The onset of dangerous viruses circulating about the earth has forced science to examine the immune system more thoroughly in the last decade or two, and while studies are constantly ongoing in order to gain a deeper insight into how we can further strengthen ourselves against sickness and disease, oftentimes much of the data is contradicted by yet another study that disproves previous claims.
What is the immune?
The immune system involves complex functions of the skin, intestines, mucus membranes, and specialized cells, so supporting your body’s defense mechanisms really means keeping the whole body healthy. So you should to know how to enhance your immune system.
Keeping your immune system healthy will also serve to ward off fatigue; if your body is worn down, you will be less successful at fighting infections. Immune system cells can be damaged or destroyed by what is known as ‘free radicals’; namely, unstable oxygen molecules.
These free radicals develop due to poor nutrition, alcohol, cigarettes, and other pollutants in the air.
Enhance your immune system
Despite what supplement makers might want you to think, maintaining a healthy immune system doesn’t require pill-popping and picky eating. The most important factors are simply eating a varied diet of fresh foods, getting adequate rest, and managing stress.
Eating for health To work properly
The immune system needs a variety of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and proteins in the correct amounts for support, .Enhance Your Immune System.
Vitamins
Vitamins A, C, E, and B complex and the minerals selenium, zinc, iron, and copper are some of the most important for Enhance Your Immune System health. Because these nutrients work in concert with each other, vitamin pills can’t take the place of fresh, whole foods.
It’s not a matter of taking extra doses any one particular vitamin, but of including sufficient amounts of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains in your diet.
Eat your cereals
A tablespoon sprinkled on food is a simple way to raise a meal’s nutritional value. Wheat germ, another great source of B complex vitamins as well as vitamin E, can be used in the same way as brewer’s yeast.
Whole oats and barley, wheat bran, and avocados also supply B complex vitamins. For a healthy dose of vitamin A, the next time your in the mood for mashed potatoes, try using sweet potatoes to Enhance Your Immune System
Other orange/yellow vegetables and fruits such as carrots, butternut squash, peaches, and cantaloupe are also rich in vitamin A.
Daily exercise
Eat your snacks
If you’re looking for an immune-boosting snack, try
- Brazil nuts. These nuts are one of the best sources of selenium and also contain vitamin E. Cold-pressed oil from wheat germ, soybeans, sunflowers can be used in cooking or on salads for additional vitamin E.
Dried apricots, rich in vitamin A, are another good snack choice.
Herbs and the Immune System
While some herbs do act as general tonics, no single herb can inure you against colds and flu. One group of herbs that does support overall health is the adapogenic group.
- Siberian ginsing,
- Rhodiola rosea
- and Leuzea
carthamoides were first used as folk remedies for long-term illnesses, but their immune enhancing effects have also been demonstrated through decades of clinical research.
Licorice root tea, green tea, and rooibus (red) tea also contain substances that support the immune system. While a few cups of tea aren’t going to make you impervious to illness, these teas are better choices than coffee or high-caffeine black tea.
You should avoid
Avoid
There are also products that suppress the immune system. White sugar is one of the most common culprits.
Avoid
One soft drink contains some 10 teaspoons of sugar—enough to reduce the immune system’s efficiency by over 30 percent for several hours.
Avoid
Excessive drinking of coffee, which elevates levels of immune suppressing stress hormones, is another item to avoid.
Avoid
Anyone who smokes has heard plenty about the health hazards of cigarettes, including their impact on immunity.
The good news, though, is that the immune system begins to regain its strength within 30 days after you quit smoking.
Lifesysle and the Immune System How you treat your body also affects how often you fall ill. Lack of sleep, lack of exercise, and excessive stress can all increase your susceptibility to illness.
Not getting enough sleep can reduce the effectiveness of your immune system by half.
If you aren’t able to get eight hours of sleep a night, try sneaking in fifteen minute naps when you can. In addition, moderate exercise, such as a brisk walk, will pep up your metabolism, which in turn helps your body keep illness away.
High-intensity exercise, however, increases the body’s level of stress hormones and can weaken certain components of the immune system.
finding ways to manage stress
is also important for your health. Your thoughts physically affect your nervous system, which interacts with your immune system either to hinder or help it.
under stress, the body releases epinephrine and norepinephrine, chemicals that, after a certain period, suppress the immune system. Psychological stress can literally make you “worried sick” with more than just a headache.
taking just an hour a day to relax can have a positive impact on your health. Avoiding colds and flu doesn’t require adhering to a strict diet or a regime of vitamin pills.
Just eating a variety of fresh, whole foods and treating your body gently by getting adequate rest and exercise may be enough to make sure nex time it’s you saying, ”I never get sick.”
finally
While no single food can stave of colds, many foods do contain high concentrations of those nutrients that Enhance Your Immune System needs the most.
Vitamin C, widely used for cold prevention, can be found not only in citrus fruits, but in chili and sweet peppers (particularly red bell peppers), parsley, broccoli, and cauliflower. Papaya is another good source.
