Quantum
HEALTH
Issue 9 February 2011
Photo Finish for the Flu?
We all know that if we want to stay healthy we should avoid sick people, right? After all, who wants to pick up their germs and risk getting the flu or a cold themselves? Well, conventional wisdom is being turned (slightly) on its head by research conducted by psychologists at the University of British Colombia (Discover, December 2010). They found that people who observed sick people experienced a boost in the levels of microbe-fighting chemicals in their immune system. That’s right! Just looking at sick people can activate your immune system in much the same way it is activated by actually being exposed to the illness-causing microbes.
Does that mean when that Suzy or John get sick you should pull up a chair and stare him or her down? Not quite. The real stunner conclusion of this study is that simply looking at pictures of ill people, or even of the evidence of sickness as in a photo of a lesion, is enough to induce the same immune-boosting response.
We’re in the middle of the annual flu season, so to keep the fever, sore throat and sneezing at bay, in addition to doing whatever you normally do to stay healthy—from taking echinacea to having a flu shot—you might want to take a few minutes each day to look at pictures of people who are already sniffling and sneezing. It can’t hurt, and it just might help.
12 Quantum Health
www.quantumhealthmagazine.com
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