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What Really Causes Cold Sores?

What causes cold sores for some people, but not every one?

In a couple minutes, you will discover the top three causes of cold sores and what you can do now to prevent future cold sore occurances.

The replication process of the herpes simplex virus is the root cause of cold sores on the surface of your face. Usually the herpes virus is asleep and hiding inside the nerve cells of the nerve ganglia. Once it senses a weakness in your immune system, it will move quickly to the surface.

Living in your nerves, the cold sore virus is very sensitive to changes in your body. Discovering what causes cold sores for you is to understand the basic triggers that activate the cold sore virus.

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

1. YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM. If you are normal and healthy, your immune system can keep the virus that causes cold sores asleep indefinitely. The quality and quantity of vitamins and minerals that you obtain from food and supplements will determine, in a large degree, how resistant you will be to cold sore outbreaks.

If you get cold sores frequently, the first thing you should do is address your nutritional intake. Increase vegetable and fruit intake. Most importantly, start taking a good quality multi-vitamin. This is a must for today's busy life - and it helps make up for the lack of nutrients in the commercial foods we get now.

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.

Your cells utilize many different amino acids for different purposes. Lysine and arginine are always fighting for the same storage space in the nerve cell. The more lysine and the less arginine you consume in your daily diet, the higher the quantity of lysine in your cells. Since lysine does not support virus replication, you can create immunity to the virus that causes cold sores.

3. ARE YOU ACID OR ALKALINE? The herpes simplex virus can be very active when your body is in an acid state. The pH of your body can vary from 5 (very acid) to 7.9 (quite alkaline). Your body will strive to stay around 7.4 on the pH scale. When your pH balance drops into the acid zone (below 7) you are at risk for cold sores and other illnesses.

Usually your body controls the pH balance very well. It will make every effort to keep your pH above 7 and maintain optimum health. A good diet that includes vegetables and fruits will go a long way in helping this effort. Carbonated drinks, coffee, and pork, on the other hand, are a few things that contribute to an acid environment in your body.

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.

Also, the body in stress starts using large quantities of certain nutrients such as the B and C vitamins, and minerals such as calcium and potassium. Additional quantities of these vitamins and minerals during stressful situations will help cut down on the instances of 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.

You now know that the actual causes of cold sores are based, primarily, on your level of health. You also now know the true reasons stress is blamed for causing cold sores. Armed with this information, you will, hopefully, be better equipped to banish cold sores in your future.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

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