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The immune system is a guardian angel of our body. It keeps all of the infections and diseases away, ensuring we won’t get sick after every contact we made with bacterias. The immune system has thousands of components, which shape the quality of response. The immune system of everybody has the same components and structure. Despite that, one may have a stronger immune system than the other. Assuming that you do not have immunodeficiency syndrome, there are a few ways to boost up work of your immune system.
Don’t smoke
Smoking actively affects your immune system, making immune response less successful. Having a direct impact on the quality of work of immune system cells or its quantity, nicotine, and other harmful substances found in cigarettes makes you more prone to infections.
While at first, it may not seem like a big deal, cessation of smoking can prevent you from getting sick for flu or even developing a cancer, since the immune system fights all of the pathological conditions in our body, and quitting this deadly habit helps to support it.
Have a regular workout
Physical exercises have a big impact on our bodies. Not only they improve our mood, increase energy, or help us build our dream body, but they make us more resistant to the infections! Oppositely of a common belief, the direct correlation between being more susceptible to infection straight after a workout has never been shown.
Although physical exercises increase your cortisol levels (so-called stress hormone, decreasing the immune response), once it comes back to a normal value it creates the opposite effect and improves both humoral and cellular immune response. It means that with each workout your immune system gets stronger.
Improve the quality of your sleep
It may not be obvious at first sight, sleep plays a huge role in keeping our body healthy. Getting enough sleep is crucial to improve immunity because it allows the body to produce enough cytokines — the type of protein that aims especially at fighting against inflammation and minor infections.
Humans need on average around 8 hours of sleep every night, and it is highly advised by the Sleep Foundation to do so. If you can’t allow yourself to sleep 8 hours for whatever reasons, try to make it up with naps. Investigations have shown that taking two naps a day, that is not longer than 30 minutes, significantly decrease the negative impact of sleep deprivation on the immune system, as well as it reduces overall stress level.
Reduce stress in your life
Psychological factors can be a great enemy of our immune system. When the organism is stressed out, it produces greater amounts of cortisol – a stress hormone. In short periods, it can boost your immunity (e.g. physical exercises), but in the long run, it has devastating effects on our immune system.
As it decreases the number of lymphocytes in your blood, it is extremely important to limit a stress amount in life to avoid an increased amount of infections. As stress is said to be the most common chronic condition affecting humans, having a way to reduce stress level is of crucial importance for staying healthy nowadays.
Stay hydrated
Apart from lots of obvious benefits from keeping the body hydrated, such as maintaining good work of joints and muscles, or better moisture of the skin, drinking at least 1.5 liters of water a day can help you stay more healthy.
Highly professional research has shown, that state of dehydration decreases the innate immune function, which is responsible for the first response when a pathogen enters the organism. That state can lead to an increased number of common cold and minor health problems.
Eat more healthy fats
Healthy fats can have a positive effect on increasing inflammatory response. Inflammation is a normal reaction to a new pathogen, injury or infection, and unsaturated fats found in olives, nuts, or salmon lead to faster response to those stimuli.
Having fast inflammatory response is crucial for quicker healing and prevention of chronic inflammations – states where a certain injury prolongs from 3 months to few years and can be overwhelming for our immunity and health, as it may contribute to cancer development.
Don’t forget about the citruses!
The most common substance associated with immunity – Vitamin C – is largely found in all kinds of citruses. This substance strongly affects our Immune system by increasing white blood cells production, part of the blood directly responsible for eliminating infections from our organism.
The biggest concentrations of Vitamin C are found in:
- Grapefruits
- Oranges
- Clementines
- Lemons
- Limes
Specialists advise having a daily dose of 75-90 mg of vitamin C. It is worth mentioning, that despite accelerated recovery form common cold, there is no evidence that vitamin C is an effective medication against new coronavirus and the related disease – SARS-CoV-2.
Implicate peppers into your diet
Red bell pepper is one of the most popular vegetable used worldwide. That being said, it is extremely easy to buy and found a tasty way of consuming it. Surprisingly, red bell peppers contain more Vitamin C than mentioned above citruses.
One pepper is said to have 127 mg of this substance, versus only 45 mg usually found in an orange. On top of that, red peppers are rich in beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A, responsible for sharp sight, improved night vision, and better moisture of the skin.
Quit sugar!
Excessive sugar consumption leads to seriously harmful conditions, such as diabetes or obesity. Being an obese person is a threat to your immunity, and it raises the risk of becoming sick. According to the study from 2017, obesity cause decreased immune response for the flu vaccine.
Despite being vaccinated, patients with obesity were twice as likely to suffer the flu than the people with normal weight. With that in mind, cessation or limitation of sugar consumption may be a serious aspect that would result in increased strength of the immune system.
Have a regular meal schedule
In general, diet plays an enormous role in keeping the body healthy. Eating regularly is one of the most important elements in the prevention of excessive calorie consumption and weight gaining.
Consuming four or five smaller meals in roughly the same hours every day is healthier than eating two or three large meals a day, mainly because it avoids a significant increase in blood sugar level after big meals. That has a huge impact on the prevention of weight gain, therefore weakening the immune system.
Eat more of garlic and ginger
Garlic is found in almost every type of cuisine in the world. This small spice adds an amazing depth to the dishes and has a big point in increasing your immunity! There’s no a lot of evidence, but some researches suggest that immune-boosting characteristics, the garlic owes to sulfur-containing compounds such as allicin.
Similarly to the garlic, ginger is another spice possessing high anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. By decreasing inflammation, ginger can help to fight a sore throat or manage a chronic pain
Yogurts can safe you
Dairy products are known from containing alive and active cultures of bacterias, which may have a positive effect on digestion. What is less know though it is a fact, that that microorganism stimulates the immune system to fight the diseases.
The type of yogurt with the biggest amount of positive bacterias is non-flavoured, unsweetened Greek yogurt. Apart from rising your immunity levels, it is also a great source of vitamin D, that is responsible for the stimulation of minerals absorption and strength of the bones.
The Power of broccolis
Green plants are well-known for containing a great number of vitamins and anti-oxidants. Having said that it is clear to see, they are the great boosters of the immunity.
Among many plants, broccoli has the biggest and the most complete package of substances helpful for the immune system. Packed with vitamins A, C, and E, as well as a bunch of antioxidants and a decent amount of fiber, broccoli stimulates an inflammatory response, accelerate recovery from injuries, and promotes digestion.
Drink green tea!
Each day, 2.1 billion cups of tea are being consumed worldwide. The second most popular beverage in the world has many different subtypes and variants, and the green tea is the one, which is said to be the most beneficial.
Research shows, that the valuable polyphenols (antioxidants) found in the tea leaves can suppress the infectiousness of the influenza virus. Another study has indicated, that daily consumption of green tea increases the level of protection after flu vaccination, making the organism harder to be infected.
Chicken as a first aid
A very common thing to do when you are sick, especially in eastern Europe, is to grab a hot bowl of chicken soup to help you get on your legs. Many think it is just a placebo, but there is scientific evidence, that it is not.
Poultry, such as chicken or turkey is a rich source of vitamin B6. This vitamin is a mediator in the process of red blood cell creation as well as other chemical reactions inside of an organism. Chicken broth is the most-known form of poultry soup, which is a great source of vitamin B6, which may help to fight the infection.
Shellfish boosts immunity
Another animal-origin type of food which eating may improve your immunity. The reason behind it is, that seafood is rich in zinc, a chemical compound necessary for maintaining the correct function of the immune system. The most popular fishes rich in zinc are:
- Oysters
- Crabs
- Lobsters
- Mussels
It is needed to remember, that the daily amount of consumed zinc should not exceed 8-11mg. High levels of zinc in the blood, can have the opposite effect than intended. As a moment of writing the article, clinical trials are going on, aimed to establish the role of zinc in CoVID-19 treatment management.
Eat more of tropical fruits
Tropical fruits are incredibly juicy and tasty. Their refreshing, original taste can load up your body with a crucial for the immune system vitamin C. Similarly to citruses, tropical fruits such as kiwi and papaya contain a huge amount of vitamin C, that stimulates the immune system to produce more white blood cells, what has deciding impact on our immunity.
In addition to a huge load of Vitamin C, kiwi and papaya fill the body up with vitamin K, folate, and potassium. All of those micronutrients are highly beneficial, as they improve and regulate many of the body’s functions.
Spice it up with turmeric
The main ingredient of Asian curries, Turmeric is a bright, yellow spice with a bitter taste and amazing health effects. Studies show that it posses a high anti-inflammatory effect, which made the spice being used for years as a supplement in the treatment and management of osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Researches conducted on animals indicate that high curcumin concentrations show immune-boosting and antiviral effects. Additionally, turmeric can also fasten your post-workout recovery as it helps decrease muscle damage, induced by exercise.
Prevent deficiencies
Similarly like with the car, which needs regular check-ups, so does our body. Visiting a family doctor and scheduling blood examination every half year prevents deficiencies of micronutrients and vitamins, that are so crucial in the functioning of the immune system.
Apart from that, changes in the blood can indicate pathological processes going on inside the organism. Early detection of those processes is priceless in the diagnostic and treatment of harmful conditions. Not only it can speed up the recovery but also prevent many serious complications from developing.
Maintain personal hygiene
We have spent quite some time on describing tips to help improve your immunity. But the truth is, that the best boost for immune system is the prevention of many foreign organisms from entering our body.
The single best way to do it is to maintain personal hygiene. Washing your hands properly, wearing a mask in public and crowded places, and avoidance of touching your face with dirty hands can save the immune system a lot of work. Eventually, it leads to fewer pathogens entering the body, decreasing the risk of infection.
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