Why being under the weather may be 'under construction'

So, pathogens...🦠

Both of us have been down with some sort of bug lately. A losing-your-voice, time to cancel classes because people-can't-hear us sort-of-bug 🤧

It's easy to slide into the 'oh woe is me' way of thinking. I mean, we've got stuff to do, right? We don't have time to be sidelined by a bug.  

But pathogens do more than you may think...

Sure, they can knock you on your butt. Sure, you don't necessarily want to breathe on other people 😷

However there is a startlingly good chance that pathogens are your friends...

A few years ago, in the before times when coronaviruses were just another thing most people had never heard of, we both got sidelined at Christmas.

And I mean sidelined. We took turns getting up for water, because the bedroom-to-kitchen shuffle took 20 minutes and involved long pauses of gasping for breath. 

So in classic Colleen fashion, the moment there was some brain capacity back, Much Research Ensued. As it turns out,

Science is quite clear on two things:

1. Viruses and bacteria do crazy amounts of good for humans. They've literally become important parts of our DNA. They help us be healthier in myriad ways. They help us evolve. Oh yeah, but...
2. they're out to get us! 🤔🤨

The changes they help humans make are truly mind-blowing 🤯

Here are just a few fun facts:

• sequencing a human genome costs about $1000 these days
  • (a few decades ago, the cost was literally about a million times higher) 
• you (like everyone) have about a 6 billion nucleotide genome sequence
  • we are more alike than different!!
  • a typical person's genome sequence is 99.6% similar to another person's 
• about 8% of the human genome comes from viruses 🦠😯
  • (for those of you wondering about the math, that's about 480,000,000)
• about 100,000 pieces of ancient viral DNA lives in our genes
• some of that viral DNA looks like it boosts our immune system (among other things)
• we used to think DNA could only pass things down along ancestral lines BUT that is not true and you can check out our YouTube video on why colds & flus could be more helpful than you think for some more hopeful info about bacteria!
  • (we bet you never thought you'd hear that!)
    
    • "we are bustling marketplaces, where bacterial traders exchange their genetic wares" 

SO...

Essentially, humans keep getting stronger, healthier, more capable, because of bacteria and viruses.

While you might not be enjoying the head cold your kid brought home or the flu your friend shared with you...take a moment to think "ok. If you're here to help me, help me. I won't fight you, and you don't have to make me feel like sixteen kinds of crap."

So the next time you find yourself sidelined by a cold or flu, you might try a slightly different approach. Instead of immediately declaring mental war, take a moment to get curious.

Your body and the microbial world have been negotiating with each other for millions of years. Most of the time, they’re not enemies. They’re collaborators, pushing each other to adapt, evolve, and get stronger.

That doesn’t mean you have to enjoy feeling like you swallowed a bag of gravel. But it might help to remember that sometimes what feels like an interruption is also part of a much bigger process.

And if you wake up tomorrow with a mysterious new superpower?

Please do let us know.