Natural Ways to Boost Your Immune System

Boosting your immune system is and will always be one of the keys to living a healthy lifestyle. Not only is it often a person's first line of defense when warding off sickness and disease, it also helps combat these issues when they do occur. When talking about how the immune system is quite often the foundation of a person's health and wellness, author Erez Lieberman Aiden said that "The immune system constantly creates genes on the fly that are specific to the things that show up in the body. It's amazing."

Despite this, not everyone has a naturally healthy immune system. According to the American Journal of Pathology, between 5% and 8% of people in the United States currently have some type of autoimmune disease. Furthermore, roughly 78% of those people are female. There are even around 80 different diseases that occur as a direct result of a person's immune system attacking their own organs.

It's safe to say that your immune system needs all the help it can get. If you're looking for natural ways to boost your immune system, there are a few key things you'll want to keep in mind.

Start Lowering Your Stress Levels

According to research conducted by the American Psychological Association, stress (along with feelings of general loneliness and depression) has been proven time and again to weaken a person's immune system with shocking efficiency. To combat this, start looking inward for ways that you can rid stress from your life. For some, this might mean the time has come to look for a new job. For others, this might mean trying to get more hours of sleep a night or trying to spend more time with your friends and family members. Probiotics, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and other types of items can also fill your body with nutrients, lowering your stress levels and boosting your immune system at the same time.

Start Living Healthy

Poor health is also one of the number one contributors to a weakened immune system, so it stands to reason that making the jump to healthy living habits is naturally one of the best ways to strengthen it. If you smoke cigarettes, stop as soon as you can.Researchers revealed that smoking causes a buildup of biofilms in the human body, which weaken the immune system as they “provide a physical barrier against the host immune response, can be impermeable to antibiotics and act as a reservoir for persistent infection."

Try to exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight. According to a study conducted at Harvard, you don't necessarily have to give up alcohol completely in order to be healthy - you just have to drink in moderation whenever possible.

Try to Get a Good Night's Sleep

Since we were little kids, our parents have been telling us to get to bed on time so that we can wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning. As it turns out, this advice is good for a lot more than just making sure that we start the day feeling refreshed - it's yet another way to help manage our stress levels, give our bodies time to recuperate and (most importantly) is a wonderful, natural way to give your immune system a much-needed injection when it needs it the most.

When you deprive your body of the sleep it needs, not only does your stress level increase - so does your body's production of the hormone cortisol. While a little extra cortisol isn't necessarily going to be the end of the world, prolonged elevation absolutely suppresses the natural functions of your immune system - causing you to get sick more often. For the best results, try to get between seven and eight hours of sleep as many nights of the week as you can. This won't always be possible depending on your schedule, but even if you get a good night's sleep in a few extra days versus what you're getting now, you'll find the results are more than worth the effort.

The Sun Is Your Friend

A lot has been written about how too much exposure to the sun can have a harmful effect on your body. Not only does it start putting your skin into overdrive, but it can also contribute to things like melanoma and even cancer if you're not careful. However, the reverse is also true - staying cooped up indoors and not getting any sun at all can harm your body in a wide range of different ways, most importantly in terms of your immune system.

As a result, one of the best (and easiest) natural ways to boost your immune system is just to get outdoors and get some fresh air during those warm summer months of the year. Even 10 to 15 minutes of quality sun exposure will go a long way towards boosting your body's production of vitamin D, which will give your immune system a healthy boost and will cut down on the risk of things like respiratory infection as well.

Probiotics and Other Natural Supplements

As previously mentioned, probiotics and natural supplements are also a great way to naturally boost your immune system over time. Studies have shown that not only do probiotics in particular help to reduce respiratory infections associated with a weakened immune system, but gastrointestinal infections as well. Other natural immune system strengtheners focus on eliminating pathogens to improve overall health.

Ramp Up All of These Tips as You Age

One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind in terms of your immune system is that it naturally has to work a little bit harder as you get older. It's easier to get sick when you start getting into your 40s, 50s, and 60s - and the amount of time that you're sick will be extended, too. Even getting a flu shot will be less effective for a 65-year-old than it will be for a 25-year-old because of the way the body ages.

As a result, you're going to want to use all of these tips as much as possible as you age to help boost your immune system in any way that you can. If you get six hours of sleep in your 30s, try for eight in your 40s. If you practice moderate drinking two nights a week in your 40s, cut it down to one in your 50s. All of these tips will still work, you just need to elevate how much you embrace them as time goes on.

If you'd like to find out more about natural ways to boost your immune system, or if you'd just like to learn more about how natural supplements can be your ticket to the healthy lifestyle you've always wanted, don't delay - contact MrVitaHerbs today.