How to utilize “Colds and their benefits”?
Recently I found delightful news. I would like to write down the benefits of catching a cold and how to bring out the positive effects, inspired by the article.
Seitai has persistently emphasized the benefits of catching colds for over 60 years. The founder of Seitai, Haruchika Noguchi had lectured about it in the 1960s. Seitai Kyokai(Association) compiled the teachings and published a book titled “Colds and their benefits” in 1986. My master, Kuniaki Imoto also published “Catch Colds! Run fever!” in 1995.
They say the cold is a series of spontaneous responses to recovery to the sound, balanced body on its own.
Although it may be in rare cases, it has been observed in the practice, that patients with the allergies, intractable diseases, and even last stage cancer had cured during the recovery of the cold.
This may sound crazy and pseudoscientific to you. However, according to this article, the author states
“For decades, studies have suggested that there is a link between the history of infectious fever and lower risk of cancer” and scientists found that “Infectious fever will considerably increase the number of Vg9Vd2 T cells circulating in the bloodstream until they account for as much as 60 percent of white blood cells.”
“Infectious fever plays a ‘key role’ in increasing gamma-delta T cells and enhancing their ‘immune antitumor competence’ over a person’s lifespan.”
As allergy is the disease that is caused by the immune system which is the hypersensitivity to harmless substances such as pollen, an insignificant amount of chemicals or flour. Some intractable diseases are suggested to be caused by malfunctioning of the immune system which attacks their own cellar tissues.
Infectious fever is an important function of the immune system. Thus, if you recklessly took antipyretics , your immune system would be hindered from functioning. Therefore when you take a medicine to put out the fever, you may end up with the low-grade fever for longer days. We regard this as the main cause of malfunction of immunity, from the perspective of holistic medicine.
Therefore, if you want your immune system to function sufficiently to enhance it, we recommend you to follow the points below when you catch a cold.
Seitai’s traditional approach to healing from the cold is:
1. Avoid taking any kind of cold medicine and solid foods.
The reason for avoiding cold medicine is formed as mentioned above. They will suppress symptoms of a cold. However, so these symptoms are the consequences of normal immune reaction and excretory reaction that will suppress the immune system and excretion of toxins.
When toxins are obstructed to discharge, they would stay in the body and eventually become another form of diseases.
The reason for avoiding taking solids is because eating is the activity of absorption. It is the opposite of excretion, therefore it interferes with getting rid of the toxins from your body. Nonetheless, we have to digest before absorbing and it demands some energy. As you may have experienced the time when you could not move after overeating. The energy to digest deprives our body to metabolize. It works as a brake on the metabolic system that should have been accelerated by the fever of the cold. As a result, the cold tends to drag on for a longer time with coughs.
In short, “Cut nutrition and Empty your stomach!” Please remember to take plenty of liquids such as water, tea or clear soups as much as your body demands.
We don’t recommend to have any intoxicants during the cold. I have heard of some people taking alcohol when they catch a cold. It may induce perspiration to metabolism, but also harden the liver. The latter is more problematic in the long term.
2. Work as usual as you can.
This advice may be opposing common sense. However, when you have a fever, your body is ready and protective with high energy. So if you keep the first advice, you may find yourself surprisingly easy to work. And your activity will accelerate metabolism. Have you never heard that some athlete set the best record running a high fever?
3. Stimulate the occipital (the fever center) with Steamed Towel Method.
This is not necessary when the fever rises to enough temperature (about +1.5℃) and goes away naturally. But when the fever doesn’t properly rise and go away, or you still feel the chills, try this method.
Prepare a steam towel(thick face or hand towel) with boiled water or a microwave oven. Fold it to hand size. This steam towel must be slightly hotter than comfortably warm.
Apply it on the back of your head, directly on the skin.
Reheat the towel as it cools and applies. Repeat the process 3-5 times.
This frequency of hot temperature and steam stimulates the fever center which is located in your occipital efficiently and safely. It will induce the natural process of fever as an immunological response.
4. Keep calm and keep avoiding solids for 16 hours when the fever goes down.
When the fever goes down, the body has been exhausted and become negligent. In this duration, the body temperature will be measured as slightly lower than the average.
During this low-grade fever, continue taking liquids and avoid eating solids. If you try to obtain nourishing and start eating solids, your liver may get swollen. When this happens, it will not be easy to heal properly. If you don’t keep your body warm, the cold can come back and stay with you for a long time.
After this recovery period, slowly start with liquid with low nutrition. When the fever lowers, returning to the normal temperature, gradually shift to solids with less nutrition then, to a normal diet.
For example, start from the chicken broth soup without the solids for breakfast, potage soup for lunch, then chicken broth soup including the solids such as vegetables and meat for dinner. Gradually shift to normal food.
If you want to stick to the original style, let’s start from rice water made from boiling the rice with water, then rice porridge, tofu, finally the normal food. This will put the least burden on your body.
When you have followed this advice, it will take a significantly short time to recover from the cold. Seitai practitioners think catching cold should be healed within a day.
Simply speaking, the best example is kids who suddenly gets a high fever, but they are active as usual. They don’t have any appetite, and suddenly fall asleep before their usual bedtime. They look perfectly fine the next morning. This is the best manner to catch and recover from the cold.
If your body can do this, you may find yourself with more beautiful skin, toned body, vanishing ailments or arthritis, etc. This is because metabolism is thoroughly activated by the fever and the excretions.
Seitai method often promotes the opposite points from the contemporary sayings. However, their effectiveness has been empirically confirmed by the practitioners. They have also been partially certified by medical researchers.
