Is it true that the environment is too clean to make children sick easily?

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Medical Video: Is Being Too Clean Making Us Sick?

Hygiene hypothesis is a hypothesis theory which states that if when someone's childhood lives in an environment that is too clean, then the child's immune system does not get a lot of "references" or "lessons" on how to fight various types of foreign microbes around it. First triggered by Professor David Strachan in the 80s, today many researchers are trying to do further research on this theory.

How did this theory begin?

When still in fetal form, researchers learn that the child's immune system is in an "inactive" condition to avoid rejection of the tissues of the mother. However, once born, researchers argue that the child's immune system begins to recognize various types of foreign microbes that need to be resisted so as not to cause infection or disease. If the environment around children is too clean, the hygienic hypothesis proposes the theory that the child's immune system is not well developed, and that the child's immune system may not fight well with various types of microbes (viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites) or conditions environment (pollution, animal bites, or spores from fungi) in the child's future life. This hypothesis proposes the theory that a lack of challenges to the immune system during childhood can make the person likely to have a disease associated with a weak immune system, such as asthma and allergies.

One case that reinforces this theory is how asthma (and several other diseases such as sclerosis) is more common in developed countries. Developed countries which are thought to have cleaner environments have higher rates of population affected by these diseases than in developing countries (which are thought to have more dirty environments).

However, there are many false perceptions from various media regarding this hygiene hypothesis. Not that you ignore the clean environment around your child. Keep in mind that, for example allergies, allergens are not the only thing because someone is exposed to microbes. Allergies can also occur because of food eaten or because of hereditary history.

Is it true that many types of microbes will train the immune system?

Indeed this hygienic hypothesis proposes the theory that being exposed to various types of microbes in the first few years of a child's life will train the body's immune system. This helps your body fight infections and tell the difference between good and bad microbes. In human life, it is important to have a balance against being exposed to microbes whether good or bad, especially in the digestive system and on your skin to train your immune system to deal with various types of microbes. This imbalance of microbes can cause your immune system to react unpredictably. Maintaining this balance does not mean that your child is taught to be afraid to play in a dirty place. However, you need to pay attention to prevent harmful microbes.

Exposure to microbes such as E. coli, norovirus, and measles viruses can be very dangerous and lead to deadly diseases. These types of diseases can cause permanent damage to your body so that your immune system cannot fight these microbes at all. Although indeed in some cases if someone is exposed to these types of microbes, your body will form antibodies to neutralize these microbes and fight these microbes. However, intentionally exposing yourself to these types of microbes is very dangerous because you could have a serious disease. But if your body manages to fight these microbes, your immune system has been "trained" to fight these types of microbes. This is the reason for the vaccine. The content of the vaccine is certain microbes that have been attenuated, for example the measles vaccine, which means that the measles virus has been attenuated with a dose that has been considered well, so that our immune system can develop antibodies to fight these types of microbes.

How to maintain a good environment to support the development of the immune system?

It is still very important to maintain a clean environment, but it does not mean being obsessed with being clean. Good hygiene is how you try to avoid infection or prevent infections from passing from one person to another. Good hygiene does not mean that it is completely free of dirt. Good hygiene is when you prevent the spread of microbes at the time and place needed, for example when preparing food, after from the toilet, after sneezing or coughing, and when someone in your environment is being infected. Keep in mind that your house will never be completely sterile. Shortly after you clean it, the microbes return from humans or pets, contaminated food, microbes from the air, and so on.

Good hygiene is very important to stop the spread of microbes that cause disease, such as fever or flu, salmonella and E. coli (which are types of bacteria that are not good for health), and so on. In particular, care must be taken to protect people who have a high risk of disease, such as infants whose immune systems have not fully developed, and those who have a weak immune system due to illness or treatment.

People who have healthy lifestyles are also predicted to have a stronger immune system. Lifestyle such as drinking lots of alcohol, lack of food, and stress can weaken your immune system.

Important points of the hygienic hypothesis

Although details about the development and functions of the immune system are very numerous and complex, the following are important points about the relationship of the immune system and the hygienic hypothesis:

  1. Stimulation of your immune system causes several types of immunity cells to multiply, some of them directly against microbes that "come" to your body, and some of them form other substances (for example, antibodies or cytokines) that cause or potentially form an immune force.
  2. The hygienic hypothesis proposes that the lack of exposure to various good bacteria in your body, as well as microbes that cause disease, makes you have a weak immune response, which is associated with a weak ability of the immune system to recognize and respond when your immune system is "challenged" by certain microbes .
  3. The researchers propose that if the developing immune system is exposed to bacteria or parasites, then this will affect development in later stages. As a result, in an environment that is "too clean", the immune system in children does not get the opportunity to be "challenged" by various types of microbes, which, according to the hygiene hypothesis, are more likely to have health problems such as asthma and other diseases related to the immune system.

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Is it true that the environment is too clean to make children sick easily?
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