You know what I’m talking about - colds, coughs, fevers, chills, wheezing and generally feeling crummy.  Many people get sick, and the illness seems to hang on in one form or another - All. Winter. Long.  Forget training, heck you’re trying to just get to work so you don’t have to waste those hard-earned ‘sick days’ on actually being sick (aren’t they meant for powder days anyway??).

Did you know that 90% of these winter illnesses are caused by a virus? And did you know that antibiotics, the oft-chosen treatment of choice for these infections, are ineffective against viruses? That’s right – antibiotics only destroy bacteria, not viruses.

So then why are they so often prescribed? Well, that’s a good question, and one you should ask your doctor next time you go in.  Physicians typically feel pressured to treat sick individuals in their clinic with something, and running the appropriate tests to determine whether you have a viral or bacterial illness is costly and time consuming. So, more often than not you'll be tossed an antibiotic if you have any type of winter illness, regardless of its effectiveness.

Instead of antibiotics, and waiting to treat people until they are sick, we take a proactive approach and support the immune system. That is, we use different types of naturally derived medicines that boost immune function, making it stronger and quicker to act. 

This helps to keep the bugs from gaining a foothold, and if they do, your immune system is quicker to eradicate them from your body – leaving you with fewer sick days, and more training days. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to naturally boost immune function, safely.  And yes, your mother’s advice of getting plenty of rest, fluids and a healthy diet are the mainstays of treating any illness. 

But next time you get ill, rather than gambling with an antibiotic (and the digestive problems that come with it), check out some of our natural immune boosters – they work by turning on your immune system, so it can go after the bugs more aggressively.