how to build a strong immune system naturally : 6 easy ways

Source of most of the article

gettyimages

Immune system is a shield for our body which protects us from various germs that go in our body. It consists of a complex network of various cells and proteins. In this whole system WBC's, called leukocytes, play an important role in the immunity of our body. The Immune system is not a single entity. For the proper functioning of the immune system, there must be balance and harmony between all the hormones ,other organs and other functioning of our body. 

The researchers don't have any scientific proof of direct linkage between the better lifestyle of a person and his/her enhanced immunity. Researchers are finding the dependency of better lifestyle (such as exercise, diet, age, psychological stress and other factors also including physical factors.

But we can give upper hand to our immunity by following a better lifestyle.

Note : 

Scientifically there is no any kind of supplement (claiming to enhance the amount of immunity cells in your body) that can help you to boost your immunity. Marketers are just advertising their product by exploiting the demand of getting better immunity among the people. There is just one way to improve your immunity that is your lifestyle.

A Balanced Diet

For the nourishment of the army of cells marching in our stomach, we have to provide a balanced diet. Because there are some studies which show the connection between the increased rate of diseases and malnutrition. Today, most of the people are focussing only on macro nutrients, protein, carbohydrates and fats, the result is, their diet is not providing them all nutrients in a balanced way. Therefore there is deficiency of essential micro-nutrients (copper, zinc, iron, folic acid,selenium and vitamins A, B6, C and E) which play an important role for the better functioning of immune cells. So you are strongly advised to eat varieties of dishes but small quantities of each at the same time in order to get all the nutrients.

Japan does the same, therefore the result is that their citizens have a larger life-span of living than the whole world.

Supplements And Herbs

You can do supplements for boosting your immunity as per the advertisement advertises by companies. But I am again repeating that scientists have no evidence or proof that any supplement or herb that will boost immunity for all types of people and protect you from various diseases and infection. 

But you can take supplements of particular nutrients (such as protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, vitamins, etc) that your food is not providing you enough as per your body requirement. For example, if your body deficit from vitamin-A then taking the pills of vitamin+A might be beneficial for your immune system. 

Another point to keep in your mind that taking the megadoses of these supplements definitely prove to be harmful for your body.

Sleep can Boost Immune System 

(whole article on importance of sleep)

Have you heard about T-cells? These cells play an important role in the immune system. These cells kill virally infected cells that come from outside the body and protect our body from intracellular pathogens such as HIV, flu, cancer cells etc.

Whenever virally infected cells enter our body, our cells recognize them and activate integrins, which is a sticky protein, which combines with the virally infected cells and kills them.

Adrenaline and Noradrenaline are two stress hormones and pro-inflammatory molecules prostaglandins reduce the stickiness of integrins and hence lower the effectiveness of the immune system. 

But taking proper sleep will reduce the amount of these stress hormones and our T-cells do their work efficiently.

The next step that you can do further to increase the effectiveness of the immune system is meditation (vipassana meditation  for mindfulness) that will also help you to reduce your stress level. And mindfulness meditation also gives you mind blowing results in everyday life.

My point here is that lowerer the level of stress, higher will be the performance of the immune system. So do whatever you want that makes the stress level lower.

Exercises Are Good For Our Immunity

As we discussed earlier that healthy lifestyle means healthier immunity. So doing exercise is also a part of the healthy lifestyle. So not surprisingly, the answer is yes. Doing exercise keeps our heart healthy, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, helps to maintain our hormones in balance and lowers obesity.

Another interesting point is that whenever we do exercise there is a fast flow of blood cells including T-cells. So with doing exercise, the rate of flow of T-cells reaching to its destination is also faster. Hence cure the disease or the virus before it becomes big.

Maintain Healthy Weight 

(source)

It is observed by the observer in their studies that the chance of getting infection is higher in obese people even when they are eating healthy. The exact cause of this is still unknown for them. So to get rid of this, at first you have to reduce your weight. (article - reduce weight)

Drinking Alcohol 

(source - healthline.com)

Drinking alcohol is not good for your immune system. The reason behind is that alcohol can damage the immune cells in the lungs and also hairs in the lungs whose function is to provide hindrance to foreign virus. The result is that viruses such as COVID-19 can easily infect our body. Another harmful impact of alcohol is it damages the beneficial micro-organism that live in the intestine which also contribute for the wellness of the immune system. It also kills the bacteria that present in the gut.

Alcohol leads to the various lung diseases like Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and other pulmonary diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and respiratory syncytial virus. These all collectively affect our overall well-being and reduce the quality lifestyle. And hence affect our immune strength.

I hope, you found it to be helpful.

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