Newell cites a 12- year US study of 4,000 male students at Cornell University, which showed that when chronic cold sufferers were given thirty minutes a week exposure to ultra-violet light the number of colds was almost halved. Newell advocates “healthy” tanning for children and adults with, of course, a caution to avoid over-exposure. He suggests exposing the body to sunlight at least once a year, but preferably through the summer months, to the point where levels of the pigment melanin are activated strongly “By programming your body and manufacturing … vitamin D from cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream, the sun not only keys up and maximises immunity, but acts to prevent diseases,” he says. “The viruses which cause colds are always around,” he adds, “and children get more colds than adults because their immune systems are still developing recognition of these bugs. But that still doesn’t explain why some people seem to catch colds more than others.” The answer, he believes, has nothing to do with external attack but internal defence: you have failed to maintain an efficient immune system.
Apart from developing a healthy way of life (getting fit, eating a well-balanced diet, stopping smoking, coping with stress and taking a positive approach to life), Newell suggests three specific anti-cold strategies.The first involves exposure to full-spectrum light.
Newell – who says he has not had the sniffles for many years – argues that we are culturally conditioned to expect to catch colds from each other. Yet, citing work carried out at the Common Cold Research Unit in Salisbury as far back as the Fifties, he is convinced that cross-infection is largely a myth. The days are drawing in, the school term has started – and it won’t be long before your children are coming home with runny noses. But you won’t necessarily catch their colds, says Malcom Newell, an Australian health writer who reviewed a vast body of medical research for his new book, The Cold War (Rosendale Press, pounds 8.95). “When I finally underwent dental treatment, the original nightmare situation was back in history I felt detached. It wasn’t completely pain-free, but it was manageable.”Until that point, the idea of ever seeing another dentist had been a major life event, one that I never felt I could put myself through again “The only drawback is the cost. A half-hour psychotherapy session costs pounds 50, and since all the dentists connected to Feelgood are in private practice, the dental consultation costs another pounds 50, although Vivian Ward points out that after this patients are free to return to their own dentists.Feelgood Dentistry, tel: 0171-486 5797..
“Psychotherapy is more effective if they go immediately into the surgery, even if only for a consultation, rather than waiting several weeks,” says Ward.”We also hope to demystify the dentist and his equipment,” says Graham Smith “All dentists do not cause pain. This does not mean to say that my childhood experience will be repeated.’ “Claire Lodge was 39 when she had treatment again – for the first time in 18 years. The patient will usually come to appreciate that: ‘on the occasion when I was a child, that particular dentist caused me pain. Like Claire Lodge, the patient first has a session, in a room near the surgery, with a psychotherapist who will work with them to help them leave their fear in the past They will then have a consultation with the dentist.
“We help patients to appreciate that their fear is not passive It doesn’t ‘happen’ to you. Patients can learn from their fear without feeling the need to re-experience the unpleasant feelings when referring to the memory.”Graduated, controlled exposure of patients to the feared stimulus is the guiding principle behind treatment. “We have discovered that neuro-linguistic programming, a ‘talking cure’, is an effective and friendly form of treatment, often producing dramatic results,” he says. Called Feelgood Dentistry, the group operate from several surgeries within Central London.Graham Smith, a psychotherapist and tutor in neuro-linguistic programming at Birkbeck College, University of London, is a founder member.
Mr Ward is one of a group of professionals with a particular interest in helping dental phobics, by providing psychotherapy services “on tap”. “Over many years, a condition which was treatable can deteriorate into one which is not.” Phobic patients, he says, are highly likely to suffer dental trauma or disease, to end up in emergency services or slowly lose their teeth. A bad dental experience, possibly with a critical and inconsiderate dentist, or unfavourable experiences passed on by other family members, can all influence adult behaviour.”The consequences of dental phobia can be traumatic,” says Vivian Ward, consultant surgeon at the Eastman Dental Hospital, London. Although figures are not available, some degree of dental phobia is estimated to affect about 30 per cent of all adults, with many unable even to entertain the idea of dental work being done under anaesthetic.As with most forms of phobic behaviour, the origins of dental fear tend to be found in childhood or adolescence.
