Ways to Strengthen Your Immune System

Winter and colder weather always brings on a new barrage of coughs, colds, sniffles and cases of flu. Your best line of defence against all of these infections which, incidentally, are all viral infections is to have a good, strong immune system. Your immune is your self-defense system. It needs to be strong enough to keep bacteria and viruses from entering your body and multiplying, and to reestablish health when disease does gain a foothold.
Adequately feeding your immune system boosts its fighting power. Immune boosters work in many ways. They increase the number of white cells in the immune system army, train them to fight better, and help them form an overall better battle plan.
While no one is entirely immune to a cold and the flu, it is true that people with healthy spines tend to have a greater level of resistance to the germs that cause these illnesses. Recent research demonstrates the important role that our nervous system play.
While some people age healthily, the conclusion of many studies is that, compared with younger people, the elderly are far more likely to contract infectious diseases. A reduction in immune response to infections has been demonstrated by older people’s response to vaccines.
For example, studies of influenza vaccines have shown that for people over age 65, vaccine effectiveness was 23%, whereas for healthy children (over age 2), it was 38%. One important question is whether dietary supplements may help older people maintain a healthier immune system.
Older people should discuss this question with a physician who is well versed in geriatric nutrition, because while some dietary supplementation may be beneficial for older people, even small changes can have serious repercussions in this age group.
People who pick three or more of the suggestions from this list – and stick to them – will substantially improve their immune strength, increase their ability to stay sane and healthy through dreaded cold and flu season, and keep their health and happiness up through the darkest months of the year!

Eliminate all sugar and allergens from your diet.
Just a small amount of sugar has been proven to impair white blood cells up to 50% for very short periods of time. By discovering what our personal food allergies are, then eliminating or desensitizing them will help strengthen your immune system.
By removing these triggers, our immune cells are strengthened in order to combat other invaders such as influenza rather than the allergen. The elimination of sugar from your diet can also strengthen/improve the immune system.
Get a full night’s sleep.
Everybody’s different: your body may need anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of sleep each night. Whatever your personal sleep requirement is, get it! Sleep has been linked to balanced hormone levels (including human growth hormone and the stress hormone, cortisol), keeping weight down, clear thinking and reasoning, improved mood, and vibrant, healthy skin.
Garlic.
This flavorful member of the onion family is a powerful immune booster that stimulates the multiplication of infection-fighting white cells, boosts natural killer cell activity, and increases the efficiency of antibody production. The immune-boosting properties of garlic seem to be due to its sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin and sulfides.
Garlic can also act as an antioxidant that reduces the build-up of free radicals in the bloodstream. Garlic may protect against cancer, though the evidenceis controversial. Cultures with a garlic-rich diet have a lower incidence of intestinal cancer. Garlic may also play a part in getting rid of potential carcinogens and other toxic substances. It is also a heart-friendly food since it keeps platelets from sticking together and clogging tiny blood vessels.
Boost Immune System References:

1. Calder PC. “Polyunsaturated fatty acids, inflammation, and immunity.” Lipids 2001 36(9):1007-24.
2. Chubak J, McTiernan A, Sorensen B, Wener MH, Yasui Y, Velasquez M, Wood B, Rajan KB, Wetmore CM, Potter JD, Ulrich CM. “Moderate-intensity exercise reduces the incidence of colds among postmenopausal women.” American Journal of Medicine 2006 119(11):937-42.
3. Davis JM, Murphy EA, McClellan JL, Carmichael MD, Gangemi JD. “Quercetin reduces susceptibility to influenza infection following stressful exercise.” American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 200;295(2):R505-9.
4. Irwin MR, Olmstead R, Oxman MN. “Augmenting immune responses to varicella zoster virus in older adults: a randomized, controlled trial of Tai Chi.” Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2007 55(4):511-7.
5. Irwin MR, Wang M, Ribeiro D, Cho HJ, Olmstead R, Breen EC, Martinez-Maza O, Cole S. “Sleep loss activates cellular inflammatory signaling.” Biological Psychiatry 2008 15;64(6):538-40.
6. Suzanne C. Segerstrom and Gregory E. Miller. “Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.” Psychological Bulletin 2004 130(4): 601–630.

By: nuranni

Posted in: Diseases and Conditions