There are three primary cause of cold sores which you will see in this article. Once you are aware of the real causes of cold sore outbreaks, you will easily be able to take control and prevent future events.

Cold sores are caused by the replication process of the herpes simplex virus. Most of your life the virus is dormant and hibernating in the nerve cell roots - called the nerve ganglia. When the cold sore virus senses a change in your immune system and will take the opportunity to causing yet another cold sore.

The cold sore virus has a very clever early warning system because it lives in your nerve cells. To discover what causes cold sores is simply to understand what the basic triggers that encourages the cold sore virus to begin its replication process.

These are the top three cold sore triggers that you should know about.

1. STRENGTH OF YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. Your immune system, and the associated anti-bodies, help keep the herpes simplex virus under control. Several factors are responsible for the strength of your immune system. The most important factor is your nutrient intake from foods and nutritional supplements.

Multiple reoccurring cold sore outbreaks often are a sign of a need for more nutrients - vitamins and minerals. Every one, including you and I, should be taking a good multi-vitamin and mineral supplement every day. Today's foods are grown on depleted soils and picked before they are ripe. Repeated cold sores will often disappear when you start taking a good quality supplement.

2. YOUR LEVELS OF LYSINE AND ARGININE. These are two amino acids that are important for your daily health. However arginine also is an essential ingredient in the creation of new herpes simplex virus. If there is a shortage of arginine, the virus cannot replicate and the cold sore does not occur.

Actually your cell contain many different and vital amino acids. Each amino acid has a specific use. Arginine and lysine both use the same storage space in the nerve cells. Therefore, the more lysine in the cell the less arginine you will have. Since lysine does not support creation of new virus, increasing lysine in your nerve cells can prevent future cold sores.

3. YOUR pH BALANCE. The perfect pH level in a healthy person is 7.4, which is slightly alkaline. When your pH balance drops below pH 7, you are moving into an acid state that encourages illnesses to become active. This definitely causes cold sores to develop, along with other illnesses, such as colds and flu.

Your body usually keeps your pH in a very tight range of 6.5 to 7.4. Do not go crazy on this but keep in mind that most vegetables and fruits will help your body maintain a good pH balance. Do not use this as an excuse to go vegetarian. Carbonated soda and beer are strong contributors to an acid situation in your body - often causing cold sores.

Have you heard that stress causes cold sores? Well it is true.

If it is stress that causes cold sores then why did I wait until now to mention it? Primarily because every one states that the culprit is stress, but they do not explain why. When you get stressed your body goes into the defense mode and this causes the body to go toward the acid side of normal.

Stress consumes large quantities of nutrients that your immune system needs to stay vital. The B and C vitamins in particular are used up rapidly. These are known as the stress vitamins and are critical for defense against cold sores. Also, calcium is depleted as the stress causes the body to move toward the acid side. You can see, now, how stress causes cold sores.

All stress, whether physical or mental, can cause the same effects in the body - thus causing cold sores. These stress triggers include dentist work, colds, fevers, excessive sun exposure or any physical damage or shock to the body. Conflict, worry or fear in your life also causes cold sores because these also cause physical changes in our body.

Hopefully you now see how cold sore events are based on the level of health of your immune system. You also now know exactly why stress is called the number one cause of cold sores. This should help you to develop a strategic plan to eliminate the causes of cold sores in your life.