5 Ways to Boost Your Immune System
Your immune system’s job is to defend your body against illnesses. It is made up of cells in your skin, bone marrow, blood organs, and tissues that work together to protect your body against harmful pathogens.
If you want to boost your immune system, you might need to adopt healthy behaviors in your day to day life. Various lifestyle and dietary changes may strengthen your body’s immune and help you fight disease-causing organisms and harmful pathogens (bacteria and viruses). Here are five ways to strengthen your immunity.
<h2>Get Enough Sleep</h2>
Adequate sleep is a great way to boost your immune system. You may also sleep more when sick to allow your immune system to fight the sickness. Your body heals and regenerates when you sleep. A study done on 164 adults showed that those who had less than six-hour sleep each night were more likely to catch a cold than those who had a six-hour sleep or more.
Adults should get seven or more hours of sleep while teenagers should get eight to ten hours. Infants and younger children should get up to 14 hours. If you’re having trouble sleeping, you can limit your screen time to an hour before bed. Blue light emitted from your laptop, phone, or TV disrupts your body’s natural wake-sleep cycle or circadian rhythm.
Other tips include sleeping in a completely dark room or with a mask.
<h2>Eat a Healthy Diet</h2>
Vegetables, seeds, legumes, and nuts are whole plant foods rich in antioxidants and nutrients. They can give a boost to your immune system. Antioxidants help reduce inflammation by fighting unstable compounds, resulting in inflammation when they accumulate in your body at high levels.
Chronic inflammation is known to cause numerous health conditions like Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and certain cancers. Also, a lack of vitamin C increases the likelihood of an infection. You need to get vitamin C from foods like citrus fruits and kiwis to boost your immune.
Ensure you also include proteins in your diet. They contain amino acids, which help to build your immune cells. If you want to maintain a healthy diet, ensure to incorporate mostly plant-based foods. Add fruits and vegetables to your stews and soups, or eat them as snacks.
<h2>Exercising Moderately</h2>
Moderate exercising includes activities like light hiking, steady bicycling, swimming, and brisk walking. Even though intense exercise could foods suppress your immune system, moderate exercise can give it a boost.
Regular moderate exercise can also reduce inflammation and help immune cells regenerate regularly. Studies show that moderate exercise can boost the vaccine’s effectiveness of vaccines in people with compromised immunity.
Exercise can also increase the release of endorphins (hormones that reduce pain and create relief), which help stress management. Stress negatively impacts your immune system.
<h2>Take probiotic supplements and fermented foods</h2>
While dieting, you can try and incorporate fermented foods. These foods are filled with useful bacteria called probiotics, which inhabit your digestive tract. They include yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, natto, and kefir.
Research shows that a thriving gut bacteria system can help your immune cells differentiate between harmful organisms and healthy cells. A three-month study showed that in 126 children, those who drank just 70 ml of fermented milk daily had about 20 percent fewer childhood infectious diseases.
If you don’t prefer eating fermented foods, you can take probiotic supplements instead.
<h2>Limit the amount of sugar</h2>
Added sugars and refined carbs are one of the biggest contributors to obesity. Obesity increases your chances of getting sick. Studies have found that people with obesity have a higher likelihood of attaining flu, even after getting a flu vaccine.
Reducing your sugar intake can decrease inflammation and aid in weight loss, reducing your chances of getting chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart diseases. These diseases can weaken your immune system, and hence limiting sugars is important in boosting your immune system.
Your sugar intake should be less than five percent of your daily calorie intake. This is about two tablespoons of sugar for an average 2,000-calorie diet.
Other important practices to help boost your immune system include managing your stress levels, staying hydrated, supplementing wisely, and eating healthy fats like those found in olive oil or salmon.
Making several lifestyles and dietary changes are important in boosting your immune system. You may have to sacrifice a bit of your time and effort, but it’s for the benefit of your health. Avoid unhealthy habits like binge eating, smoking, excessive alcohol, and drug use. You can do this by replacing unhealthy habits with healthy habits like exercising.