Who Are the Most Susceptible to Candida?
Some people seem to never get sick. Others are perennially complaining of health problems, from mild to serious. What makes one person more susceptible to illness than another? In many cases, the difference is nothing more than a problem with a person’s immune system.
Your immune system is the way your body fights to keep you healthy. When you eat right, drink plenty of water, get a lot of rest and exercise regularly, your immune system has the best chance at doing its job properly. It fights off infection and disease, your body and mind stay healthy and strong, and you are very seldom if ever sick or ailing.
When that same healthy immune system gets sick, or becomes weak for any reason, your natural defense barriers are lowered. Viruses, pathogens and fungal infections storm the gates of your defenses and in this weakened condition, your body’s defenders against illness, infection and disease can be defeated.
This provides us with a very good picture of exactly who is most susceptible to developing a candida overgrowth infection.
Candida Is Naturally Present in Everyone
People sometimes think that the candida microorganism is a bad thing. Actually, it naturally occurs in every man woman and child. It operates with the flora in your gut and trillions of other microorganisms to keep your body healthy and strong. That is, this is the situation when your good bacteria ensures that candida yeast does not grow unchecked.
As mentioned above, sometimes a person’s immune system becomes weak. When this happens candida takes advantage. It begins to reproduce and spread. Once it escapes your intestinal tract and enters the bloodstream, it can move throughout the body, presenting symptoms from head to toe, internally and externally.
Understanding that the presence of candida overgrowth is a sign of a compromised immune system tells us exactly who most at risk for developing yeast infections is. The following people are more at risk than average for developing some type of candida infection.
* HIV/AIDS patients
* Anyone that is hospitalized, or is on antibiotics
* Newborns and toddlers
* Someone undergoing an organ transplant
* Cancer patients
* Anyone taking medications that put the immune system at risk
* Stem cell transplant patients
* The elderly
* A person using pharmaceutical birth-control products
* People with high levels of heavy metals in their body, such as lead, arsenic and cadmium
* Anyone who uses nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), especially long-term
* Those who suffer from social anxiety disorders which lead to frequent stress
* Children who grow up in an environment which lacks love and nurturing
* Individuals exposed to poor air/water quality
* people who receive insufficient exposure to sunlight, which leads to a vitamin D deficiency
* People with autoimmune disorders
* Those who practice unprotected sex
* Men, women and children who eat a lot of processed and fast foods
* People that don’t drink enough water
* Those that consume too much alcohol, and abuse recreational drugs
* Sedentary individuals that do not enjoy physical activity or exercise regularly
* men, women or children with high levels of stress and anxiety
As you can see from the wide range of risks for candida overgrowth development, the underlying problem is always the same – a compromised immune system.
Candida is often seen in the very young and the very old. This is because those natural states of human development are usually accompanied by a less than optimal immune system. Poor lifestyle habits, such as over-consumption of alcohol, poor sleep patterns or diet, can raise the risk that you will develop candida overgrowth as well.
Some people are genetically predisposed to having a weak immune system. Others exercise infrequently or never, and get little strenuous physical activity, and this also raises candida risk. High levels of stress and even long-term relationship problems mean that candida overgrowth symptoms are possible.
Resources:
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/infections/index.html
https://www.modernherbalist.com/influences.html
