What Impairs the Immune System?
Whether you start from sickness or health, when you utilise foods that are unprecedented in their potency, purity and in the complexity of their contribution to your body’s well-being, the aging process slows down. The physiological functions that repair your cells will be optimised and your risk of immune suppression will fall along with many other health issues.
You may wonder why you are sick more or less often than your partner, co-workers and neighbours. You may wonder why one person coughing on the airplane successfully sickens the passenger to his right but not the one to his left. The answer is that not all immune systems function alike. A number of factors affect immune system health. Some you can’t control. Fortunately, there are ways you can strengthen your immune system.
Understanding what impairs the immune function goes a long way towards strengthening it.
What impairs the Immune system?
- Malnutrition impairs immune function.
- French fries, soft drinks and alcohol don’t build strong white blood cells either.
- One substance to avoid is simple sugar.
- When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands churn out adrenaline and cortisol. While acute stress pumps up the immune system, long-term stress taxes it. For instance, psychological stress raises the risk for the common cold and other viruses. Less often, chronic stress can promote a hyper-reactive immune system and aggravate conditions such as allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease.
- On the whole, your immune system does a remarkable job of defending you against disease-causing microorganisms. But sometimes it fails. A germ invades successfully and makes you sick.
- Is it possible to intervene in this process and make your immune system stronger? What if you improve your diet? Take certain vitamins or herbal preparations? Make other lifestyle changes in the hope of producing a near-perfect immune response?
The idea of boosting your immunity is enticing, but the ability to do so has proved elusive for several reasons. The immune system is precisely that — a system, not a single entity. To function well, it requires balance and harmony. There is still much that researchers don’t know about the intricacies and interconnectedness of the immune response.
But that doesn’t mean the effects of lifestyle on the immune system aren’t intriguing and shouldn’t be studied. Quite a number of researchers are exploring the effects of diet, exercise, age, psychological stress, herbal supplements, and other factors on the immune response, both in animals and in humans. The following sections summarize some of the most active areas of research into these topics. In the meantime, general healthy-living strategies are a good way to start giving your immune system the upper hand.
Adopt healthy-living strategies
Your first line of defence is to choose a healthy lifestyle. Following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward keeping your immune system strong and healthy. Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and bolstered by healthy-living strategies such as these:
- Don’t smoke.
- Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat.
- Exercise regularly.
- Maintain a healthy weight.
- Control your blood pressure.
- If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.
- Get adequate sleep.
- Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
- Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category.
- Be sceptical – many products on store shelves claim to boost or support immunity. But the concept of boosting immunity actually makes little sense scientifically.
Attempting to boost the cells of the immune system is especially complicated because there are so many different kinds of cells in the immune system that respond to so many different microbes in so many ways. Many researchers are trying to explore the effects of a variety of factors on immunity – from foods and herbal supplements to exercise and stress.
A different scientific approach looks at the effect of certain lifestyle modifications on the incidence of disease. If a study shows significantly less disease, researchers consider whether the immune system is being strengthened in some way. Based on these studies, there is now evidence that even though we may not be able to prove a direct link between a certain lifestyle and an improved immune response, we can at least show that some links are likely.
Age and immunity
Researchers believe that the aging process somehow leads to a reduction of immune response capability, which in turn contributes to more infections, more inflammatory diseases, and more cancer. As life expectancy in developed countries has increased, so too has the incidence of age-related conditions. Happily, investigation into the aging process can benefit us all – no matter what our age.
While some people age healthily, the conclusion of many studies is that, compared with younger people, the elderly are far more likely to contract infectious diseases. Respiratory infections, influenza, and particularly pneumonia are a leading cause of death in people over 65 worldwide.
Yet other researchers are looking at the connection between nutrition and immunity in the elderly. A form of malnutrition that is surprisingly common even in affluent countries is known as “micronutrient malnutrition.” Micronutrient malnutrition, in which a person is deficient in some essential vitamins and trace minerals that are obtained from or supplemented by diet, can be common in the elderly.
What about diet?
Like any fighting force, the immune system army marches on its stomach. Immune system warriors need good, regular nourishment. Scientists have long recognized that people who live in poverty and are malnourished are more vulnerable to infectious diseases. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world’s population are malnourished primarily because of the over farming of the land and the poisoning of it with manufactured chemicals. And this includes you, especially if you have dieted throughout your life.
So what can you do?
Red Marine Algae – the Antiviral Algae
You’ve probably heard of other forms of algae. You may not yet know about red marine algae, but it has been researched for over three decades due to the promising early test tube results showing the antiviral properties of this sea plant.
Red marine algae’s cell wall binds with toxic heavy metals in the body, helping to increase the immune system’s effectiveness at giving viruses the boot. Using chlorella as a compliment to red marine algae further increases the effectiveness of the immune system, thanks to chlorella’s chelating abilities.
Chlorella – All-purpose Health Enhancer
Chlorella is well known in the world of nutrition, thanks largely to the pioneering efforts of a group of green food scientists in Japan. There, cracked cell chlorella supplements are wildly popular. Chlorella is rich in chlorophyll and research has shown that chlorophyll renews damaged tissue, counteracts the damaging effects of radiation, knocks out harmful bacteria, facilitates wound healing, increases healthful intestinal flora, improves liver function and gum health, and triggers enzymes that produce vitamins E, A and K. Chlorella has been found to enhance immunity, increasing production of the antiviral, anticancer immune factor, interferon. Natural killer cell activity has also been found to improve with chlorella supplementation – a suggestion that this algae could protect against the secondary bacterial infections that often occur in the wake of colds and influenza.
Herbs and other supplements
Walk into a store, and you will find bottles of pills and herbal preparations that claim to “support immunity” or otherwise boost the health of your immune system. Demonstrating whether an herb – or any substance, for that matter – can enhance immunity is, as yet, a highly complicated matter.
But that doesn’t mean we should discount the benefits of all herbal preparations. Everyone’s immune system is unique. Each person’s physiology responds to active substances differently. The problem arises when scientists try to study a preparation among large numbers of people. The fact that it works for one person won’t show up in the research data if it’s not doing the same for a larger group.
Some of the supplements that have drawn attention from researchers are these:
Aloe Vera
Among all of the desert plants, none has a more important role in healing our body, as does Aloe Vera. Traditionally valued for its burn and wound healing qualities, science has now shown that Aloe Vera stimulates the immune system by providing certain compounds called polysaccharides as well as other anti-inflammatory compounds that help to relieve arthritis pain. Unfortunately, only one variety of Aloe contains significant quantities of these compounds and some companies are selling you the wrong variety. Even when you do get the proper variety, it typically has been diluted significantly (notice the “watery” texture) and sweetened with artificial flavourings.
Probiotics
There are hundreds of different species of bacteria in your digestive tract, which do a great job helping you digest your food. Now researchers, including some at Harvard Medical School, are finding evidence of a relationship between such “good” bacteria and the immune system. As more and more intriguing evidence comes in to support the link that intestinal bacteria bolster the immune system, it’s tempting to think that more good bacteria would be better. At least, this is what many marketers would like you to believe as they tout their probiotic products.
Another caution is that the quality of probiotic products is not consistent. Some contain what they say they do; some do not. Does this mean taking probiotics is useless? No. It means the jury is still out on the expansive health claims. In the meantime, if you choose to take a probiotic do make sure that you choose the highest quality version of this.
The Stress Connection
Modern medicine, which once treated the connection between emotions and physical health with scepticism, has come to appreciate the closely linked relationship of mind and body. A wide variety of maladies, including stomach upset, hives, and even heart disease, are linked to the effects of emotional stress. But although the relationship between stress and immune function is being studied by a number of different types of scientists, so far it is not a major area of research for immunologists.
Studying the relationship between stress and the immune system presents difficult challenges. For one thing, stress is difficult to define. What may appear to be a stressful situation for one person is not for another. When people are exposed to situations they regard as stressful, it is difficult for them to measure how much stress they feel, and difficult for the scientist to know if a person’s subjective impression of the amount of stress is accurate. The scientist can only measure things that may reflect stress, such as the number of times the heart beats each minute, but such measures also may reflect other factors.
Most scientists studying the relationship of stress and immune function, however, do not study a sudden, short-lived stressor; rather, they try to study more constant and frequent stressors known as chronic stress, such as that caused by relationships with family, friends, and co-workers, or sustained challenges to perform well at one’s work. Some scientists are investigating whether ongoing stress takes a toll on the immune system.
Despite these inevitable difficulties in measuring the relationship of stress to immunity, scientists who repeat the same experiment many times with many different animals or human beings, and who get the same result most of the time, hope that they can draw reasonable conclusions.
Many researchers report that stressful situations can reduce various aspects of the cellular immune response.
Does being cold make you sick?
Almost every mother has said it: “Wear a jacket or you’ll catch a cold!” Is she right? So far, researchers who are studying this question think that normal exposure to moderate cold doesn’t increase your susceptibility to infection. Most health experts agree that the reason winter is “cold and flu season” is not that people are cold, but that they spend more time indoors, in closer contact with other people who can pass on their germs.
A group of Canadian researchers that has reviewed hundreds of medical studies on the subject and conducted some of its own research concludes that there’s no need to worry about moderate cold exposure — it has no detrimental effect on the human immune system. Should you bundle up when it’s cold outside? The answer is “yes” if you’re uncomfortable, or if you’re going to be outdoors for an extended period where such problems as frostbite and hypothermia are a risk. But don’t worry about immunity.
Exercise: Good or bad for immunity?
Regular exercise is one of the pillars of healthy living. It improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight, and protects against a variety of diseases. But does it help maintain a healthy immune system? Just like a healthy diet, exercise can contribute to general good health and therefore to a healthy immune system. It may contribute even more directly by promoting good circulation, which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job efficiently.
To your very good health and happiness
I really hope that you have found something of value within this article. If you are looking for high quality nutritional products, please check out my website because I can acquire them for you.
My article next week will be about Gastrointestinal health, as I know that there are many of you who have issues with this. It is rarely spoken of except to maybe the Doctors, who as we know only have a couple of hours nutritional training within the six years of pharmaceutical training they go through!
If you’d like regular updates from me please subscribe to my newsletter ‘Healthy Happy Lifestyle’ via my website.
As a Raw Food Coach/Chef/Trainer I am experienced at enabling others to easily start the transformation to become conscious of healthier eating. People discover that adjusting their lifestyle can be both fun and easy and the outcome is often more energy and a greater capacity to self-heal. I am passionately involved with a movement to bring Non-GMO, Organic, Raw Vegan, wholefood supplements to the whole of my network and on into all of theirs too, so that others can benefit from having easy access to the healthiest foods in the easiest format.
To connect directly with me
Mobile: 07972 131666
