"keeping kids indoors hermetically sealed away from real dirt makes them sick. "

[kpete]

We've been saying this for years: keeping kids indoors hermetically sealed away from real dirt makes them sick. "A lack of exposure to a "natural environment" could be resulting in more urban dwellers developing allergies and asthma, research has suggested. Finnish scientists say certain bacteria, shown to be beneficial for human health, are found in greater abundance in non-urban surroundings. The microbiota play an important role in the development and maintenance of the immune system, they add. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "There are microbes everywhere, including in the built environment, but the composition is different between natural environments and human-built areas," explained co-author Ilkka Hanski from the University of Helsinki. "The microbiota in natural environments is more beneficial for us," he told BBC News."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17952320
via: http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/

[seabeyond]

1. so it was eating that dirt when he was a baby that made my son so healthy. good to know

actually, i innately knew this raising my kids.... as far as too much protection. common sense

[Gormy Cuss]

5. NOW they tell you.

Undoubtedly you deprived your son of beneficial microbes by curtailing his dirt-eating.

[seabeyond]

9. wha?? i have pictures, lol

for years, and lots of pictures out in the back yard. freedom of naked. between the dirt eating and naked my MIL went wild. lol. after a couple years my MIL asked if i couldnt raise the camera a bit. lol. i didnt even think....

[Gormy Cuss]

12. LOL!

Bad DIL!

[sinkingfeeling]

2. I would have thought that was obvious.

[TedBronson]

34. In other news.. water is still wet...

[MineralMan]

3. Kids need to play in the dirt.

They stopped doing that sometime in the late 20th century, and they're paying for it now. Parents are too protective of their young'uns and don't let them get filthy dirty and banged up any more. Some kids never really spend any time outdoors at all.

Kids need to play in the dirt.

[randome]

4. 'Kids'?

We ALL need to play in the dirt once in a while!

[MineralMan]

6. Well, yes. But I grew up playing in the dirt

and never stopped. From fish slime to digging in the yard, I'm still doing it. Still getting banged up, too. You'd think I'd have figured out how not to peel the skin off my knuckles by age 66, but no...BTW, that is treated by sucking on the owie until it stops bleeding. Dunking the injured part in cleaning solvent works, too, if you're working on a car.

[randome]

10. You know what works for a wart?

Trying to change a tire when the lug nuts are rusted on.

'Cured' myself of one just a few weeks ago.

[MineralMan]

13. That'll do it. Sucker pops right off, doesn't it?

Seriously, though, working on cars is responsible for a number of scars on my hands. Uff da!

[Bake]

32. Plumbing does it for me.

Cannot complete a plumbing project without busting a knuckle or spilling a little bit of blood! Yeah, I know, wear gloves. Then I can't grasp the little parts! So I end up with minor injuries.



Bake

[Warpy]

35. I have friends who rate jobs by the number of knuckles they're likely to flay

A three knuckle job is average. Anything more than a five knuckle job means you need some help doing it.

[blueamy66]

21. Did you start any fires?

[immoderate]

8. Yep.

--imm

[cali]

7. and not just physically.

We can't just take ourselves out of the natural world.

[tabbycat31]

11. I have a friend that was raised by a germaphobe in a sterile environment

Never allowed to play outside, etc.

Today she's the biggest hypochondriac I know and it at the doctor's office at least once a week. At 26, she probably sees the doctor more than most people in their 80s do. When something is going around, she's always the first to get it. I wonder if her upbringing has to do with the state she's at today.

[longship]

14. As usual, George Carlin was right

"We swam in raw sewage!"

[blueamy66]

22. Some of my guy friends, as children, did something like that....

You know how irrigation runs under streets? These dumbasses would "swim" under the street to the other side. I was freaked out every time they did it!!!!

[Odin2005]

15. Corporations scare parents and then profit from that paranoia.

[tabbycat31]

24. Have you seen some of the Lysol ones?

There's seriously one that says that the handle of a soap dispenser is a germy surface that must not be touched AT ALL.

[Odin2005]

39. Yup, it's insane.

[Marrah_G]

16. I let my kids be around all sorts of germs as babies/toddlers

I rarely took them to the Dr's unless it was apparent that they had something I couldn't treat myself. I was very conscious about not wanting their bodies bombarded by antibiotics like so many are. The result is two boys who are rarely sick. No allergies, no asthma, etc.

They ate whatever I put in front of them or they didn't eat! The result is young men who love all types of food including fruits and veggies. I have one that doesn't drink milk, except for his recent discovery that he likes organic milk.

Also, I hate to say it, but I smoked the whole time they were growing up. I would change that if I could go back, but they never had any breathing issues.

I think society in general shields our children far to much.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

18. Kids are soft now.

And getting them outside is next to impossible. WE were kids growing up. Now you can't tear kids away from technology long enough to use their imagination!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

17. People who don't use their their immune system are doomed to die because it doesn't work.

As a child, we played in the dirt, ate dirt, mud and I think I was forced to eat a grasshopper once. Gross, yes, but we were kids. I was a healthy kid.
Use too much hand sanitizer and antibacterial hand soaps and you create super bugs. Regular soap and water is naturally antibacterial. It's good enough. People before these things were introduced were just fine and didn't get nearly as sick as people do today. I'm not talking about before Vaccinations and clean living conditions, but like the 60s, 70s, 80s.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

33. My immune system has been in a perpetual uproar since I was a small child, fighting allergens.

Read further down about the filth and clutter in my house.

Although the food, clothes, sheets and dishes and the people were clean.

Mom insisted on using a dishwasher.

I think you are wrong.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

37. Have at it.

[LibertyLover]

19. I was at a Christmas party once with my then 2 year old daughter

She was adopted from Hubei province in China. It's south central province and their cooking is quite spicy and uses peanuts. Bethan had gone with her father to the buffet table where, to her great joy, she discovered a dish of peanut M&Ms. Once of our friends, a mother of a 2 year old herself, came running, and I mean that literally, to tell me that Bethan was eating peanuts. My reaction was one of complete disinterest - something along the lines of 'yeah, she loves them' IIRC. My friend persisted - her pediatrician wouldn't let her feed peanuts to her daughter until the kid was at least 3; my kid might have an allergic reaction right then and there; and . . . well, I'm sure you get the picture. I finally managed to tell her that Bethan had been brought up eating peanuts and they were a staple in her province's cooking. Not to mention that my pediatrician had not said anything about us not feeding her peanuts. So, anyway, 6 years later, whose kid has a massive allergy to peanuts and whose doesn't? Hint: my kid took a PB&J sandwich to school today.

[blueamy66]

20. Amen. Let them go out and explore and learn....

I feel sorry for the kids today. Playdates, being driven to school, video games 24/7, bike helmets, etc.

My nieces let their kids go.....the boys play spy games and the girls love to ride their bikes and roller skate.

I could not even imagine having to call someone's house to see if they could come out and play. We just ran down the block and knocked on the door. If we were still there at lunch, the parents fed us.

Oh, and we were exposed all the time to "microbes".....as we swam in irrigation ditches every time that we could....and slid down the cotton at the gin.....

Life was good.....

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. My parents were crazy.

If I went outside to play with the neighbor kids, that was BAD. Mom called that "running off".

She and dad would sometimes run down the sidewalk shrieking my name, and holding a bamboo switch in their hands to hit me with for "running off". I felt like my brain was on fire from the stress of hiding from them. And laughing at mom's idiocy while hiding behind a house with a neighbor kid.

She wouldn't let me join the Girl Scouts. That was the only time I was around a group of girls where nobody picked on me because there was adult supervision.

I never had a birthday party. I never had another kid over to sleep over. I had to share a bedroom with my sister b/c mom had junked up one bedroom with her crapola. She was a hoarder. I can only watch the Hoarders show for about five minutes before I get flashbacks. We couldn't have birthday parties because the house wasn't clean. She would gripe at me for being lazy and not doing chores, but I couldn't throw any of her junk away. Like brown paper sacks and rotten boxes.

She was a jailer because she was strung out on heavy tranks like the housewives of the 60s. I guess the doctors were afraid they would start marching in the streets and demanding their rights. I'm not talking about valium; she took lots of that but also much heavier tranks that made her stoned. She stayed in bed weirded out a lot of the time.

She'd give me a Shirley Temple perm and wonder why I came home crying because the kids picked on me. She was a jailer. I don't think she wanted me to have friends. I was not supposed to dress like the other kids; that was bad.

In high school, Dad took me to a beauty operator who was one of his clients (he was an attorney). he tried to help me fit in. she gave me a Jane Fonda shag like she wore in the movie 'Klute' with Donald Sutherland. that was real hip in 1970. Mom got mad at him and thought it was just awful. She thought i was supposed to look like Shirley temple when I was little, and Joan Crawford when I was big.

I was 19 when I got a good haircut. I have beautiful, naturally curly hair I inherited from both parents and mom was too busy fucking with my hair when I was little to find that out.

[blueamy66]

26. I'm sorry that your childhood was so bad.

Mine was the total opposite. I can't recall one complaint....wait, cept for my hair. I have nightmare stories like you do. Oh, and everyone dressed like idiots in the 70s.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

23. I grew up in a filthy unairconditioned house.

Dirt, mold, pollen, cockroaches, dust, dog hair, cat hair, air pollution from stinkin' refineries, parents who smoked.

We had an attic fan that was like a convection oven. It just spread the heat around and made it worse.
It was horrible. I could not sleep at night because the temp was still 90 degrees and 100% humidity.

I finally got a window unit AC in my room in high school. Blew on my feet in bed. Central air and carpet were things that rich people had.

Air Conditioning is a necessity in the South. The air does not cool off at night because it's humid and there is no evaporative cooling.

I had a runny nose all the way through school. Nobody noticed except the kids that yelled at me for blowing my nose in class all the time. Eventually i got tested for allergies, somewhere back in high school (1970s).

The result? I have lots of food allergies, mold allergies, animal hair allergies, dust mite allergies, pollen allergies, allergic asthma, and have to use topical decongestants so I can breathe. I also have scar tissue in my lungs from my parents' smoking and my inhaling second hand smoke. I have not once smoked a cigarette in my life.

So the theory that if you are exposed to plenty of dirt and allergens will build up your immune system, is bullshit. My family has autoimmune disorders, usually RA or hypothyroidism.

I had all these horrible allergic symptoms like a constant runny nose and frequent sinus infections BEFORE I acquired Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States.

[Marrah_G]

28. I think like anything, it's all about balance.

You obviously had the extreme opposite of germaphobe parents and I am sorry for what you went through, it sounds pretty horrendous. Your post was heart breaking and I hope you've been able to talk to someone to help you deal with all of that.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Mom was well aware of germs.

Mom knew all about germs. We showered daily, washed clothes frequently, and we always had a dishwasher to sterilize the dishes. People who don't have dishwashers think that tap water gets hot enough to kill germs. It gets hot enough to burn you, but that's not hot enough to kill the germs. Dishwashers are a necessity if you want clean dishes. That's why they have a heating coil in the bottom.

A typical example from Arizona state regulations:

"Hot-water sanitizing -- through immersion (small parts, knives, etc.), spray (dishwashers), or circulating systems -- is commonly used. The time required is determined by the temperature of the water. Typical regulatory requirements (Food Code 1995) for use of hot water in dishwashing and utensil sanitizing applications specify: immersion for at least 30 sec. at 77°C (170°F) for manual operations; a final rinse temperature of 74°C (165°F) in single tank, single temperature machines and 82°C (180°F) for other machines. Many state regulations require a utensil surface temperature of 71°C (160°F) as measured by an irreversibly registering temperature indicator in ware washing machines."

Tap water only goes to 120 degrees.

The sheets were clean too. I washed my hands a lot, and the food was always clean. It's just that we had dust and clutter, everything blowing in the windows due to lack of air conditioning, and an 80 pound collie that slept on her own sofa.

[Kaleva]

27. Some airtight homes are worse then living in industrial areas

I did a research paper back in the early 90's on the deterioration of indoor air quality as homes were becoming super insulated. Some states such as Michigan now require the installation air exchange units when installing a heating system or a method of providing outside air when replacing a unit.

[Blaukraut]

29. How to get your kids to go outside and play in the dirt

Simple: Throw their cell phones, lap tops, x-boxes, playstations, etc, controllers and all outside into the mud. If there is no mud, make some.

[SoCalDem]

30. Many Moms have known this for a very long time..

My boys were exposed to pets, the outdoors & yes even un-dusted furniture as youngsters..They were rarely ever sick. Friends who were on the "over-protective" side of the spectrum, seemed to have kids who were always sick with something or other.

We even went so far as to have a "pox-party" in our neighborhood when the first kidlet on the block got chicken pox.. No reason to drag the outbreak out over a long timeframe.. We just gathered them all together and got it over with sooner rather than later...*****For the nervous nellie/scolds who will chime in****..there was no vaccination then

[haele]

36. Operative words - "real dirt"

Letting kids play in a lot covered with "Roundup" and other weed-killers, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, oil residue, and trash residue doesn't contribute to their health, while letting them play in a lot that is just plain normal natural vegitation, dirt, natural fertilizers (guano, dehydrated manure) is healthy.
I wouldn't let my kid play in one of those suburban development playgrounds with their "perfect" lawns that are chemically enhanced - I wouldn't keep her cooped up in the house, but I would'nt let her play in a toxic dumpsite, either...

Haele

[drokhole]

38. Well said!

[Odin2005]

40. Touche!!!