The Winter Blues!
Well, it's been a tough old time for our teams over this winter, shipping in goals like there's no
tomorrow and sustaining injuries to key players, thereby weakening the defensive unit. These viral
winter coughs and colds just don't seem to shift and the old arthritic joints and backs are certainly
beginning to ache a bit. No wonder many of us are feeling miserable.
Of course I blame this inclement weather and the windiest coldest stadium in the country. Perhaps
we need to once again adopt some Tony Pulis like tactics and start parking the proverbial bus to
bolster our defences and stop leaking goals. It might not be pretty to watch or fun to play, but it is
effective at stopping the opposition and giving us a platform to start scoring some goals again.
So allow me to introduce to you the first of the players on your "Team for Life" in the Premiership
Health League. It's your número uno defensive player - the man at the back who keeps out the
attack, wearing the No.1 shirt - In goal it's:
The Health Keeper
“England, England, England's Number 1”
Your No1 player has been with the team from the beginning and experienced all the promotions as
well as all the relegations in the game of life. A very intelligent player, who thinks about the game a
lot, and is always on the lookout for potential threats. They are highly emotional, which can
sometimes affect their performance level and are prone to the odd error, sometimes resulting in an
own goal.
However, they do appreciate a good laugh and respond well to positive feedback and the love of the
fans. Just be sure not to put them under too much pressure/stress if you want them to play well and
enjoy a long and successful career.
Strengths: Dependable, intelligent, adaptable, good memory and a great communicator.
Weaknesses: Can sometimes lack self-confidence and doesn't always organise the defence to best
effect. Can be prone to mood swings and sensitive to lifestyle factors like diet, exercise and sleep.
The Health-Keeper is in command of your immune system (ImmunoTeam) - charged with the duty of
stopping bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells, from scoring goals against your team/body's defence. If
you've got a great Health-Keeper in goal, looking after your body, then you're well on the way to
Premiership Health.
The great football managers of the past; the Brian Clough, Bill Shankly, and Jock Stein's of this world,
all realised that you build a successful team from the back. You lay down the foundations for a solid
defence, because it is much easier to win a game if you don't let in any goals (by getting sick) in the
first place. If you have a strong immune system (and I'll show you how in future articles) it makes it
very hard for bacteria, viruses and cancer cells, to infiltrate your defences and cause disease.
This may explain why some people just never seem to get ill and others are always on the injury list,
unavailable for selection. You see, in order for you to get sick from say the cold or flu virus it doesn't
just depend upon the presence of these attacking germs, equally as important is the strength of your
own defence to block the attack.
There will always be opposition players waiting to strike, ready to take advantage of any weakness.
You only have to look around to see the environment is full of potential disease producing threats;
it's not something we can avoid, unless of course we choose to cocoon ourselves in a protective
bubble which excludes us from the game altogether.
For example, have you ever been on a plane and the next day you've got a cough, sore throat or flulike symptoms? That's hardly surprising, as the air you breathe on the plane is basically a recirculation
of everybody else's expired breath, containing all the different germs they've picked up on holiday.
Of course, they themselves may be feeling fine but perhaps you, with all your late night partying and
drinking are easy prey to those foreign invaders. You can't really expect your Health-Keeper to
perform well after a heavy session on the beers, now can you? In fact, we know from the latest
medical research and the science of PsychoNeuroImmunology (PNI) - that your immune system is
very sensitive to the lifestyle you lead in terms of both the physical and mental tactics you employ.
Another vitally important factor to bear in mind for Premiership Health is the playing conditions or
environment in which your teams play. If you can provide them with a healthy environment, good
training facilities and clear positive tactics, then you are much more likely to tackle the opposition
and produce the results you want.
Remember, the presence of opposition germs does not necessarily mean you are going to get ill - a
lot of the time they are present and you feel perfectly healthy, they are only one of the co-factors
that cause disease. Equally as important is the strength of your team's defences - the immune system
or ImmunoTeam.
This is one of the Key health Beliefs you need to adopt for Premiership Health:
If you are strong in defence you will keep out the attack.
For those of you who are fans of fantasy football you may like to view it as a health assist - a positive
environment improves the players and as far as the Health-Keeper is concerned, it's a lot like a one
on one between the goalie and the striker, if your goalie is good enough and stands up to the
attacker then they have a very good chance of blocking the shot and keeping your team in the game fighting fit!
The question you have to ask yourself therefore, is do you want your "Team for Life" to have a strong
defence/immune-system, capable of stopping any attack that comes its way? Or, do you want the
opposition to dictate the pace of the game?
Before you answer that question, just bear in mind that all of the most successful teams in history
have first and foremost had a solid defence to ensure the opposition finds it difficult to score.
Louis Pasteur, the famous 19th century French scientist who first proposed the germ theory of
disease, argued throughout his career about the nature of disease. Was it the "soil" (environment), or
the germ that was the most important? Is it the quality of the attack or the organisation and strength
of the defence that wins the game?
Upon his deathbed, Pasteur is reported to have admitted that it was the "soil" because, as he rightly
pointed out, a seed cannot grow without the soil. Likewise, a striker cannot score without the ball
and a germ cannot multiply without the right type of conditions. So, for Premiership Health ensure
you don't provide the opposition with the conditions they enjoy playing in and make it as difficult as
possible for them to keep possession.
Remember: sometimes Attack is the best form of Defence.
For most opponents this would mean a weak or weakened immune system. Bacterial and fungal
infections enjoy playing in conditions that are rich in sugars that they can use for fuel and cancer cells
are particularly suited to playing in conditions of hypoxia (low oxygen concentrations).
Of course it is still the traditional view in western society that it is the germs themselves that cause
disease and by avoiding the germs you can avoid the infection. So we don't go near anyone with a
cold, we cover our mouths when we cough and our noses when we sneeze, just in case one of those
big bad germs comes to get us. What we fail to realise is we can't avoid the germs, most people
have probably already been infected but don't realise because they don't develop symptoms. Their
immune system keeps the infection under control, you could say, it makes the decisive tackle that
breaks down the attack.
For most of us this works fine until we start to get older and the legs start to get a little weary and the
reflexes a little slower, making it more difficult for the Health-Keeper to get down to stop the shots
on goal and the odd opposing infection begins to evade our defences or a cancer cell is allowed free
roam on the field of play. For Premiership Health it is vital to have your defensive players in tip top
shape to tackle the opposition.
Whilst working in General Practice I can see literally 100’s of people a week with one sort of an
infection or another, so you might expect me to be constantly under the weather. Well, yes for the
first 33 years of my life I would get as many infections as the next person, but today, despite being
exposed to germs on a daily basis - very little gets past my defences.
Perhaps I've built up immunity over the years, though I still see fellow doctors with infections, and
there are always different players making their way over from China or Fiji or some other exotic
location hoping to make a name for themselves; the "Fijian" flu, "Swine" flu and now the "Zika" virus
being cases in point. However, I have learnt if you maintain a strong defensive unit with proper
intentional training, the chances are the opposition won't even get a sniff on goal!
Talking of the flu, has it ever struck you as odd that it always seems to strike around about the same
time each year? In fact, there are actually cases of the flu all year round, so the virus must always be
present in the environment waiting to strike. Why then do more of us get sick in the winter time?
Well, of course the flu prefers to play indoors where it can get into closer contact with people, but I
would like to propose another contributing factor, one you may not have considered - a weakened
defence.
A defence that has been compromised by one too many Christmas parties, too much alcohol, not
enough sleep and the wrong type of food, together with increased stresses of Christmas shopping,
and a dwindling bank balance.
All of this gives your immune system and Health Keeper in particular, a tremendous battering. Is it
any wonder this is the time when you are most likely to fall sick and let the opposition score against
you?
"Play well - get your teams into shape and take care!"
Dr Rob