How to Strengthen Immune System?

• Your immune system helps you fight back against a cold or a flu. It can also help your injuries heal faster and can prevent you from getting sick in the first place.
• While nutrition is one good way to strengthen the immune system, there are other factors that can improve your body’s response to germs and other invaders.

Your immune system helps you fight back against a cold or a flu. It can also help your injuries heal faster and can prevent you from getting sick in the first place. Sometimes though, our immune systems just don’t work as well as they need to work. That’s a sign that we need to find ways to strengthen immune system functions. Below are some tips.

Foods to Strengthen Immune System

One of the most common theories for strengthening the immune system is that if you want to fight off a cold you should start taking vitamin C supplements. This idea comes from the fact that vitamin C is essential to a properly functioning immune system. However, no scientific research has shown that taking more vitamin C will actually make you less likely to get sick.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that nutrition doesn’t play a role in how to strengthen immune system functioning. Eating a balanced diet that includes all of the micronutrients and macronutrients you need daily is one of the best ways to improve the way your immune system functions. If you’re looking for miracle foods that will automatically boost immunity, yogurt is one to try. Yogurt, which has live cultures, contains probiotics (good bacteria in your digestive system) and can increase your body’s immune response.

Another way to strengthen immune system response is to eat more pumpkin. While pumpkin pie can be a delicious Thanksgiving dessert, it can also be an amazing source of vitamin A. This is an important vitamin because it helps improve communication between the cells, which is an essential part of a strong immune system.

While some foods may help increase your immunity, you may want to rethink taking some types of supplements. Zinc supplements, for example, are widely touted as a great way to fight germs and to speed up recovery from a cold, but when you take in too much zinc your immune system response can actually be reduced.

Other Factors that Contribute to a Strong Immune System

While nutrition is one good way to strengthen the immune system, there are other factors that can improve your body’s response to germs and other invaders. Exercise is one of the best examples. Some studies have actually demonstrated that people who exercise very little are more likely to have poorly functioning immune systems than people who are at least moderately active – just another good reason to engage in some type of exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

Sleep is another way to strengthen immune system functioning. Research has shown that when you don’t get enough sleep your immune system’s ability to protect and heal you drops significantly. You need to get at least eight hours of sleep a night, consistently, if you want to fend off germs.

Being stressed or depressed can also suppress your immune system. Research has shown, for instance, that extreme grief will actually reduce the ability of your T-cells to function. T-cells are one of the chief factors in fighting off invading antigens.

Finally, if you’re a smoker, you can strengthen your immune system by simply quitting smoking. The chemicals in cigarettes actually decrease immune response. Smokers can have an immunity increase within a single month if they decide to quit.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.