Is our obsession with hygiene going to kill us all?!
Question: I read recently that here in the UK it was the young rather than the old that had been ill the most this last year. Is this connected with the massive levels of hygiene paranoia we are all encouraged to adopt?
Do we all live such sterile lives that our own body's defences are being replaced and damaged as a result?
Will our immune systems reach a point where, because they haven't had to deal with anything, they can no longer protect us?
Answers: I read recently that here in the UK it was the young rather than the old that had been ill the most this last year. Is this connected with the massive levels of hygiene paranoia we are all encouraged to adopt?
Do we all live such sterile lives that our own body's defences are being replaced and damaged as a result?
Will our immune systems reach a point where, because they haven't had to deal with anything, they can no longer protect us?
i agree timothy, my friend's mother would always say 'you got to eat a peck of dirt before you die'.
my own granny used to say 'too much washing's weakening'
i worry about the immune systems of especial the more affluent 'detol children'
Yes all the chemicals we wash in, spray on and eat will kill us
you raise a very good point i was having a discussion about the very same thing last week after seeing a documentary on discovery and the answer is YES we will no longer be able to build up immunity to basic infections...its only a matter of time.
very very good question well worth a star.
If when you are a baby and you are sheilded from getting sick at all, you body will not build up its immune system to fight off other viruses and bacteria later in life. I was talking to my friend yesterday and we were talking about the fact that anti-bacterial soap is not necessarily good for you because it also kills to good bacteria that fights off the not so good bacteria. I then replied, well we will eventually end up in a bubble. A bunch of people rolling around in bubbles to live our lives. That is going to suck.
Well heres a fact you may or may not know. There are only so many strains of the common cold about 250, once we have had one we are immune to it. So as we get older we have less and less of them.
There is no doubt our immune systems are not as good as they were 50 years ago, but then we do not eat as healthily as we did then. So I guess there are many factors to consider.
The old birds are tougher. They are still here.
Every day stress to succees is putting a damper on the young one's.