How to boost your Immune system
The function of the immune system is to defend your body against illness and disease.
To protect your body from harm, every component of your immune system needs to perform as planned. The best way to ensure that this takes place is to practice good-for-you behaviour every day that your immune system continues to function.
Ways to boost your immune system:
Eat a Healthy Diet: The nutrients one gets from food, in particular, plant-based foods such as fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices — are essential to keep your immune system functioning correctly, and many plant-based foods also have antiviral and antimicrobial properties that help us fight infection.
To ensure a diet that promotes good immune health, focus on the addition of more plants and plant-based foods. Add fruit and vegetables to soups and stews, smoothies and salads, or eat as snacks. Carrots, red bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, apricots, citrus fruits (such as oranges, grapefruit, mandarins) and strawberries are good sources of vitamin A and C. At the same time, the seeds and nuts provide protein, vitamin E and zinc.
Keeping stress under control
Long-term stress leads to chronically higher levels of cortisol as a steroid hormone. The body relies on hormones such as cortisol during short-term stress bouts. When cortisol levels are always high, it essentially prevents the immune system from kicking in and doing its function of protecting the body from potential threats to germs such as bacteria and viruses. There are many effective stress-reduction techniques; the key is to find out what works for you.
Get a lot of good quality sleep
The body heals and regenerates while at sleep, making a good sleep critical for a healthy immune response. More specifically, sleep is a time when the body is producing and distributing vital immune cells. Lack of sleep may make your immune system less able to defend your body against harmful infections and making you more likely to get sick. As a result, our immune system is declining, and we tend to have fewer reserves to fight or recover from illness.
Adults must sleep at least seven hours of sleep every night to improve their health. To ensure quality sleep, give priority to good sleep hygiene: turn off the electronics two to three hours before bedtime, and avoid violent conversations or stressful books.
Regular exercise
Exercising often reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases (like type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease) as well as bacterial and viral infections. Exercise increases the release of endorphins (a group of hormones that reduces pain and creates feelings of pleasure), making it an excellent way to deal with stress. Since stress adversely affects our immune system, this is another way for exercise to improve the immune response. Sunshine helps to boost vitamin D in the body, which also plays a crucial role in immune health.
Cut down on Alcohol
Consuming a large amount of alcohol is associated with a range of adverse health effects, including reduced immune function. High levels of alcohol consumption may weaken your body’s ability to fight infection and slow down your recovery time.
If you drink occasionally, limit your alcohol intake. Women must limit their consumption to one drink per day, and men should limit their consumption to two drinks per day.
Don’t smoke the cigarette
Cigarette smoking, like alcohol, can also affect your immune health. “Anything that is a toxin can compromise your immune system. Chemicals released by cigarette smoke, in particular, may interfere with the growth and function of immune cells.
If you smoke, there are various ways to help you kick the habit, including counselling, prescription non-nicotine medications, nicotine replacement products, and behavioural therapy.
Keeping symptoms of chronic conditions under control
Chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease and asthma can affect the immune system and increase the risk of infection. Make sure to take medications as prescribed, visit your doctor, and practice healthy habits that keep your symptoms at bay. Your immune system is going to thank you.
