Intro
Whether it’s cold season or the summer, a strong immune system is important. The immune system is our natural defense against outside pathogens, bacteria, and viruses that can make us sick. Without it, going out into the world can be dangerous or even fatal.
While an immune system is something that you’re born with, it can be better or worse depending on the person. Some people have a strong, natural immune system while others may need to take extra measures to have a boost. Regardless, there are ways in which you can increase the strength of your immune system.
In this post, you’ll learn some ways in which you can get an immune boost.
Eat Real Food
Of course, nutrition is going to be the center of your immune system. What you put into your body is going to have a direct influence on important processes in the body. If you neglect healthy foods and opt for junk food, then you’ll more than likely be missing out on a strong immune response.
The best way to combat this is to eat real food. Meaning, that you’re primarily eating foods that are minimally processed or not processed at all. For example, a potato is a whole food, whereas a potato chip or French fry is processed. The idea is that you consume foods that are as close to real as possible so that you get the most nutrients. The more nutrients you consume, the higher the benefit to your body and immune system.
There’s a reason that you get sick when you start to eat a bunch of un-healthy food, it’s because of the dip in your immune response it can lead to.
Vitamin C
This vitamin is probably the most well-known immune booster. Vitamin C is essentially an antioxidant which helps to fight off free radicals. Free radicals are instable molecules that can wreak havoc on cells within your body. This can lower the strength of your immune system along with a host of other issues. Therefore, the more vitamin C you have, the better you can remove these cell-damaging molecules.
You have this vitamin all throughout your body and being low in it can really take the edge off the immune system.
The median recommended intake of this vitamin is 102mg/day for adults, and you would be hard pressed to take too much of the stuff. Just follow a normal dose daily for the best results and bring in a little boost if you start to feel sick.
Vitamin D
Yes, this vitamin is one of, if not THE, most important vitamins you can take. Vitamin D actually acts more like a hormone in your body, as it’s responsible for numerous metabolic processes. It plays a role in your immune health, but also your mood and energy levels.
It’s a unique vitamin because it doesn’t all come from your food. We can process and synthesize vitamin D from UV rays or sunlight. This is why you find that you may get sick more during the colder months, as you aren’t getting as much direct sunlight exposure. In fact, roughly a billion people worldwide have a vitamin D deficiency and 50% of the population is Vitamin D insufficient. It’s quite a common thing as people tend to stay indoors more now than ever.
While you get most of your Vitamin D from sunlight, you can get it from supplementation as well as various foods. Some great foods for Vitamin D are mushrooms, yogurt, milk, and eggs.
Sleep
Have you ever found that you had a rough week of sleep, and all of the sudden you have a cold? This is due to the fact that your lack of sleep led to a drop in your immune strength. We have to recover from whatever we do in our day-to-day life. Whether that’s working construction, punching numbers, exercising, or chasing around kids – sleep is the time in which you recover from it. When you’re under recovered, your body is going to put a hold on fighting off disease or pathogens. Next thing you know, you’re sneezing your brains out.
Even if you need to take naps, your total sleep for a day should be around 8 hours of quality sleep. If you work a job that doesn’t allow for as much sleep at night, grab a few power naps when you can. This all adds up to total recovery and it can go a long way.
Work to keep your sleep up and you’ll find that you’re not getting sick nearly as much.
Stress Management
In addition to sleep, stress is another lifestyle factor that can contribute to your immune health. Stress induces the release of cortisol, which is the fight or flight hormone. This hormone has a place, when necessary, but we tend to be stressed out at all times. Therefore, our cortisol is always high, and we never stop living in fight or flight.
Cortisol directly influences your immune response by taking the focus away. During a fight or flight, your body is thinking about fighting or getting away. During this time, it turns off all other unnecessary functions to make this happen. Unfortunately, the immune system is one of those.
Taking time to lower stress and keep it at a manageable level is important for boosting your immune strength. Things like getting in nature, practicing deep breathing, and meditation can help to dramatically reduce stress. While it may seem cumbersome, this really does go a long way for improving your ability to fight off sickness.
Supplements
There are a ton of immune boosting supplements out there, but your best bet is with something that has it all. Real food is important for boosting your immune system, we covered that. This is where a greens/reds powder comes into play. Powders like these contain almost 10x the vitamins and minerals that trying to eat a few pieces of fruit would, as they are dehydrated and broken down into a concentrated powder. You need to ensure that it’s made with quality ingredients, however. There are companies that fluff these kinds of supplements and use less than ideal ingredients that won’t provide as good of a benefit.
1UP Nutrition has one of THE best formulas for a superfood powder. Everything is lab tested and you never have to worry about what’s in it. Getting a solid immune boost is easy with their Greens and Reds Powder.
In addition to multiple vitamins, you’ll get from the Greens and Reds Powder, you can also take in a ton of beneficial antioxidants. This comes in the form of Kickstart, which is an organic wellness shot. Packed with things like ginger, lemon, turmeric, and cayenne it can help to fight off any cell damaging molecules in your body. Again, this will take your immune strength to the next level.
Supplements can really take things up a notch and are really going to help cover those gaps you may have in your nutrition.
Closing Thoughts
Whether you want to stop getting sick as much or want to just feel amazing, a boost in your immune health is most likely going to help. This can be done in multiple ways but will ultimately come down to your dietary and lifestyle choices. The idea is to take care of yourself, and your body will reward you, versus just hoping it does alright. Get enough sleep, eat well, and try not to stress as much. All of these things come together to help you fight off anything trying to get to you.