Easy, Natural, Immune-Boosting To Dos for You

Your health is the most important thing you have. Without it, everything else in life becomes incrementally more and more difficult. And now more than ever before, your health is at risk. It is vital that you take the steps you can to keep your body and immune system functioning at the optimal level, in order to protect yourself and your loved ones from falling sick. Read on for easy immune boosting tips.

The absolute best way to protect yourself from illness is avoid contact with germs altogether, but if you cannot, then your immune system is your last line of defense. You need your immune system to protect you against outside dangers coming in. These simple hacks will help easily increase your immune system’s activity and decrease the likelihood of you getting sick. 

In this article:

1. Eat A Vitamin-Rich, Immune Healthy Diet
2. Do the Right Kind of Exercise Daily
3. Sleep at Least 7 Hours
4. Wash Your Hands Thoroughly with Soap
5. Consider an Immune Boosting Supplement

Eat A Vitamin-Rich, Immune Healthy Diet

Most people turn to Vitamin C to fend off a cold, and for good reason. That’s because Vitamin C is one of the essential nutrients to engaging the human immune system, making it more able to fend off invasions from germs and other would-be attackers to your body. But this vital vitamin is far from the only defense system our body can count on in times of illness. There are many immune boosting components to a healthy diet that can improve your body’s natural ability to respond to incoming attacks. 

Vitamin C is often sourced from oranges, which carry a naturally high level of the nutrient. But other citrus fruits can have just as much benefit when included in your daily meals. Grapefruit, tangerines, lemons, limes, and clementines are all equally good natural sources of citrus-based Vitamins C, among other antioxidants and free-radical fighters that can boost your immunity with minimal effort. 

If you have had your fill of citrus fruits, there are other options to focus your diet towards immune-boosting. Red bell peppers can have twice the amount of Vitamin C as its fruit cousins, and it is far from the only veggie to do so. Broccoli has all that and more, with Vitamins A and E along for the ride, however; the key to getting all of these benefits lies largely in the preparation, or rather lack thereof. That’s right: less cooked is best cooked when it comes to some vegetables, as applying heat can actually cause it to lose some of its vitamin content.

In a similar vein to peppers and veggies, there are many aromatics like garlic, turmeric, ginger which also have value in fighting unwanted intruders to the body. Yogurt, almonds, sunflower seeds, green tea; each has their own unique benefits to the immune system, from providing living cultures to essential amino acids.  

Do the Right Kind of Exercise Daily

Getting out to the gym is difficult in the best of circumstances, with the normal hubbub of life racing along. During times of crisis, it becomes even more difficult to carve out time to take care of ourselves. But when you are concerned with your immunity, one of the very best things you can do for your body is utilize it properly, and exercise is the best way to do that. The correct exercise is essential, as a workout with too much intensity can actually have the opposite of the desired effect.

Walking, yoga, swimming, and other low-impact workouts are the most desirable,  as  they push your body to its physical limitations without the threat of over-exertion and exhaustion setting in quite so easily. It may not be feasible to swim, but walking is available to nearly everyone. Yoga too is an excellent way to listen to the limits of your body. 

Even if you are reduced to a minimalist home workout, there are plenty of ways to engage your body without any equipment necessary. Bodyweight exercises use your mass and gravity, no weights needed, to get your muscles active and burning, and your immune system revved and ready to fight. 

Sleep at Least 7 Hours

Some people might associate sleeping often with laziness, and certainly not ideal health, but this is far from the truth. In actuality, sleep is not just useful for boosting the immune system, it’s vital to keeping your body healthy. Countless studies have proven that sleep directly improves T cell function, the primary immune cells in our bodies.

T cells are created specifically for the purpose of fighting pathogens like virus-infected cells. These cells can be infected with any variety of diseases: the common flu, herpes, HIV, cancer… and anything in between. Whatever the ailment, our bodies send T cells to fight on the frontlines first. And nothing promotes the healing and growth of human T cells more than regular sleep.

In one of his own studies on the topic, Dr. Stoyan Dimitrov, PhD, a researcher at the University of Tubingen, speaks on the matter of sleep and its relation to T cells. During sleep, our bodies can produce more integrins, the sticky type of protein which allows T cells to attach to and attack infected cells. This contact is absolutely essential in allowing the T cell to completely eliminate the infection. Therefore, the more sleep an ill individual gets, the more time their T cells have to fight any illness.

Frightfully, the opposite is true as well. Those lacking in sleep see a significant dip in their integrins and T cell response, as well as a rise in stress hormones. What’s worse, stress hormones further reduce the abilities of T cells, meaning their power to fight potential illness and infection is greatly decreased. And it gets worse the more chronically sleepless you become.

Wash Your Hands Thoroughly with Soap

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently released several statements and studies on the science of hand washing and why it is so vital to maintaining a healthy immune system. The simple truth is that our hands do nearly everything for us, from opening doors to hugging family to bringing a sandwich up to our mouths to wiping our bottoms.

Water alone, no matter how clean, is not enough to get rid of the germs we can pick up from any of the hundreds of thousands of things we touch every day. When washing your hands, soap is essential. It helps to remove the germs that water alone cannot. This doesn’t just protect you; it protects those you love and everyone else too. 

Almost 2 million children under the age of 5 around the world die from diseases that could be prevented just by washing your hands with soap. It is one of the leading causes of preventable death in children worldwide. 

Use water of whatever temperature you like, as long as it is nice and clean. Running water is better than still, as bacteria and microbes can very easily develop in still water. Use soap that lathers and scrub between the webbing of your fingers as well as under your nails, which is where germs and bacteria tend to hide the worst. Give them a good scrub for 20 seconds, which is approximately a hum of the chorus of Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. Air dry and you’re all done, safe, sanitary, and ready to stay alive.

Consider an Immune Boosting Supplement

There are countless immune boosting supplements on the market with all sorts of outrageous claims. The difficulty isn’t in finding a supplement; it’s in finding one backed by legitimate science and widely available without costing an arm and a leg. 

When you’re looking at supplements to help out your immune system, natural is best. Ingredients including high amounts of essential vitamins- A, D, E, K- are excellent indicators. Also helpful are immune-support supplements with mushrooms, particularly those which source several varieties for their unique benefits. Many fungi have a wide variety of immune health benefits which can be best delivered in supplement form. Learn more.

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