1918, the Spanish flu is kicking everyone’s arse. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 500 million people (a third of the population at the time) got the Spanish Flu. Of them, 50 million people died.
That is a 10% mortality rate. Currently, Covid is sitting at about 2%. The stranger thing was that those in the 25- 34 range were dying at 50% more than those in the 65 – 74-year-old range.
What appears to be the cause of this radical amount of death. Over-correction, or specifically our bodies over-correction to the virus.
There is a thing called a cytokine storm.
the rapid release of immune cells and inflammatory molecules. Although a robust immune response should help us fight infection, an over-reaction of this kind can overload the body, leading to severe inflammation and a build-up of fluid in the lungs that could increase the chance of secondary infections. The cytokine storm might help to explain why young, healthy adults – who normally find it easier to shake off flu – were the worst affected, since in this case their stronger immune systems created an even more severe cytokine storm.
David Robson
So what does this tell us about our own behaviour and actions?
Don’t over-correct, just correct.
You missed a workout, you don’t kill yourself in the next workout. Just get back out there tomorrow and get back on course.
You made a mistake at work, so what, learn from it, fix the error and keep learning.
You ate badly today, you don’t starve yourself to offset it, you just get back to eating healthy.
If you know what your north star is, your purpose, your system of improvement, over correcting doesn’t put you back on track, it just pushes you to the other side of the path.
Shake it off, reset, refocus, and get back out there.
Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe 