Why You Get Sick - The Life of a Hotel Doctor

When I walk into a hotel room, guests often tell me why they fell ill. They also blame themselves. In both cases they’re usually wrong.

You don’t get sick because:

1. Your “resistance” is low. You got that cold because another person gave it to you. If it’s your fifth cold of the year, this is a sign of what we in the medical profession call bad luck. It’s not a defect in your immune system. People with poor resistance suffer terrible diseases. There is no immune defect that gives victims too many minor infections.
2. Your diet is missing something. Americans suffer plenty of nutrition-related ailments, but most result from too much rather than too little of some element. Examples are obesity, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and tooth decay. Deficiencies are less common with calcium leading the list. The average American women consumes too little. Lack of calcium increases the risk of osteoporosis (fragile bones), but this takes decades to develop.
3. You don’t get enough (sleep, exercise, water, leisure). Researchers have proved beyond a doubt that lack of sleep makes you sleepy. Subjects kept awake for days become very drowsy. They rarely go crazy or get sick. Exercise improves your sense of well-being and strengthens muscle and bone, and it probably slows osteoporosis. Vigorous, long-term activity may lower cholesterol enough to protect against coronary artery disease and prolong life. Among younger people, sloth is not responsible for any disease. Drinking x glasses of water a day is a harmless folk remedy. It doesn’t flush “toxins” from the body. Doctors often suggest it to prevent bladder infections, but there’s no evidence that it works.