7 Simple Habits for Strong Immune System
In addition to healthy diet, there other natural habits you can follow to have a strong immune system, and thus reduce your risk to fall sick. They are easy to practice and, most importantly, completely free.
1. Laughter
As they say, “laughter is the best medicine”; yet we can spend days without laughing. Laughter can boost your mood and your immunity. It raises the antibody levels in the blood and increase the production of white blood cells which attack and kill bacteria and viruses. Laughing also increases the number of antibodies in nasal mucus and respiratory tract, which are the entry points for many pathogens such as microbes.
2. Singing
A health professional told me the other day, “singing happily is cheaper than all conventional therapies, yet more effective than all. Sadly very few people take advantage of it.” A study conducted on a German choir has revealed that singing activates the spleen, and increases blood concentrations of antibodies. Other studies show love and praise songs are more effective while depressive songs are damaging to health, mentally and physically. If the choir is not for you, you can sing loudly in the shower once a day.
3. Resting
Moderation is the key in everything. While a sedentary life can lead to cardiovascular disease and many other disorders, overworking/exercising can also weaken your immune system and makes more vulnerable to become sick. Working two jobs having no time to rest and relax is an enemy of your immunity. The same, if you train intensely for 90 minutes, the production of macrophages, the cells that fight germs, temporarily decreases, which increases the risk of infection. So include recovery times and days into your training program to increase your chance of having a strong immune system.
4. Avoiding Cold
Avoiding cold helps your immunity. Probably this is the last thing you would expect to contribute to a strong immune system. Parents are right to not let their children walk barefoot in the cold: you are more likely to catch an infection if your extremities are cold. Having cold extremities appears to decrease the formation of white blood cells, which are the first line of immune defense against pathogenic invaders. In one study, 90 people have left their feet in a basin of cold water for 20 minutes and 90 others put their feet into an empty container for the same time. Five days later, 20% of subjects who had cold feet had a cold, compared with 9% of those whose feet were still hot.
Making love strengthens our immunity, many studies reveal. Sex would prevent flu and reduce cardiovascular disease symptoms, according to a recent Swiss study. Having sex, our immune system is strengthened and stimulated, which would help to combat certain diseases. During the sexual act, the number of T cells in the body increases significantly and may even replicate in the body. T cells are white blood cells that play a key role in the immune response. Encountering cells infected with different viruses, they enter within these cells and engage a self-destruction mechanism. Healthy sex increases the amount of these T cells, which promotes the protection and recovery of the body.
6. Regular Walking
Moderate exercise, 30 to 60 minutes of walking a day, most days of the week, is immunostimulant: it stimulates the immune system by inducing activation and production of T–cells which are essential for human immunity, as previously mentioned above. Regular brisk walking reduces the risk of respiratory infection by about 40%, a new study has found. However, too intense and prolonged exercise can weaken the immune system, facilitating the entry and multiplication of virus in the body, according to The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
7. Positive Mind
Yes, you can use your thoughts to have a strong immune system. Watch your mindset from the second you wake up from bed in the morning. Thinking positively is a powerful immune booster. Our mood and quality of our thoughts directly affect our endocrine balance and therefore our immune defenses. Researchers at the University of Virginia would have detected the presence of lymph vessels in the brain of rodents. That is, our brain (mind) has a direct control on the movement of immune cells throughout the body and activation of the immune response during an infection.
Remember, your body is like a country and your immune system is the defensive army; if it is weak, you are weak. Every day a variety of enemies (viruses, bacteria, pathogenic germs…) attack your organism; without a strong immune system you will eventually fall sick. You should not neglect your immunity.
