when we have relaxed the handwashing, cleaning doorknobs and light switches religiously, protocol of winter.

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Interesting thread. I have a horrible immune system. Next week I am going to see my PCP that also deals with alternative methods and I am going to see if he can help me. Not sure he can, but I have to try. 

 

I always gets lots of sleep and I try to take vitamins and I eat pretty well. For me it is just what it is and bad luck.

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Awareness and hand washing. I don't follow any other particular health routines, but I hate the extra clean up during/after a GI bug and I am acutely aware of the fact that I don't have time to be sick (who does, really?), so I am very careful about contact with folks who may be contagious.

 

A few years ago dd's Doctor was concerned about her immunity so he had her get the adult pneumonia vaccine (immunizes against more strains than the pediatric version) and up her vitamin D. I followed suit, and it worked like a charm. A vitamin D level over 50 units (I forget the blood content measurement unit used) seems to increase immunity, enable timely healing, and a bunch of other good stuff. These days I forget to take my daily d, but if I feel something coming on, I get it out and take it.

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I'm in very good health and have no pain or disability issues (53 years old) and rarely get sick, yet I am fat and don't exercise that vigorously. I take no vitamins, my house isn't particularly clean, I don't use hand sanitizer, and not sleep enough. I have good genes and think that's it, mostly, and I eat a ton of fruit and veggies, just because I like them. IMO, I think genes are the main driver of our health.

Edited by reefgazer
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I think for me it's mostly genetic.  My father called us "Eastern European peasants" - both his parents and my mother's immigrated to the US from eastern Europe in the very late 19th century.  Most of those children have been very healthy and long-lived, and those that were not died under specific circumstances not related to general health (war, alcoholism, among a few others).   My father never got sick when I was a kid, to the point that when some flu came through and he had to stay home from work for a few days, I was terrified he was dying.   My parents distrusted flu shots and did not ever get them.  They did vaccinate us for everything else available when we were kids.

 

I do try to eat well, get enough sleep, etc., but honestly when I am not eating well and am not sleeping it doesn't seem to make much difference.  I do have digestive issues with GERD but that is related to weight and eating too much/too late in the day.  

 

My kids are a little different. They got their dad's allergies and get sick more easily, particularly one of them, who tends to get a lot of small but lingering colds and digestive upsets.  The other one will get sick with a cold/fever suddenly, sleep for 12 hours, then be up and ready to rock and roll the next day. 

 

We are not super clean around here, and my kids always played in the dirt a lot as kids.  We don't do antibacterial anything except wipes for cleaning up nasty stuff like poultry juice that gets on the kitchen counter.

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Interesting thoughts.  I can see a bit of common ideas too.

  

 

I credit isolation and number of people I'm exposed to. That's been the biggest variable in my life. When I don't have small children and lots of activities I never get sick. Add small children and children's activities and voila! Viruses.

 

For sure isolation would help as long as one stays isolated.  One can't catch what they aren't exposed to, after all.

 

That's not part of our lives though, esp since I worked in our local public school for the past 16 years and often followed right behind teachers who were out sick.  In each room there was always someone using tissues and absences were more common than "all present" tallies.

 

Getting enough sleep on a regular basis, and careful handwashing if I am in contact with people/shopping/traveling.

 

I eat well and exercise, but I notice that I am more prone to infections if I don't get enough sleep. And I have to deal with hundreds of people who live in cramped quarters, so I wash hands very frequently in flu season after contact with people and rarely get sick.

 

We never had any digestive issues, even though we are not very finicky about foods and rather lax in the kitchen; we hike and climb and are frequently dirty. I think regular exposure to germs strengthened our immune systems

 

This sounds a lot like us, including being very lax in the kitchen.  Technically I know the 5 second rule isn't valid, but we still use it figuring it's cleaner than many other things we eat.  ;)

 

 

Lots of mild colds when the kids were little so we all built up healthy immune systems. Genetics doesn't hurt, but we mostly credit all those mild childhood illnesses for why we are healthy today.

 

I agree that I think kids (or humans in general) need to be exposed to a bit in their youth to develop a decent immune system.  When our kids were young they would get tons of things.  We didn't live on a farm then.  I'm not sure if that'd have made a difference or not when they were so young though.  I think immune systems need exposure to build up.  That seems to be common among other answers too.

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Well, I'd like to say we are doing something in particular, but really I think it comes down to the fact my kids don't go to school and aren't exposed to those kinds of germs so often.

 

They do go to activities that are held in schools.  But it's an hour here or there.  It seems like this would be different than going all the time.

 

 

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I rarely get anything viral. I'm cognizant (especially during cold/flu season) of washing my hands after I've been out in public and keeping them away from my nose, mouth and eyes until I get them washed. But I sure don't carry hand sanitizer around with me or keep it in the car. Lack of exposure probably also plays a big role, since I don't interact with all that many people. Other than that -- who knows? I probably eat as well as/better than most, and I try to get in some outside (fresh air) exercise every day. Both grandparents had farms so I grew up around lots of animals and vegetation. Maybe those help or maybe not. I try to get in plenty of sleep, but menopause has wreaked havoc with that the past few years and I haven't noticed that the change in that factor has caused me to be sick any more.

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I attribute it to handwashing and avoiding people with respiratory illness. I dont shop during senior citizen discount hours in winter since ill people refuse to stay home or wear a mask.

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We are middle of the road with colds and illnesses.

 

My dd11 though rarely if ever gets sick, and my ds6 is fairly resilient as well. 

 

I suppose some must be luck of good genetics, but dd is also really careful about handwashing, and they both have always been able to have enough sleep. 

 

My dd8 has a harder time, but her health has always just been more delicate - maybe not such good genetics, she has some asthma and mild allergies, and just seems prone to lung and sinus problems.  I think she takes more after her paternal grandmother's family which doesn't seem to be so robust.

 

My dh I think has some of that too, but he's also not so great at taking care of himself.  I usually am very healthy as long as I am getting enough sleep, but I often am not.

Edited by Bluegoat
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I'd say isolation and genetics for me, too.  I don't recall my parents being sick much at ALL and I am the least likely to get sick in my family now.  Honestly, I can't say it's diet.  LOL  I'm good about washing hands and I also think that someone else is onto something about not taking a lot of antibiotics (or meds in general) because I rarely have.  As an adult I'm more likely to choose supplements or homeopathic remedies FIRST rather than jumping to OTC medications.  I don't think I've ever been sick enough to go to the dr.  (I take it back; once my cold developed into bronchitis or something and I took meds then.  I think that's the only time in my adult life.)

 

None of my 6 kids has ever had an ear infection and we don't run to the dr. for colds/stomach flu.  Isolation is a main reason with my kids, IMO.

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I think that working in the hospitality industry and being around germs from all over the world all the time has given me good immunity. I did get sick this week, however. I still worked through it, there was no choice, but it is only the second time I've been sick in years and years. I did have some allergy problems when I lived in western Oregon, but almost anyone has some issues there. I did get bad pink eye in Nepal fourteen years ago that laid me up for a whole afternoon, but other than that I have been pretty good.

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I have worked with either little kids or people with significant disabilities in group settings since I was 12.

 

I also had a medical fragile child who was big daycare and spent a huge amount of time in hospital and doctor's waiting rooms, plus caring for my own germy child.

 

I think I've just had almost all the germs so now I am immune.

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Fresh air and exercise. Not usually being "germphobic" so our immune systems have lots of practice (very simplified), lots of fruits and vegetables. Breast feeding. My kids and I were breastfed. My dh was a formula baby and has a slew of health problems. He might have had them anyway but you said I didn't need evidence  :lol:

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  • Maintaining a good level of Vitamin D3
  • Taking Immune Stimulator during cold/flu season
  • Eating a variety of good, clean food
  • Sleeping consistently 7-8 hours
  • Trying to reduce stress or coping more constructively
  • Trying to maintain a balance of work and leisure time

I can certainly not attribute it to genetics since I have a form of MTHFR but I am fighting back.  :laugh:

 

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We rarely catch anything. I think it's more what we don't do.

 

We don't wash our hands before we eat.

We don't keep a pristine house, either, Creekland.

We don't regularly use antibacterial soaps or hand sanitizers, except for some in the kitchen for after handling raw meat or eggs.

We don't get flu shots.

 

 

 

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I think I have a decent immunity to common viruses and that some of that is genetic (for ex, I am immune to strep) and that some is diet/lifestyle (especially in terms of how sick people get and how quickly they recover). I do find it interesting that certain families are healthier/unhealthier than others. It doesn't always seem to be connected to their diet and lifestyle. In fact, in tends to run contrary to what I would think among the people I know.

Edited by MaeFlowers
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We've been in a number of situations where we were at a party or play date where everyone else in attendance came down with a stomach bug but we didn't. I joke that letting my kids eat stuff off the ground as toddlers gets the credit for their great immune systems, but I now have some proof that at least some of it is genetic. One of the insights we gained from doing 23andMe is that the kids and I have a natural immunity to norovirus.

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'Common sense' healthy diet - nothing radical, 'real' food, lots of veg, not too much.

 

Mostly, though, exposure to germs. We don't do anything to avoid sick people, we clean the house but rarely use disinfectant outside of the toilet, just regular soap. And I don't think I've ever answered 'no' to a 'would you eat this' question on the forum! We do get colds, but they're no big deal here, never need a doctor for them, they don't turn into chest or ear infections etc. And we never ever get stomach flu.

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It has to be genes.  Or luck.

 

I don't regularly exercise, I eat okay (ish), I don't use hand sanitzer, my housekeeping standards are meh, one or both of my kids go to preschool, MOPS, enrichment programs, regular playdates, Scouts, dance, and karate and...

 

I am almost never sick.  My kids are the same.  They have had minor colds about once a year that lasts a day or two.  One of them has had one ear infection. Once a year we end up with the 24 hour "stomach flu".  We haven't yet ever had really nasty colds, the flu(though I do get us all flu shots), strep, or anything like that.

 

It can't be sleep, my daughter barely slept the first 3 years of her life so I didn't either.  I was near crazy, but still didn't get sick.

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I credit my high immunity to having an autoimmune disease.  I have no idea if that's why or not but my theory is that my immune system is overactive and therefore kills off cold and flu bugs. 

 

This is an interesting thought.  I wonder if others with autoimmune diseases see the same benefit?

 

We don't keep a pristine house, either, Creekland.

 

:hurray:   One always loves when they have company!  ;)

 

We wash our hands when we come in from the Great Outdoors, but not specifically before we eat if we've just been doing "average living."

 

I think I have a decent immunity to common viruses and that some of that is genetic (for ex, I am immune to strep) and that some is diet/lifestyle (especially in terms of how sick people get and how quickly they recover). I do find it interesting that certain families are healthier/unhealthier than others. It doesn't always seem to be connected to their diet and lifestyle. In fact, in tends to run contrary to what I would think among the people I know.

 

This was the gist of our conversation - and conclusion, although we also think it's not (all) genetic.  I suspect it's multi-factored like most things about human health.  (What works for one won't necessarily work for another.)

 

We've been in a number of situations where we were at a party or play date where everyone else in attendance came down with a stomach bug but we didn't. I joke that letting my kids eat stuff off the ground as toddlers gets the credit for their great immune systems, but I now have some proof that at least some of it is genetic. One of the insights we gained from doing 23andMe is that the kids and I have a natural immunity to norovirus.

 

This is the second time I've seen 23andMe mentioned in a way that seems very intriguing.  I will have to look into it - after October, since with college payments and taxes due, Oct is a super tight budget month for us.  I seem to recall the testing being a little bit costly.  It'd be interesting to see how much there is a genetic component.  Is norovirus the only one they do or are there others?

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When we moved to PA, I got a lot of colds. I figured that the cold viruses were different here.

 

A few years ago, I read in the news and on the CDC website (can't find it now) that taking zinc either prevents cold viruses from taking hold, or lessens the duration and severity of symptoms by about half. I started taking zinc in the fall and spring, and over the three years, have had only one cold. Several started, but stopped after the first day.

 

Of course, I realize that may be a coincidence. But just in case ....

 

I also clean and spray Lysol on faucet handles and doorknobs, and clean all touchpads and keyboards every day once the weather turns cold. Sometimes I use wipes -- not all disinfect, which is what I want -- so I read the fine print.

 

I wash my hands a lot, and I try to keep them away from my face. I try to get enough sleep and I eat a healthy diet.  My vaccinations are up-to-date. I need to figure out a way to get more exercise in the winter. The rest of the year, I get plenty of exercise just living my life.

 

My top winter goals are to stay warm and to stay healthy. I am much more diligent about germs in winter.

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One of my children and I catch everything that comes around, and I'm pretty sure our bodies also wizardrically conjure up whole new viruses, too.

 

My husband and other son very rarely get sick, and when they do, it's much less severe.

 

For the kids...same parents, same diet, same sleep, same vitamins/probiotics, same level of activity, around the same people, go to all the same places (they are very close in age). And, in fact, the kid that gets sick with me was breastfed slightly longer, and the kid that gets sick less has had one more round of anti-biotics (three as opposed to two) in his life. 

 

DH would love to say it's something he does. But looking at the kids, general immunity is so clearly luck of the genetic draw, even though *I* do have an auto-immune issue.

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It's funny that I'm answering this because I'm nursing a cold right now, but it's probably been 3 years or more since I've been sick. Dh and ds are the same. We rarely get sick but don't do anything special. I'm going to say genetics. Apparently I married someone with a genetic resistance too and we passed it on to ds. We do get our flu shot annually but that has nothing to do with getting a cold.

 

I can't say it's isolation because I was like this before I became a homeschool sahm. Plus dh and ds don't get sick either. When I was a new teacher I heard about how the new teachers are always sick because they get exposed to so many sick kids, yet that never happened to me. 

 

In ds' younger years there were always people canceling on homeschool field trips or park days or whatever because they or their kids were sick. These people were the crunchy, organic, mostly anti-vax, alternative med types and were always sick. We're not crunchy, don't buy organic, fully vaccinate, and use only science based medicine yet we rarely get sick. I'm not saying there's a correlation (there's no causation there),  just that's it's kind of funny to me.

 

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For me & hubby--stress levels and quality of food (fast food/eating out vs. home-cooked meals) seem to be big factors.  Too much stress = illness (colds, flu, etc.)

 

For the kids:

 

1. Long-term nursing (the one I nursed until she was over 3 has an excellent immune system, even if we all get sick she's down for the shortest amount of time)

2. I let them get dirty (and didn't clean them up beyond the basics.

3. I let them go outside to play from the time they were babies, regular park dates, time in the garden, etc.

4. I let them have pets of all sorts of varieties.

 

Basically, I exposed them to the natural world and built up their immune systems that way. 

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In ds' younger years there were always people canceling on homeschool field trips or park days or whatever because they or their kids were sick. These people were the crunchy, organic, mostly anti-vax, alternative med types and were always sick. We're not crunchy, don't buy organic, fully vaccinate, and use only science based medicine yet we rarely get sick. I'm not saying there's a correlation (there's no causation there),  just that's it's kind of funny to me.

That's interesting.  My experience is the polar opposite.  The crunchies will stay home if they think they might be fighting something off, and, indeed there are a lot of flakes in home schooling in general who just don't show up for stuff, by the way, but the crunchy people were the healthiest, by far.  

It was the non-crunchy in the two co-ops that we were in for many years (probably about 10 or 11 years, overall) that got sick all the time. 

 

 

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Haven't read all of the responses, but my theory is from playing in the dirt all the time as a child. We grew up playing softball and were at the fields all.the.time. I have so many pictures of myself playing in huge mounds of dirt. Same thing with my siblings, we rarely get sick other than occasional colds. We grew up in an old house, it was messy quite a bit of the time and I'm sure it was rarely sanitized. 

 

My parents used to be the same but now I think it's catching up to them as they are approaching their 70's. 

 

One thing that helps in my house (I think) is making sure they wash their hands the second they walk in the door from the bus. I specifically don't purchase antibacterial soap. 

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