How to Boost Your Immune System
By Madhusudhan Tammisetti
If you don't want to catch a cold, flu, and other infections, the first step should be to list things that can help improve your immunity. Boosting immunity is not an overnight exercise. It's an ongoing process, and the key to keeping the body and mind healthy is to nourish them every day.
A healthy body triggers an immune response when the body is exposed to disease-causing organisms or pathogens. Your immune system releases antibodies to kill the antigens on the pathogens.
To make your body immune, you've to make several dietary and lifestyle changes to strengthen the body's natural defenses to fight harmful pathogens and disease-causing organisms. Let's look at how you can boost immunity naturally.
Get Enough Sleep
You're susceptible to sickness if you don't get enough sleep or have poor quality sleep. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a study conducted on 164 healthy adults has shown that people who slept fewer than six hours have more chances of catching a cold than those who slept more than six hours.
Your natural immunity may strengthen if you get adequate sleep. You may sleep more when you're sick, and it allows the immune system to fight the illness better. Studies indicate adults need at least seven hours of sleep, teens 8-10 hours of sleep, and children and infants need to sleep up to 14 hours.
Add More Plant Foods to Your Diet
Whole plant foods such as nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, and vegetables contain nutrients and antioxidants and help you fight against pathogens.
Fruits and vegetables are rich in Vitamin C and may help reduce suffering from the common cold.
The antioxidants help decrease inflammation by fighting free radicals. Free radicals are unstable compounds, and when they build up in high numbers in your body, they can cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation may result in Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and certain cancers.
The fiber in plant foods helps in the growth of gut bacteria. Robust gut bacteria may help improve your immunity and may even prevent harmful pathogens from entering the body through the digestive tract.
Engage in Moderate Exercise
Prolonged intense exercise may decrease your immunity, while moderate exercise can boost the immune system. Studies indicate the effectiveness of vaccines improve in people with low immune systems when they do moderate exercise.
Doing moderate exercise on a regular basis reduces inflammation and may help the immune cells regenerate regularly.
You can improve the immune system with dietary and lifestyle changes. The changes include working out regularly, reducing sugar intake, getting adequate sleep, managing stress levels, and staying hydrated.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Melbourne, Fla.