Having a Flu is Good?

The past week I have been suffering from fever and mostly cough and colds. Up until now I am still taking medications. It may be the sudden change in weather, or an unknown virus that just wouldn’t want to go away. Was literally immobilized last Wednesday when the fever and height of the coughing happened. (I wouldn’t want to go through that ever again), didn't play any basketball either during the weekend, totally sluggish and exhausted from the coughing.

Anyway, I got so bothered with the cough and colds; I did some research on what actually causes the phlegm and mucus. (Yes, gross, I know, but I was so pissed at how I was feeling, I wanted to find out what I can do to prevent it from happening again.)

To my surprise, did you know that phlegm and mucus are actually vital for good health??

Mucus is a defense mechanism of our body that protects us from allergens, viruses and bacteria. We may have been under the assumption that having a clogged/runny nose and non-stop cough or phlegm is actually the virus itself; it’s actually the mucus that helps us get better faster.

Mucus is a substance consisting of 95% water and 5% carbohydrates, fat, salt and proteins. The mucus captures and traps harmful substances through our nose to prevent it from making their way to our lungs. And to be more scientific, the mucus contains antiseptic enzymes and immunoglobulins that help fight these viral infections.

When we have a prolonged runny nose, the reason for this is that the mucus has not effectively cleared out the infectious particles, thus our system pumps up the production of more mucus in an attempt to flush out the infection; If it is a virus or bacteria, our immune system responds by increasing the blood flow, which can cause the surrounding tissue of the nasal area to swell. The mucus may thicken and get stuck behind the swollen nasal passage and that’s when we experience a clogged nose.

Indeed, these are the wonders of the protective Elements of our human body.