The Outdoors are Great – However, They can be Dangerous
You should spend time outside. You should exercise. You should hike, you should swim, you should go camping. If you don’t do these things regularly, you should at least understand what it means to be in the natural environment of this world. Maybe you only camp once a year, maybe you do it weekly. Regardless, you should do it.
Here’s the thing: whenever you do anything, you take a risk. If you get out of bed wrong in the morning, your mind distracted by a dream, and you trip, and you roll your ankle, and bang your head on a blunt object, you might have the most embarrassing story of demise to share with other souls in the afterlife. People die in strange accidents like that all the time.
You take a risk existing. So you can’t let the risk of existence keep you from maximizing the experience, having fun, seeing new things, exploring, and playing in the great outdoors. However, you should know there are some things that you might have to figure out how to deal with. Illness, for example. If you’re not careful, nature can get you sick.
The Hidden World
Microorganisms are everywhere—at any given moment there are over a trillion microorganisms on your body that aren’t genetically inherent to you; the only reason you aren’t sick every single day is your immune system. Think about that critically: a trillion is over a thousand billions. When you’re outdoors, that number compounds.
Environmental Changes and Illness
Beyond tiny, microscopic creatures that could cause illness if your immune system isn’t working right, changes in environment affect you. Sudden hot or cold regions might impact your sinuses. Also, changes in elevation and atmospheric density can have an effect on the sinus pockets in your head, making you feel ill.
It’s worthwhile to have the services of a few experts available after you’ve spent time outdoors. One option is Connecticut’s CT Sinus Center. With experts who understand the sinuses, and how best to care for them, you can not only treat issues that impact you based on natural environments, but you can take preventative measures to reduce your reaction in the future.
Part of choosing professionals like this will have to do with your own particular physiological makeup. It’s worth it to get examined by an expert on the sinuses before you have any issues, just so you have an idea of the sort of thing you need to be wary of. Everyone is different, but certain atmospheric issues tend to always have some effect on sinuses–like elevation changes.
Nothing to Sneeze At: Be Prepared
For example, some people have peanut allergies. You probably don’t want to camp in a peanut farm in that instance! But what if you don’t even know what peanut plants look like, and during a windstorm you stumble into a peanut farm just off a hiking trail? Sure, this is an unlikely scenario, but it serves to illustrate a point: you need to think ahead.
If you’ve got severe allergies, be sure there’s an allergy specialist you can lean on should something initiate a reaction, and no epinephrine shot be available. If you’re prone to altitude sickness, similarly, you want to assure your high-elevation destination includes practitioners that can help. Beyond these things, you want to be healthy generally, so come prepared.
Eat the right natural foods in the right quantities. Take multivitamins. Exercise. Assure you bring vitamins with you when you travel for long periods outdoors (provided packing them along is feasible). Also, get a first aid kit. You’ll want water as well, and a strong knife is important for a variety of things in the wild.
Lastly, you might want to get a “survival guide” of the pocket-sized variety, and put it somewhere in your backpack just in case. Life is life, and that means some things are going to be riskier than others. Anyone who wants to be prepared can be, though. Think ahead, and don’t let potential risk spoil your enjoyment of the great outdoors.
