How Can Men Be Healthy? By James Fearnley, CEO of Nature's Laboratory
12 August 2024
Asking for Advice
On reaching my 75th birthday I found myself hugely overweight (I was 18 stone) and going through a stressful period with my business. I was feeling ill and run down. I felt I had to do something about it or I was going to go under. I decided to take stock and contacted a friend who was a nutritionist -someone I knew and trusted. I decided to do what most men do not like doing – ask for advice!
I have been involved in researching and manufacturing natural medicines for around 40 years and I’ve become deeply interested in why we become ill; especially the difference between acute illness and chronic illness.
I’ve been pretty healthy most of my life except for a few times when my health just broke down quite dramatically, usually in the wake of a personal crisis, or a crisis connected with my business, or both! As far as purely physical injuries are concerned, I have been very lucky, touch wood, only some minor rugby injuries when I was younger.
My most dramatic health breakdown came when I was 27. I developed what felt like a growth in my chest. I was worried and afraid that it might be cancer – my mother had died of cancer just the year before. I was not able to get any sensible answers from my G.P. so I consulted the yellow pages. I found a homeopath only a few miles away from where I lived. He gave me Nat Mur (salt basically, but an infinitesimally small amount) and a couple of days later this apple sized lump in my chest broke open. Years later I found out that Nat Mur is a remedy related to grief.
Our Three-Dimensional Immune System
The thing about health – all health, not just men’s health – is that it is affected not just by physical trauma, external or internal injury, but by emotional disease and distress. When you feel down, your immune system goes down. But there’s more! When you feel troubled - perhaps you have lost your self-confidence or you feel like an outsider, you are anxious and depressed, then your immune system plummets. At this point you are very open to disease. In fact, your immune system is three dimensional. It operates through the three primary systems in your body 1. Nervous System – your brain and nerves 2. Respiratory System – your heart and lungs and 3. Metabolic System – everything which processes your food and builds and repairs your body.
The role of bacteria and viruses in our Immune System
It turns out that bacteria and viruses are our friends, we need them to process our food, break down our waste and act as complex switching gears. 3.2 trillion of them in fact provide the mechanism which is our complex immune defence system. But when you are at a low ebb, those helpful and functional bacteria decide they would like to stop their complex functional role and develop a life of their own. With bacteria for example, when your immunity is low, a complex chemical signal goes out to the bacteria which says “ let’s take over”. Quorum sensors broadcast the message that bacteria now have an opportunity to build a world of their own, to take over. The result is biofilm, of which MRSA Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus is the most dangerous. Bacteria have evolved to the point where most antibiotics don’t work. By overuse of antibiotics, we have permanently damaged the complex structure of our immune system.
Many natural products can help fight antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria like MRSA. Propolis produced by honeybees is a good example . But prevention is better than cure. How can we look after our whole health, care for ourselves in the physical, emotional and existential realms, and build a healthy immune system?
Connections and Support
How you feel about yourself and whether you feel connected and supported with friends and in relationships is critical. Men seem to suffer most in this area. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under the age of 50. What this statistic means is that men find it harder to talk, to share their problems, to seek help. But what can you do, where can you go, if you feel at sea with yourself, perhaps without the benefit of a loving partner, or family to confide in?
Local and national support for mental health
A recent event at the Rugby Club in Whitby, which focused on Mental Health showed that there are local places and organisations you can turn to . Below are just three organisations that could be helpful:
- ANDYSMANCLUB is a national charity with a local meeting place at Towbar Express Stadium, Turnbull Ground, Upgang Lane, Whitby YO21 3HZ. You can just pop along and get a free brew and biscuit and just have a chat. They meet on Mondays at 7pm, except Bank Holidays. You can also find them on Facebook @andysmanclub or email at info@andysmansclub.co.uk
- MIND run workshops and drop-in sessions in Whitby. You can find out more about these by calling 01723 339838 or emailing info@swrmind.org.uk
- SAMARITANS, call free, any time, from any phone, on 116 123 or if you prefer to email, contact Jo@samaritans.org ( replies to emails may take up to several days)
The Dispensary, Skinner Street, Whitby.
Fourteen years ago, we set up the Dispensary in Skinner Street, Whitby, as a place where you can explore ways of improving your health. At the Dispensary you can find LOVE i.e. Local, Organic, Vegetarian and Ethically sourced foods and medicines. We also facilitate events such as talks, workshops and meditations, and we also keep a lot of information there, on health in the widest sense. So, if you cannot find an answer out there, try us at the Dispensary 01947 603456. www.thedispensary.org.uk info@thedispensary.org.uk The Dispensary is part of Common Cause, a Community Interest Company set up and supported by Nature’s Laboratory, one of the country’s leading researchers & manufacturers of natural medicines www.natureslaboratory.co.uk