02/10/2025
I bit of a "professional" brag on my daughter.....
Paige just finished her third wrestling season. All three years she was in a shared program, the first with 5 school, the second with 2, the third with three schools. That means multiple schools worth of germs in the mat room. She also attended club lessons with girls from multiple schools as well. All three years, multiple bugs went through the teams and schools.
She went three years without missing a practice or in season open mat due to illness or injury. (missed one open mat due to family Christmas)
There is a lot of talk about immune response, and what we can do to be a healthier nation that spends less on health care, so here is what our family, esp Paige has done to make it through the cold and flu season three years.
She took Vit D. EVERY DAY. Typical day was 5000 IU, if there was a bug on the team 10k, if she felt any symptom 25-50K for 2-3 days. Research on vit D is pretty substantial. "google" "Vit D hammer and the flu" and it will take you to a paper on the National Institute of health website.
She greatly reduced her refined sugar intake. Sugar weakens your immune system, causes inflammation, increases your body acidity, increases your insulin levels..... all making you a ripe host for viral and bacterial infections.
CLEAN protein..... ground beef, roast beef, Baked Chicken breast(Paige reminded me a lot of Salmon as well). She also used protein supplements to keep her protein levels in her diet to much higher than "average". she never completely cut carbs (other than when she was cutting the last few pounds early in the season) but she did clean up her carb intake as well.
Fruit/smoothies..... She did not take a lot of Vit C but she was getting a lot. She ate fruit almost every morning, and frequently for a snack on the way to practice. She had a fruit/protein smoothie several times a week, it was her and a few other girls on the team favorite post weigh-in meal. that kept her with adequate Vit C, though we did supplement on occasion when we knew she had been exposed.
Obviously, daily exercise.. Several studies coming out that exercise helps the immune system out A LOT. It also helps deal with mental health issues as well. exercise is a really good physical and mental medicine.
Sauna..... any time she had a upper respiratory symptom, but other times as well probably 2xs a week, she would get in either the infra red "dry" sauna at the office, or a portable tent like Steam sauna at home. Besides helping with blood flow and muscle aches, the increase of body temperature works to help immune system. A "fever" is the bodies way of fighting off a virus or bacteria when symptoms arise. by 'artificially" raising her body temperature a couple times a week it kept her body ahead of having to run a fever to ward off any "bugs"
HBOT. Paige used the HBOT on average about once a week in season. She used it mostly because it helped recovery after a hard tournament or rough week of practice, but the help with the immune system is well documented in literature as well. Believe it or not, most bacteria and viruses do not like oxygen rich environments.
Sleep..... Paige has become an early riser, but she was also in bed in time to get 8 hours of sleep almost every night. probably closer to 9 hours more nights than not.
Obviously she got adjusted routinely, though not as often as people might guess. there are studies that have been done through the years that link Chiropractic adjustments to increased immune markers in the blood as well as regulating the cortisol levels in the blood. Both of which can be helpful to the immune system. She probably averaged a "full" adjustment once every ten days or so, with more frequent extremity adjustments on her shoulders and elbow.
Probiotics. Her morning pill box had probiotics in it every day. we have used different types and kinds over the last three years. but gut health is strongly linked to your immune system as well. She would also do a colon cleanse once every 4-6 weeks.
Magnesium, helped with gut health as well, but strong research on magnesium and mental health..... dealing with stress..... stress increases cortical levels in your blood which in short term can help immune response, but chronic high levels weaken immune response.
And yes, making weight..... aside from my daughter losing right at 30 pounds in the last two years doing it the "my mom is a dietician approved way" of eating right and increasing exercise, the process of making weight did mean a few instances of a 24 hour fast, or a 2-3 day severe reduction in caloric intake. More so in the beginning of the season, but even later in the season it would be a 24 hour significant caloric reduction that likely triggered fasting response to a lesser degree. There is a lot of immerging research on the health benefits of fasting, including the effect on immune system.
Hopefully if you were interested enough to read this far, you might be willing to try at least a couple of the things that we used to keep Paige healthy the last few years. but her dedication to do all of this is just one of the reasons I am so proud of her.
Send a message to learn more
