Simple Ways to Boost your Immune System

Details: Category: Region 9; Published: 31 March 2022

In times like this, we really need to boost our immune system. Lauren Bedosky stated that it’s our immune system’s job to defend our bodies against illnesses and diseases. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the complex system is made up of cells in your skin, blood, bone marrow, tissues, and organs that — when working the way, they should — protect your body against potentially harmful pathogens (like bacteria and viruses), and limit damage from non-infectious agents (like sunburn or cancer).

According to Mary Beshara, exercising helps boost your immune system. Aside from the fact that it prevents chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and high blood pressure, or as a way to keep weight in control, it also contributes to general good health including a healthy immune system. Exercise can promote good blood circulation, which allows your cells and substances of the immune system to move through your body freely to do their job efficiently.

Furthermore, she added that you should have to control your stress level as much as possible. Stress drains your ability to stay strong. If you have big or little stressors daily, your system is constantly pushed to overcome that stress. One way of de-stressing is by giving yourself time for "self-care." You should also get a good sleep for sleeping is a regenerative process for your body. When you are sleep-deprived your natural immune cells, or T cells, go down, and inflammatory cytokines (inflammation cells) go up. It means that good sleep results in strengthening your immunity.

Eating a healthy diet also helps your immune system according to Lauren Bedosky. The nutrients you get from food — in particular, plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices — are essential to keep your immune system working properly, according to Yufang Lin, MD, an integrative medicine doctor at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “Many plant-based foods also have antiviral and antimicrobial properties, which help us fight off infection,” Dr. Lin said.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics also emphasized that micronutrients like zinc, folate, iron, selenium, copper, and vitamins A, C, E, B6, and B12 you get from the food you eat are the nutrients needed for your immune system to function normally. When it comes to alcohol consumption, practice moderation. Drinking high amounts of alcohol is associated with a range of negative health effects, including lowered immune function. When you drink high amounts of alcohol, your body is too busy trying to detoxify your system to bother with normal immune system function, Kaplan explained.

Like alcohol, cigarette smoking can also affect immune health. “Anything that’s a toxin can compromise your immune system,” Kaplan said. According to the CDC, smoking also worsens viral and bacterial infections (especially those of the lungs, like pneumonia, flu, and tuberculosis), post-surgical infections, and rheumatoid arthritis (an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the joints).

We can make several lifestyle and dietary changes today to strengthen our immune system. These include reducing your alcohol intake, staying hydrated, working out regularly, getting adequate sleep, and managing your stress levels. Although none of these suggestions can prevent COVID-19 or any type of disease, they may reinforce your body’s defense against harmful pathogens.

PNFP-ZDS Marie Claire A. Gaas

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