There are many things that are said to increase immunity, but do the claims on how to boost immune system have merit? Having strong immunity system is vitally important, but looking for the truth about the many supposed boosters can save time and money.
The whole body must be protected from allergens, viruses, and bacteria or suffer illness. Many systems contribute to what is called the immune system, which is the term for the defensive mechanisms and responses of the body. This simplified description will serve for the purpose of this essay.
The many components that make up immunity never rest as they sense bodily disruptions or threats and work to counter them. For instance, pollen causes many people to have runny noses and weeping eyes, which are unattractive and annoying symptoms but which are cleansing the body of the allergens. Inside the body, ‘white’ blood cells surround and consume germs and viruses before they can multiply to dangerous levels. Fevers fight infections; considered illnesses, fevers have a function and are only dangerous when they get too high. The immune system has other ways, as well, to respond to threats to health, and is in constant readiness.
Of course, the reverse is true. If the immune system is weak, germs and allergens can wreck havoc. So how does one boost a weak immunity and maintain a strong one?
Many expensive medicines and natural supplements claim to bolster the body’s defenses. Some actually do, and in the case of illness, echinacea or Vitamin C or orange juice or goldenseal may restore health. However, if the aim is to stay healthy, some things are necessary and cannot be replaced. The most important of these cost little if anything.
Exercise, especially walking, is an excellent immunity booster. The most familiar circulatory system is the cardio-vascular system, in which the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood full of nutrients to the cells by way of arteries, and gets the blood back (after it has been cleaned of wastes by the liver) by way of the veins. This system is stimulated by exercise and the health of the whole body depends on its efficiency.
But the effect of walking on the second system, the lymph system, is every bit as important. The major ‘pump’ of this system is the flexing of the foot, and walking sends the lymph around the body to perform its major task s of fighting infection and cleaning metabolic wastes out of the body. If the lymph flow is sluggish, the immune system is depressed.
Staying hydrated with plenty of water at regular intervals cannot be neglected. A dehydrated body cannot function adequately on any level, including defending itself from outer and inner attack.
Stress is a known killer but also a potent adversary in the struggle to keep healthy. Stress causes shallow breathing, hormone disruption, adrenal exhaustion, loss of restful and restorative sleep, and more negative reactions. Best tip: learn to avoid unnecessary stress, accept the inescapable stress with equanimity, and take a walk, for the stress relief and other health benefits.
Allergens are found in the air, the ground we walk on, the plants that surround us, and the food we eat. So what can be done? Avoid what you can (by making informed food choices, for instance), boost your immune system with natural substances to fight the problem from within rather than taking symptom suppressants (which may suppress the immune system as well), and avoid antibiotics if you can. Antibiotics decrease the body’s natural defenses in many ways.
If these basic rules of good health are ignored, no amount of expensive supplements or remedies will work very well. If you want good health, knowing how to boost immune system is the beginning, and then you must put your knowledge into practice.