Effective ways to keep your immune system healthy

Understanding the operating capacity and ability of our immune system in a short time is not possible but what is though possible is to know how to keep it healthy. Acting as the defense system of our body, immune system wards off different microorganisms trying to get access to our body, sleekly. Most of these microbes need a host to survive and without the host, it’s a bleak path of damnation for them.

The ubiquitous germs are always trying to get the upper hand in this hid-and-seek with the immune system and when they do, it leads to illness, disease, suffering, and sometimes unprecedented reactions. Lymph nodes, bone marrow, spleen, and thymus all are part of your immune system.

As soon as some foreign invader gets access to your blood stream, immune system gets activated and sends an army of probe cells and then white blood cells to fight off the invader. When these microbes are engaged you feel it in the form of an immune response as fever, shivering, or other reactions.

Here, you need to understand that sufficient operating capacity of each component of the immune system is indispensable to effective immune response against the invading organism therefore it becomes really important for all the parts to perform accordingly. Though health authorities advise washing hands with bar soap and water to keep germs at bay but what to do if they get inside anyways? For that you surely need a good immune system.

Eat healthy

First and foremost, you need to make sure that you are putting all the right ingredients in your body, making your body safer and healthier instead of dull and prone to diseases. When you make healthy eating a routine then you fortify your immune system with all the required minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. This in turn supplies your body with the fighting weaponry it requires, ensuring that you stay healthy and away from dangerous diseases.

Plant based foods like herbs, vegetables, fruits, and other spices are rich in the essential nutrients along with antimicrobial and antiviral properties which help us to keep infections at bay. Your immune system requires copper, zinc, selenium, folate, iron, vitamin E, A, C, B6 and B12 to do its job effectively and all of these are available in abundant quantity in healthy food. Also make sure that you are maintaining hand hygiene before eating any food.

Sleep well

When you sleep you think that with you, everything goes to sleep but quite the contrary happens as a repair and heal system gets activated within your body. Specifically,

• The production of cytokines which are a type of protein aimed at targeting inflammation
• Distribution of T cells which are a type of white blood cell (WBC)
• Distribution of interleukin 12 which regulated natural killer-cell and T cell responses

Several studies stated that sleep deprivation leads to higher cortisol levels which might in turn lower your immune response and increase inflammation within the body thereby making you more susceptible to common infections. In order to avoid all the atrocities of being sleep deprived, make sure that you are sleeping 7 hours at night.

Kick out stress

As a result of body enduring longer periods of stress, levels of cortisol rise within the body and all the associated functions get disturbed along with a crack in the immune system defenses. Small bouts of cortisol are a normal response in flight or fight situations but continuous exposure to stress leads to unwanted levels of this hormone, which is again known to deteriorate immune responses.

Avoid over use

Nowadays overuse of antibacterial products such as antibacterial wipes and other disinfectant sprays is increasing the antibiotic resistance within our body. Know that there are good bacteria around you or maybe inside you and over use of any such products around your baby might make his/her immune system weak. Your immune system understands and develops suitable responses early-on and if there are no bacteria for it to learn, then result will be harsh or overuse response to even good bacteria later in life.

Don’t miss out on your jogs

It doesn’t matter if you are a runner or do weight training, like to sweat indoors or love adrenaline rush outside, all that matters is that you keep on exercising regularly. Exercising 4 times a week is a known modifier for stress and helps you keep in shape. Apart from these definite benefits, exercising also boosts up your immune system against diseases you didn’t even know existed.

So these are some of the ways to keep your immune system up and running. If you follow all these tips then good for you but if you don’t then start making changes today.