A new study adds more reason to why our bodies employ fevers as a defense against sickness.
Researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute found that a higher body temperature can help our immune systems to work better and harder against infected cells. The finding was published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
"Having a fever might be uncomfortable, ....but this research report and several others are showing that having a fever is a part of an effective immune response," John Wherry, Ph.D., deputy editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, said in a statement.
Before, researchers thought that fevers worked by hindering dangerous microbes from multiplying, Wherry said.
But "this new work also suggests that the immune system might be temporarily enhanced functionally when our termperatures rise with fever," he said in the statement, though he noted that the finding should only prompt people to reconsider how they treat
mild fevers, and not fevers that are dangerously high.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/03/fever-immune-system-cells_n_1074445.html
This is something that chiropractors and natural health experts have been saying for a long time, but to think there is now a 'study' that proves it. (Who needed this study??) A fever is not a problem. It's telling you that something is going on inside your body and that your body is working properly in trying to kill whatever is invading it. The fever is the natural defense mechanism of the amazing brilliance of the human body. God created this defense so that invading organisms don't fully overtake us. The body responds in such a brilliant way, elevating the temperature to just the right number that is needed to kill whatever the attacker is. Next time you have a temperature, don't think of it as being sick, but instead you are healthy and your body is doing exactly what it was created to do! SURVIVE and thrive!
Even though this research is saying fevers are BENEFICIAL, notice that they are still refering to what they call 'mild' fever. What exactly is a 'mild fever'?
We need to remember that 98.6* F is 'normal' but that doesn't mean it's normal for YOU. It's an average of all the temperatures out there so if you run higher or lower than this magic number, you're still ok. When you realize that temperatures are based on an average and that each of our bodies are created unique and totally individualized it makes this 98.6 number seem a little less important. If your temperature is normally 97.8 a temperature of 98.6 would be considered 'mild' to you. However, the body doesn't 'normally' spike temperatures to more than it can handle. A temperature of 103, while not considered 'mild' by the standards of scientists and pharmaceutical companies, is still your body working. To hinder this would hinder your body from it's work.
You are now empowered in a way that Tylenol and Motrin wish you weren't. Next time you get a fever, don't go grab some acetaminophen. Instead, thank God for creating such a powerful system in your body, call your chiropractor and tell him/her you are running a fever and would like to come and get checked and adjusted so your body can fully do what it needs to do to fight off whatever is coming against you!
