Strengthen your immune system and help prevent disease

Are you ready to improve your immune system? On the whole, your system does a stimulating job of defending you against disease-causing microorganisms. But sometimes it successfully attacks a germ and makes you sick. Is it possible to intervene during this process and increase your immunity? What if you improve your diet? Take certain vitamins or herbal preparations? Change other lifestyles in hopes of producing a perfect immune response?

What can you do to boost your immune system?

The idea of increasing your immunity is interesting, but the power to try it has proven elusive for a number of reasons. The system is like a system, not an entity. Good work requires balance and harmony. There are still many things that researchers do not know about the complexity and interconnections of the immune response. For now, there is no scientifically proven direct link between lifestyle and increased resistance efficacy.

This does not mean, however, that the consequences of living in a system are not attractive and should not be studied. Researchers are investigating the consequences of diet, exercise, age, psychological stress, and other factors of immune response in both animals and humans. In the meantime, a heartfelt thank you for starting to give the general healthy-life strategy a whip hand on your system.

Healthy ways to strengthen your immune system

The first line of your defense is to choose a healthy lifestyle. Following the general health, guidelines are the only step you can take to keep your immune system naturally strong and healthy. Every part of your body, including your immune system, works better when protected from environmental attacks and emphasized by healthy-living strategies:

·        Don't smoke.

Immunity in action.  A healthy immune system can defeat invading pathogens as shown above, where two bacteria that cause gonorrhea are no match for the large phagocyte, called a neutrophil that engulfs and kills them (see arrows). Photos courtesy of Michael N. Starnbach, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School

·        Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables.

·        Exercise regularly.

·        Maintain a healthy weight.

·        If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.

·        Get adequate sleep.

·        Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.

·        Try to minimize stress.

Increase immunity the healthy way

Many products on store shelves claim to enhance or support immunity. However, the idea of increasing immunity is not scientifically understandable. In fact, increasing the number of cells in your body - immune cells or others - is not necessarily a good thing. For example, athletes who are “blood doping” - pumping blood into their system to increase their blood cell count and increase their performance - run the risk of stroke.

Trying to stimulate the cells of your immune system is especially complicated because the immune system has different types of different cells that respond to different germs in different ways. Which cell should you encourage and in what number? Scientists still do not know the answer. What is known is that the gene that the body constantly builds immune cells, of course, produces far more lymphocytes than it can possibly use. Excess cells remove themselves through a natural process of cell death called apoptosis - some before they take action, some after winning a battle. No one knows how many cells or the best mix of cells are needed for the immune system to function at its best.

Immune system and age

As we age, our immune capacity decreases, leading to more infections and more cancers. As life expectancy has increased in developed countries, so have age-related conditions.

Some people healthy during the ages, many studies conclude the decision was taken that a little old compared to the elders of the infectious disease Respiratory infections, influenza, the COVID-19 virus, and especially pneumonia are the leading causes of death in people over the age of 65 worldwide. No one knows for sure why this happens, but some scientists have noticed that this increased risk is related to T cell depletion, with the thymus producing fewer T cells to fight atherosclerosis and infection with age. It is not fully understood whether this decrease in thymus function explains the drop in T cells or whether other changes play a role. Others become less skilled at making bone marrow stem cells that are interested in what gives rise to cells of the immune system.

The response of adults to vaccines has been shown to reduce immunity. For example, studies of influenza vaccines have shown that people over the age of 65 are less effective than healthy children (over 2 years of age). Despite the decline in efficacy, however, vaccines for influenza and pneumonia have significantly reduced the incidence of illness and death in the elderly compared to any other vaccine.

There seems to be a connection between nutrition and prevention among the elderly. Surprising even in rich countries a form of malnutrition is commonly known as “micronutrient malnutrition”. Micronutrient malnutrition, where a person is deficient in some essential vitamins and minerals obtained or supplemented from the diet can occur in the elderly. Older people tend to eat less food and often have less variation in their diet. An important question is whether dietary supplements can help older people maintain a healthy immune system. Older people should discuss this question with their doctor.

Diet and your immune system

Like any fighting force, the defensive army marches on its belly. Healthy immune system fighters need good, regular nutrition. Scientists have long recognized that people living in poverty and malnutrition are at higher risk of infectious diseases. It is not certain whether the increased rate of the disease is caused by the effects of malnutrition on the immune system. There are still relatively few studies on the effects of nutrition on the human immune system.

There is ample evidence that deficiency of various micronutrients - for example, zinc, selenium, iron, copper, folic acid, and deficiencies of vitamins A, B6, C, and E - change the immune response in animals, such as in test tubes. Is measured. However, the impact of these immune system changes on animal health are less clear, and the effect of similar deficits in human immune response have not yet been evaluated.

So what can you do If you suspect that your diet does not provide you with all the micronutrient requirements - perhaps, you do not like vegetables - taking a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement can bring other health benefits without any potential beneficial effects on immunity. Megadoses of a single vitamin are not taken. Not necessarily better.

Improve immunity with herbs and supplements?

Go to a store, and you'll find pills and bottles of herbal preparations that claim to support "immunity" or otherwise promote the health of your immune system. Although some preparations have been shown to alter certain components of immune function, there is still no evidence that they actually increase immunity in areas where they are protected against infection and disease. Determining whether a herb - or a substance - can boost immunity is still a complex issue. Scientists do not know, for example, whether any herbs that increase the levels of antibodies in the blood are actually doing anything good for overall immunity.

Does being cold give you a weak immune system?

Almost every mom said it: "Wear a jacket or you'll catch a cold!" Is she ok Probably not, exposure to moderately cold temperatures does not increase your susceptibility to infection? There are two reasons why winter is a “cold and flu season”. In winter, people spend more time indoors for close contact with other people who may be exposed to their germs. Also, when the air is cold and less humid, the influenza virus stays in the air for a long time.

However, researchers are interested in this question in different populations. Some experiments with rats have shown that cold exposure can reduce the ability to fight infection. But what will happen to people? Scientists have drowned people in cold water and left others naked in the snow. They lived in Antarctica and studied those who were on the Canadian Rockies expedition. The results have been mixed. For example, researchers have documented an increase in upper respiratory infections in competitive cross-country skiers who practice vigorously in the cold, but these infections are caused by cold or other causes - such as intense exercise or dry air - unknown.

A Canadian researcher who has reviewed hundreds of medical studies on the subject and conducted some of its own research has found that there is no need to worry about moderate to severe colds - they do not have a detrimental effect on the human immune system. Should you have a bundle when it gets cold outside? The answer is "yes" if you are uncomfortable, or if you are going out for extra time where problems such as frostbite and hypothermia are at risk. But don't worry about immunity.

Stress and immune function

Modern medicine has come to appreciate the closely connected relationship of mind and body. A variety of disasters, including stomach upset, clothing, and even heart disease, are associated with the effects of stress. Despite the challenges, scientists are actively studying the relationship between stress and immune function.

For one thing, stress is hard to define. The situation that appears as stress for one person is not for the other person. When people face situations they consider stress, it is difficult for them to measure how much stress they feel and it is difficult for science to know whether a person's personal perception of the amount of stress is correct. Scientists can only measure things that can reflect stress, such as how many times the heart rate increases per minute, but such measures can also reflect other factors.

Most scientists study the relationship between stress and immune function, but, suddenly, do not study short-term stress; Rather, they seek to study more constant and frequent stressors known as chronic stress, such as relationships with family, friends, and colleagues, or enduring challenges to get someone's work done well. Some scientists are investigating that ongoing stress depends on the immune system.

However, it is difficult for scientists to perform what they call "controlled experiments" in the human body. In controlled experiments, the scientist can change the amount of one and only one element such as a certain chemical, and then measure the effect of that change on some other measurable phenomena, such as the number of antibodies produced by a certain types of immune system cells when it comes in contact with the chemical. This kind of control is simply not possible in a living animal and especially in a human being, since there is so much more that happened to the animal or the person at the time the measurement was being taken.

Despite this inevitable difficulty in measuring the relationship of stress with stress, scientists are making progress.

Exercise: Good or bad for immunity?

Regular practice is one of the pillars of healthy living. It improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight, and protects against various diseases. But how does it help boost your immune system and keep you healthy? Just like a healthy diet, exercise can contribute to general well-being and therefore a healthy immune system. This can be further contributed by promoting better circulation, which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move freely in the body and work them efficiently.