<figure id="attachment_259173" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1920px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-259173"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9545099c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/08/cold-gf8c493a38_1920.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-259173" class="wp-caption-text">Extreme heat and corona. Japan&#8217;s &#8220;health&#8221; is now in danger. A spirited doctor talks about how to survive this summer. It may be time for us to rethink the meaning of &#8220;health.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>No &#8220;cure&#8221; for new coronas</h2>
 Last month, I contracted a new type of corona. It was a mild illness. I had been vaccinated three times and had no pre-existing medical conditions, so I wasn&#8217;t worried about life or death. But&#8230;to be honest, it was tough.
Dr. Koshiro Owaki, a physician and author of many books on health, says that he contracted the disease in mid-July.
 I couldn&#8217;t sleep with a fever of 38 degrees Celsius, and I felt sorry for him because he was always groggy. I couldn&#8217;t sleep with a fever of 38 degrees Celsius, and I felt sorry for him because he was always fretting and moaning. That night was really tough. I was still wobbling around with a fever, holding my child in my arms.
Even for a doctor with expert medical knowledge, who has read and commented on many domestic and international papers on the new coronas, &#8220;it was painful even though it was a mild illness,&#8221; he said.
 But, based on this experience, I can clearly say, &#8216;Young and healthy people should not panic if they get the disease and should take care of themselves at home.
 Even if you go to a hospital, there is no specific treatment for new coronas. If the fever is high, antipyretics are effective, but other drugs, such as cough medicine and expectorants, are clearly ineffective. It is said that cough medicine and honey are equally effective. So you can eat honey instead of medicine, and the important thing is to drink water and eat well if possible, and rest your body.
 Even if you think you have corona now, if you are young and have no pre-existing conditions, it is better for you not to go to the hospital when you are asymptomatic or even if you have mild symptoms. Even if you are given medicine, there is little therapeutic benefit, and in fact, the isolation can be very burdensome. Instead, it is definitely better to stay home and rest.
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In the case of a high fever, lowering the fever will help, and antipyretics are &#8220;the only thing that works like medicine,&#8221; but other than that, no other benefits can be expected. Instead of going to the hospital when you are sick and waiting for a long time and putting your body through a lot of strain, you can rest your body at home. If fewer people go to the hospital in this way, those who need it can afford to receive medical care. This is beneficial for both the individual and society.
 In 1900, there was a huge fire in Chinatown, Honolulu, Hawaii. The source of the fire was the burning of buildings to fight an epidemic and plague. The entire town burned down an area where many socially vulnerable Japanese and Chinese people lived, who were considered the source of the infection.
 Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation where private rights are restricted with uncertain effectiveness, the weak are persecuted, and social disparities are widening is exactly the same as the plague countermeasures of that time. The history of infectious disease medicine is a history of human folly.&#8221;
Dr. Owaki&#8217;s translation of &#8220;Honolulu: The Fire of the Plague&#8221; records the details of the &#8220;countermeasures against infectious diseases&#8221; of the time. It is hard to believe when reading it now, but it is true that the &#8220;countermeasures&#8221; have led us to today.
<h2>More important than health</h2>
 The COVID-19 crisis has been going on for two and a half years now. Japan is the only country that has taken such &#8220;countermeasures&#8221; as waterfront measures, negative testimonies, and the wearing of masks. What we need to do now is &#8216;not to ruin our lives by worrying about coronas.
Dr. Owaki has long been preaching that what is more important than health is to live a happy life.
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 This year&#8217;s heat wave is really hard on the body. Older people, as well as young and middle-aged people, are in danger of dying. So, for example, when it is hot and you want to eat ice cream, you can take a break from dieting. Lifestyle-related diseases caused by obesity are something to worry about for years or decades to come. But heat stroke is life-threatening today and tomorrow. At such times, there is no time for diet restrictions or jogging for the purpose of slimming down.
 Why do you care so much about &#8220;health&#8221; in the first place? There is a joke that says, &#8220;I would die for my health,&#8221; but think about it. The purpose of life is to live happily. So, especially during such abnormal weather, the best thing to do is to eat whatever you want, sweet or cold, and stay in a good mood and good health.
It is said that the best way to cope with extreme summer heat is to 1) adjust the temperature by using an air conditioner and 2) drink plenty of water.
 As a doctor, I would say those are the first two things to do. It is important to stay hydrated, but you can drink plain water or tea instead of special beverages, and unless you sweat a lot during exercise, the amount of salt you get from food should be sufficient. And, you should eat what you like and live happily.
<h2>And protect your &#8220;lifestyle.</h2>
Dr. Owaki laughs, &#8220;There is no point in counting the new coronas as the XXth wave anymore,&#8221; after the infection and outbreak that wiped out an entire family.
 There are still many things we don&#8217;t know about COVID-19, and researchers all over the world are publishing more and more papers on the subject. I am trying my best to read them, but I am not following all of them. However, I think it is very dangerous that there is so much &#8220;discourse&#8221; out there that is not based on honest &#8220;medical research. The <a href="https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kansentaisaku_00001.html">Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has compiled a list of</a> masks that are often discussed, but what is not listed here is not important either. Pretend you didn&#8217;t hear the uncertain information.
 There is currently no way to avoid spreading coronas. We have to deal with it without disrupting our lives. In countries all over the world, coronas are increasing and decreasing every few months, with or without severe measures. Hopefully, when the heat wave settles down, the coronas will go down as well.&#8221;
<figure id="attachment_259169" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4032px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-259169"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9e5d5406"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/08/oowakiIMG_2120.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-259169" class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Koshiro Owaki loves parfaits and other sweet treats. He laughs, &#8220;It&#8217;s not happy to live with something you love.</figcaption></figure>
 Koshiro Owaki: After graduating from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Owaki worked for a publishing company and as a news editor for a medical website before becoming a doctor. He is involved in home-visit medical services for the elderly and disseminates medical information through his writings and broadcasts. He is the author of &#8220;Kenko kara seikatsu mamoru seikatsu to 12 no superstitions&#8221; (&#8220;Health to Life: The Latest Medicine and 12 Superstitions&#8221;) and &#8220;Doctore ni mo deyasanai wa nai ka. His newly translated book, &#8221; <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%9B%E3%83%8E%E3%83%AB%E3%83%AB-%E3%83%9A%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%81%AE%E7%81%AB-1900-%E5%B9%B4%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%82%A4%E3%83%8A%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E7%82%8E%E4%B8%8A%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%B6-%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BA%E3%83%BBC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%A2%E3%82%A2/dp/4910700021">Honolulu Pesto no Hihatsu: Ichinatown Chinatown Chinatown Ichinatown no Kaji Jiken&#8221; (Honolulu Plague Fire: The Chinatown Blaze of 1900</a> ), suggests lessons to learn from the history of human folly. The video streaming &#8221; <a href="https://shirasu.io">Koshiro Owaki&#8217;s More Unhealthy&#8221;</a> is well received for its up-to-date medical information.
<figure id="attachment_259183" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 717px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-259183"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="afd3c842"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/08/9784910700021.MAIN_.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-259183" class="wp-caption-text">Honolulu Plague Fire&#8221; (Seikatsu no Iryo Sha), translated by Dr. Owaki, contains many issues that overlap with those in Japan today.</figcaption></figure>

 There is no "cure" for new corona "Last month, I contracted new corona. It was a mild illness. I had been vaccinated three times and had no pre-existing medical conditions, so I was not worried about life or death. But... to be honest, it was tough.

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