Four Ways to Strengthen Your Immune System
| 2 min read
For the most part, the human immune system is pretty good at keeping us healthy. Yet we never really notice it or think about it until it lets us down by letting in illness.
While there are no proven ways to enhance your immune system, there are ways to avoid weakening it.
Try incorporating these four tips to keep it performing optimally.
- Nourish your body. Eating foods that are high in nutrients will not only benefit you overall but can also keep your immune system working efficiently. However, if you find it hard or feel that you are lacking in a certain micronutrient, talk to your doctor about trying daily multivitamin.
- Keep your immunizations up to date. Staying immunized familiarizes your body with different diseases and sicknesses. While most immunizations are given to children, there are vaccinations available for adults too. Things like influenza, tetanus boosters and shingles all have yearly vaccinations available for adults.
- Get enough sleep. You are more likely to catch a cold or infection when you’re not getting enough sleep. Lack of sleep leads to higher stress levels and more stress creates inflammation in the body. Although it hasn’t been explored in depth, one thing is certain: getting seven to eight hours of sleep each day is a wise move when it comes to your immune system.
- Watch your alcohol intake. Too much alcohol deprives the body of needed immune-boosting T cells and B cells, which render your system less capable of killing germs. The damage to the immune system goes up along with the amount of alcohol consumed.
While none of these ways will keep you from getting sick indefinitely, they will help make sure that your immune system has all that it needs to work well.
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