Seven Ways To Boost Your Immune System
7 Ways To Boost Your Immune System During The Fight Against COVID-19
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Immunity is on everybody’s mind while COVID-19 cases continue to rise. It’s possible that Americans have never thought about their health habits as much as they do now at any other time in history. We’re washing our hands obsessively. We’re wearing masks for the first time – something other countries were doing even before a pandemic, well aware of the benefits. Many of us are popping vitamins instead of bottles on a Friday night. Globe News Wire reports that the immunity-boosting products industry is projected to grow substantially over the next few years as everyone wants to get their hands on something that will keep them healthy.
Do you need to turn to manufactured supplements and potions to boost your immunity? There certainly are some good products out there, but often, people look to outside help before looking inward. Your own lifestyle could be the root of immunity issues and all of the pills in the world can’t combat a generally unhealthy way of living. So if you are concerned about the state of your immune system, here are seven ways to boost your immune system.
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Get vaccinated
There is a lot of skepticism around vaccines in America. Perhaps no other vaccine has received as much criticism and hesitancy as the COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine is a very new type of vaccine called an mRNA vaccine, which the CDC says it a type of vaccine that teaches the body how to create proteins that fight a virus. Some believe it can change your DNA, which Cleveland Clinic assures us is not true. It is important to debunk these myths around the vaccine because it is proving to be one of our strongest tools in fighting coronavirus. And be sure to get both shots. Stanford University reports that the second shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines result in a significant increase in antibodies, as well as an improved T-cell response (T-cells focus on foreign particles and attack specific antigens), and an overall strengthened immune response.
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Sleep
If you think you’ll get more done by sleeping less, think again. Sleep deprivation only increases your chances of getting sick and staying sick longer, which is a quick way to cut back on productivity and miss out on the things you love. Mayo Clinic reports that a lack of sleep makes you more likely to get sick if exposed to a virus and increases the time it takes you to get better if you do get sick. What’s important to understand is that your body releases certain proteins called cytokines during sleep. These proteins help you sleep but they also help fight illness. When you are sick, you need more of the proteins, so sleep deprivation makes it very hard to recover from an illness.
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Exercise
Exercise doesn’t just boost those endorphins to keep you feeling happy – it can also help you stay healthy. It’s all about those cytokines again — the same proteins released during sleep that fight illness. Cytokines are also released when you exercise. Research out of the National Center for Biotechnology Information says that these proteins are released both during and after exercise. Exercise also improves cell recruitment, the process by which the body calls upon certain cells to do special jobs, like fight illnesses. The research shows that those who engage in regular physical activity see less incidence of viral infection, less severe symptoms when infection does occur, and less mortality due to infection.
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Get out of your home
During the height of the pandemic lockdown, this instruction may have sounded counterintuitive. And maybe it still does. But even if you just meet with a friend to sit six feet apart in a yard, do it. Hiding in your home is not good for your immune system. Being inside too much leads to loneliness, which the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America says is linked to a higher incidence of chronic illness. So you need to stay social to stay healthy. Let’s also not forget that you need a good dose of vitamin D to stay healthy, says the NCBI. And the sun offers plenty of that.
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Cutting processed foods
Your gut is the literal and figurative epicenter for everything that goes on in your body. So watch what you put in it. Your gut contains a microbiome that’s made up of trillions of microorganisms and microbes. These play an important role in our immunity. A diet rich in unprocessed or minimally processed foods contains nutrition needed to boost our microbiome. An ultra-processed diet does not provide such nutrients and as such, can weaken the immune system, says Harvard University. Processed food can also lead to chronic inflammation, which weakens the immune response. So while fast food may save you time right now, it can cost you a lot later.
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Cut back on drinking
A lot of people turned to alcohol to ease stress and boredom during the pandemic. Some still are. But if you’re getting out and about again around people, excessive drinking can increase your chances of getting sick. Alcohol impacts the gut microbe, which we already know is important for immunity. It also damages T-cells, those littler virus fighters we talked about when discussing vaccines. Furthermore, alcohol impairs the function of immune cells and excessive alcohol consumption is linked to a higher risk of pneumonia, says the NCBI. It can even cause lung damage that makes infections more serious. So it could be time to find a sober way to relieve stress.
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Drink enough water
Drinking water doesn’t just make your skin glow and improve the function of all of your organs. It also boosts immunity. More specifically, not drinking enough water harms your immunity. The NCBI reports that dehydration can impact the lymph system, which plays an important role in immunity. This only backs up the data on alcohol and immunity. Alcohol dehydrates us even further, so the mixture of drinking less water and more booze is a recipe for an illness. If you find water boring, we list other hydrating beverages here.
