keeping your head I MEAN HEALTH when all about you are losing theirs

Even before i became interested in "diet and wellness" i was involved in ... diet and wellness -- duh.  :-)  Of course, during the last two decades of the twentieth century i had the stick by the wrong end, but i still paid attention to how i felt when eating or drinking, especially in conjunction with seasonal illnesses.  I observed that there were two kinds of "colds" -- the kind you catch from your kids, and the kind that just HAPPENS when you're run down.

I've also been a great consumer of historic information, be it in literature or the 20th-century version, MOVIES.  Watch some of those charming old romantic comedies of the '30s -- somebody gets sick, they are given a stout toddy (not a toddy OF stout...) and put to bed with a hot-water bottle.  OF COURSE i tried it!

In this case, "traditional medicine" let me down.  I found that a toddy actually made me feel worse most of the time.

But the hot-liquids-and-bed part was excellent.  Even the crummiest canned or dehydrated chicken soup has the power to loosen congestion and soothe passages.  The most valuable part of the equation, though, was SLEEP.  I discovered that if i sent myself to bed -- just dropped everything, surrendered sovereignty of my environment (i.e., made my husband feed the kids and tuck them in) and CRASHED, it was possible to sleep away the beginnings of a cold.

OUR BODIES ARE DESIGNED TO HEAL THEMSELVES.  What they need are the tools to do the job, and lack of negative influences that hold them back.

If you get run down, winter or summer, just STOP.  Don't tell yourself that the office can't possibly get along without you (or fear that they find out they CAN).  Don't let yourself stay up to watch that final episode of reality/unreality TV -- that's why the gods created DVR!  Delay the very least you possibly can, and go the hell to bed.

Don't think you have to make supper from scratch for your poor little paleo kiddos -- they need a well parent more than they need the perfect meal this one night.  Abdicate "responsibilities" that you've optionally taken on.  You probably need a hot epsom bath more than they need their hair washed and blown-dry, anyway.  Just this once, let it slide.

Sleep the clock around!  Don't force yourself to get up at the regular time -- if your body has regained its momentum, you'll wake on time, anyway.  If you feel lousy, STAY HOME.  It always pissed me off to the point of mania that some people WHO WERE NOT ESSENTIAL would come in to work and spread their illness around, just to show how dedicated they were!  Dedicated, my ass.  They did infinitely more harm than good.

Naturally, this goes for the kinds of jobs i worked through the decades -- not everyone has as much flexibility ... BUT the point is, a lot of people COULD be rational but DON'T.

Sleep is healing.  Good nutrition is healing.  Use 'em.