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I never get sick. And I mean never. Maybe once a year at most, and usually when it happens it's because I made out with someone who had the flu or something like that.
With that being said, part of it is genetics. My grandparents all died at a very late age. My grandfather died at 95 (fell down the stairs), one grandmother died at 93 (related to Alzheimer's), the other grandmother died in her sleep at 92.
My other grandfather, however, died of a heart attack at 45. However, my mother told me he ate really really bad, drank a lot, and smoked more than a pack a day. Everyone is pretty sure it wasn't genetics but rather how poorly he took care of himself.
My mother is someone who doesn't get sick ever either. She is 60 and significantly overweight, and even with that she has great cholesterol levels, great blood pressure, and no complications at all. My father is 69 and same thing, only he's in shape and very active. No illness, diseases, although he gets a little more sick, but he is pretty darn good 95% of the time.
I am sure my potent immune system is partially due genetics, but I am wondering how much of it is also related to an incident to when I was a child.
When I was 6 on vacation, we where in a tropical locale on vacation. There was a horrible outbreak of dengue, where many children kept dying that year. I also go dengue while I as there, and many doctors thought I wasn't going to make it. My dad was ready to tell my mother the bad news that they were probably going to lose me. Somehow though, I made it and recovered. My father and mother told me that ever since that incident my immune system seemed to have changed and I never got sick much at all after that.
Your immune system is a moving target. It evolves to meet threats, but there is a limit to what it can do if you don't happen to be healthy in other ways at the time. Threats are also moving targets. They evolve to get past immune systems. Both are living things that adapt to conditions. You contracted dengue as a small child; it's commonly accepted that immune systems are less developed at very young ages. You survived. Your immune system learned to recognize and fight that particular invader. Now you are a lot older with a more mature immune system.
Last edited by Parnassia; 04-24-2018 at 06:32 PM..
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