What are the causes of cold sores? This article will tell you quickly. You will learn the main reasons for a cold sore. You will quickly identify the causes of cold sores for yourself. There are many causes of cold sores that you hear about. Stress, illness, injury and winter weather are a few. They are not the actual causes of cold sores however. We call these cold sore triggers. Folks claim these are causes of cold sores because you often get a cold sore along with them. These triggers will lower your body's resistance to cold sore attacks. Basically, every cold sore, oral herpes or fever blister ulcer is caused by the herpes simplex virus - type 1 or type 2. It hides in your nerve root cells. If the herpes virus activates it moves to the surface quickly. It then infects the nerve cells and begins replicating - destroying those cells in the process. Because the herpes simplex virus hides in the nerve cells, it can pick up on the slightest change in your physical condition. The triggers mentioned earlier cause these changes. Here are the three basic causes of cold sores. These are the right conditions that the herpes virus needs to activate and replicate. 1. LOW pH. The acid or alkaline state of your body is its pH balance. The pH scale runs from 1 through 14 - below 7 is acid and above 7 is alkaline. Your optimal pH is 7.35, which is slightly alkaline. You usually will not get any cold sore as long as you stay above 7 pH. If your pH drops below 7 you are becoming acid. Oxygen in your cells drop and you are inviting a cold sore outbreak. This is one of the main causes of cold sores. Stress lowers your pH levels toward the acid side. This is why they say stress causes cold sores. Fevers, cold weather and sun exposure also can cause your body to become acid - and are also considered causes of cold sores. What you eat also causes cold sores for you. Coffee, soda and beer will acidify your body. So does sugar, pork and white flour. Most vegetables help keep your body alkaline. The key here is to balance your diet. Of all the causes of cold sores, an acid pH is top of the list. The next two are also key players in creating a cold sore. 2. AMINO ACIDS LYSINE AND ARGININE. Arginine is a protein and the main ingredient used for creation of the herpes simplex virus. If no arginine is available, the herpes replication process cannot occur and no cold sore will happen. Your nerve cells store arginine in a specific area. Lysine shares this storage area. Flooding your cells with lysine forces the cell to push arginine out to make room for the extra lysine. Your cells cannot use lysine to create new herpes virus or cause cold sores. The more arginine you replace with lysine, the fewer cold sore outbreaks you will experience. Lysine capsules are a cheap and convenient way to get the quantities of lysine needed for your cold sore healing and prevention. 3. THE POWER OF MULTI-VITAMINS. The strength of your immune system, and the anti-body soldiers, is dependent on several factors. The most important of which is proper quantities of vitamins and minerals. A feeble immune system causes cold sores. It would be wise, especially if you get frequent cold sore outbreaks, to get a good supply of vitamins and minerals from food and supplement every day. There are only about half the nutrients in today's food as there was in 1950. For optimum health, be sure to take a high quality multivitamin daily along with a good balanced diet. Especially important is calcium. Cold sore victims are often calcium deficient. Your body uses calcium to help keep your body in an alkaline state. As you have discovered in this article, the main causes of cold sores are an acid pH, high levels of arginine in your cells and a weak immune system. When you experience any stress, your body will tend toward the acid side. It also makes your immune system much weaker by consuming massive amounts of critical vitamins and minerals. There is more you should know but hopefully, this article has helped you discover, and eliminate, the main causes of cold sores in your life.
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.
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Denny Bodoh has sinced written about articles on various topics from Herpes Cure, Yoga and Health. Still curious about the causes of ? Go now to Denny Bodoh's fact-packed web site for awesome FREE tips and info about cold sores. Discover great. Denny Bodoh's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.