Boosting Immune System Newsletter
- nickogbonna
- May 30, 2020
- 4 min read
Do you find that you are constantly feeling run down or under the weather? Going to delve into some relatively simple ways you can boost your immune system, so that you can get your body in a better position to fight off harmful, foreign bodies.
Here are 6 tips for strengthening your immune system!
1. GET ENOUGH SLEEP!
The amount of sleep you get and your immune system are very much interlinked. Your body needs time to rest and recover. Your body heals and regenerates most effectively whilst you sleep. Poor quality or inadequate sleep means that the recovery and regeneration process is less effective, which makes us more susceptible to sickness.
According to National Sleep Foundation, adults should be getting anywhere between 7-9 hours of sleep, whilst teens need 8-10 hours. If you are struggling with your sleep, try limiting how much screen time you’re getting at least an hour before bed. The blue light emitted from your phones, TVs, computers, etc, may disrupt your bodies natural sleep cycle. Other tips would be regular exercise, not spending all day in bed, meditation (guided breathing), soothing podcasts and trying to establish a routine, where you are going to bed at roughly the same time each night.
Recommend a book called ‘Why We Sleep’ by Matthew Walker, which goes into more detail about the importance of sleep.
2. EAT MORE FRUIT AND VEG!
And this is coming from someone whose fruit and veg intake a couple years ago was at best, minimal. However since I upped my quantities of the green stuff, I’ve noticed a big, old positive difference in how I feel on a day to day basis. Whole plant foods are rich in micronutrients and antioxidants. Antioxidants help to decrease inflammation. Chronic inflammation is linked to numerous health conditions, such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s and certain cancers. Fibre found in most vegetables can improve gut health, whilst most fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients like vitamin C. Vit C deficiency may increase the likelihood of infection. Our bodies do not produce Vitamin C so we need to get it from the food we eat.
3. GET ENOUGH HEALTHY FATS...AND PROTEIN!
Shock I’m talking about protein again. First though, adequate healthy fats in your diet can reduce the chances of chronic inflammation, which in turn, can suppress your immune system. Foods high in Omega-3, such as salmon and chia seeds will help to fight chronic inflammation. Similar to Vit-C, our bodies don’t make Omega-3, so we need to get it from our diet. A high protein diet would also be beneficial, as the amino acids found in protein help to create and maintain immune cells.
4. EXERCISE REGULARLY
Exercising regularly lowers your risk of developing chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease as well as viral and bacterial infections. Studies have shown moderate exercise to be most effective in boosting your immune system. Activities such as walking, cycling, jogging and swimming can all fall under ‘moderate exercise’. There have been some studies, which have suggested long bouts of continuous, intense exercise may compromise your immune system. However, this has been contradicted by recent studies stating that the concept of ‘under recovering’ is more damaging to your immune system than ‘overtraining’. Simply put if you enjoy exercising intensely 6 days a week, then you should make sure your recovery (sleep, protein intake, hydration, etc) all follows suit, otherwise you might find yourself feeling run down.
5. MANAGE STRESS
Long term stress can lead to chronically levels of the hormone cortisol. Short term spikes in cortisol are beneficial when our bodies go into ‘flight or fight’ mode. However, when we are stressed for long periods of time, it can lead to cortisol blocking the immune system from doing its job. High chronic stress levels can also lead to an increase in inflammation. Ways that you can manage your stress include exercise, meditation, journaling and just generally placing your own self-care as a priority. If you are struggling with ways to improve your self-care, then feel free to go back to the email on it for some tips.
6. SUPPLEMENTATION
Last and potentially least is supplements. Anything that you can get in supplement form can be found in the food we eat. This said, sometimes it can be difficult making time to eat the foods we need to eat to make sure we’re not deficient in something important (in this case, important for immune functioning). There are some nutrients that are commonly deficient in the diets of modern western society. Nutrients such as, iron, vitamin D, vitamin B/B12, zinc, magnesium, Vitamin A, Omega 3 and 6. Here is a useful article about most of those nutrients and which foods you can find them in, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-common-nutrient-deficiencies#section6.
If you want a practically easier way of consuming these foods then supplements might be for you. I’d highly recommend seeing your GP beforehand, if you’ve got any intolerances or allergies, but if you’re planning on creating your own little supplement stack I’d say the following would be essential parts of it:
A good Mulitvitamin (Covers most bases)
Zinc and Magnesium
Omega 3 and 6
Sunshine (if you can get it)
So give some of those a go. Even if you don’t tend to get ill or run down, a lot of those tips can help you to feel a lot more energetic, positive and alert on a day to day basis!
Comments