Strengthening Your Immune System For This Winter Season
The winter season is a time when many of us catch a cough or a cold, which makes it that much more important that we make sure to support our immune system in the best way during these times, ensuring that it will properly function.
It is important to realize that our immune system is a complex system in itself, where today's scientists are still looking into the ways of how your lifestyle impacts immunity levels. Although the link is not yet completely understood and is not easy to discern, there definitely is a link between the two, since your immune system's optimal functioning depends on plenty of different factors and health practices, some of which you can control and undoubtedly have a positive role in supporting your immune function.
WHAT CAUSES YOUR IMMUNITY TO DECLINE?
Overall, there are many different reasons for why our immunity can decline. Some of these include:
Old age: As we age, it is natural for our immune response capability to become reduced, which in turn contributes to more infections and more cancer. This is proven since the average life expectancy in developed countries has greatly increased, so has the incidence of age-related conditions.
High-stress levels: Being stressed can compromise the immune system, making the body more susceptible to illness due to the release of stress hormones that can suppress immune function.
Unhealthy and highly processed diets: Consuming a highly processed diet can weaken the immune system and compromise overall health, increasing susceptibility to illness by depriving the body of essential nutrients and promoting inflammation.
Sedentary lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle can weaken the immune system and contribute to poor health by reducing physical activity, impairing circulation, and promoting conditions that increase susceptibility to illness.
Smoking: Smoking damages the respiratory system, weakens the immune response, and increases inflammation, making individuals more susceptible to illness by compromising the body's ability to defend against infections and diseases.
Excessive alcohol consumption: Excessive alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system, disrupt the balance of gut bacteria, and impair organ function, making individuals more susceptible to illness by compromising their body's defense mechanisms and overall health.
Poor sleep quality: Poor sleep quality disrupts the body's immune function and increases inflammation, making individuals more susceptible to illness by compromising the body's ability to effectively respond to and fight off infections and diseases.
However, why do so many more of us get sick during winter?
Well, it has to primarily do with two reasons:
The first reason is that with cold weather, people tend to spend more time inside in enclosed spaces, which increases the chance of infection and the transmission of viruses between people.
Secondly, winter temperatures are not only colder but also the air is less humid, which enables the viruses that can make us sick to stay alive for longer and, in this way, remain longer in the air during which they can infect us and we become sick.
INCREASING IMMUNITY IN THE RIGHT SENSE
Nowadays, in stores and specifically in health food supplement-type shops, you can come across many different types of products and supplements that claim to boost or support immunity. While this may sound almost like magic, the concept of boosting your immunity is actually quite scientifically conflicting. For example, if we aim to increase the number of immune-related cells in our body, that will not necessarily be a good thing, as too much of anything can lead to adverse effects.
An additional perspective that challenges this belief is that our immune system is, in reality, a system composed of many different types of cells, all of which work in different ways and interact with different chemicals or other cells. Therefore, if we aim to “boost immunity,” which immune cells are we even aiming to target and boost, and how would we selectively target them in the first place? This is a very complex topic and one that we are still looking for the answer to.
Overall, our body is constantly producing white blood cells, also known as lymphocytes; however, no one fully knows or understands how many immune cells and what mix of immune cells we need to function optimally.
WHAT ABOUT MULTI VITAMINS AND OTHER SUPPLEMENTS?
The supplement industry was estimated to amount to a staggering 164 billion US dollars in 2022 and is only projected to further grow in upcoming years at fast rates.
Because of this, there are now many different types of supplements and multivitamins that are available; however, the science behind using multivitamins is not fully united and convincing either.
So far, the scientific field has failed to establish any great positive effect between multivitamin use and a boost in immunity or other health markers, where in a lot of studies there was neither a positive nor a negative effect.
It is generally advised against taking any sort of megadose of any particular vitamin at once, since more of a vitamin does not mean you will be healthier but can actually cause your body genuine harm.
My approach is to always source all of your micronutrients from whole food sources which are naturally rich in vitamins and minerals and also contain them in the most optimal proportions for your body to make use of. However, if you personally find that, for example, supplementing with vitamin D in the winter or Vitamin C has a positive effect on your immune system, then that's great, but don’t go out of your way to overdo it with anything.
10 WAYS TO MAINTAIN STRONG IMMUNITY
Eating A Balanced And Nutritious Diet
Our immune system works best when we supply it with a predominantly whole foods diet, which is unprocessed and full of different colors. This includes a variety of different proteins, colorful fruits and vegetables, starches, grains, nuts, seeds, and oils.
By eating a variety of whole foods, we not only make sure that all of our nutritional needs are met in terms of macro and micronutrients, but also that we are getting a good supply of antioxidants to fight free radicals and cell-related aging and diseases. If you are further interested in the topic of antioxidants and how they work, you can read about it here.
An additional benefit of eating a varied predominantly whole foods diet is that it positively impacts your gut microbiome by supplying the bacteria in your gut with a variety of fibers which the bacteria feed on and produce beneficial byproducts that can positively impact our immune system. Additionally, you can read more about how your gut microbiome impacts your health here.
Below are some additional food-related suggestions which further support your immune function:
Increasing your consumption of healthy fats such as those found in olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, seeds.
Eating plenty of fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, or kefir or taking a probiotic supplement.
Limiting your consumption of added sugars such as those found in highly processed sugary snacks, sweet fried foods, or highly processed syrups and artificial sweeteners.
Staying Physically Active
Staying physically active and moving your body is not only beneficial for your muscular and skeletal system as well as your mental health but is also highly involved in proper immune function.
Regular movement raises energy levels, improves sleep quality, as well as being able to reduce stress and anxiety, all of which are effects that further positively contribute to good immunity.
Additionally, regular movement also helps to reduce levels of inflammation in your body which further allows your body's immune cells to function and be regulated regularly.
I have written about the various benefits of regular exercise here.
Drinking Enough Water
Drinking water or staying hydrated does not directly protect you from germs and viruses, however, preventing dehydration is a big part of staying healthy overall.
By being dehydrated, your body is generally less equipped to protect itself against different viruses, as dehydration hinders your physical performance, causes headaches, and hinders heart and kidney function.
Aim to mainly hydrate by drinking water instead of opting for sugary fruit juices or sodas as a way of intaking liquids. Additionally, drinking too much water can also be harmful, so as a rule of thumb, drink when you are thirsty and stop when you are no longer thirsty.
Keeping Consistent With Vaccinations
If we avoid getting vaccinations, it can take our immune system anywhere up to 2 weeks to recognize the pathogen at play and launch an appropriate attack for the virus. Whether we are a young healthy individual or an older person who has a weaker immune response, at the end of those 2 weeks is when it can result in you getting infected or staying healthy depending on how your immune system deals with the pathogen. In the case that you get sick, your immune system will then properly kick into action and try to remove the effects of the pathogen.
By getting vaccinated, we can shorten that 2-week waiting period by allowing our immune system to engage with a small piece of that virus or bacteria that can otherwise cause us to be sick, and in this way encourage our body to develop the appropriate antibodies in a more controllable way as opposed to our immune system having to handle a full virus for the first time all in one go.
Maintaining A Healthy Weight
Being overweight or obese can also significantly impair your body's natural immune response, where people who are obese are less responsive to vaccines for a variety of diseases such as influenza virus, hepatitis, and tetanus.
Getting Adequate Sleep
Sleep is a crucial time for when our body takes the time to properly repair and also synthesize new white blood cells as well as attend to any sites of inflammation.
Adults should generally aim to get at least 7 hours of good-quality sleep per night, with teenagers needing 8-10 and younger children even more.
If you are having issues with sleeping, I have previously written about how to improve your sleep quality here.
Minimizing Stress Where Possible
You might not realize it, but there is a crucial link between stress, anxiety, and your body's immune system. Your immune function is greatly impaired when you live in a constant state of chronic stress, since long-term stress promotes keeping your immune system permanently activated that can directly cause inflammation within our body and also an imbalance of immune cell function.
I have written about some of the ways for how to better handle stress here but overall some suggestions for how to better handle stress in your life include meditating, exercising, socializing, journaling, spending time in nature, or consulting with a therapist if needed.
Quit Smoking
There are many issues that are concerned with smoking cigarettes; however, it is undeniably true that smoking makes your body less successful and effective at fighting off any type of disease.
The chemicals which are found in cigarette smoke like carbon monoxide, nicotine, nitrogen oxides, and cadmium have been shown to negatively interfere with the growth and function of immune cells such as T cells, B cells, and cytokines.
Additionally, smoking also worsens viral and bacterial infections, especially those located within the lungs like pneumonia, flu, or tuberculosis, as well as increases the chances of post-surgical infections and developed or rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease of the joints.
Prevent Excessive Alcohol Consumption
Just like with cigarettes, persistent and excessive alcohol consumption can weaken the immune system by lowering levels of B and T immune cells as well as overwhelming your body with detoxifying the alcohol first before trying to bother with up-keeping normal immune function.
This is why people who drink more face a greater chance of developing pneumonia, alcoholic liver disease as well as certain cancers, all of which combine to worsen immune function overall.
If you are further interested into how alcohol impacts your body, you can read about it here.
Take Care To Prevent Infections
Of course, it is also important to mention that we should take care of the basics too when it comes to hygiene, such as washing our hands and also washing the food we eat before we prepare it.
KEY IDEAS
Today we talked about the topic of how to take proper care of your immune system this winter where we explored why our immune system tends to decline in the winter months, discussed wether multivitamins have a genuine protective role in our health and what are some practical ways of how we can stay healthy this winter season.
REFERENCES
Enhanced immunity. (2023, September 5). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/features/enhance-immunity/index.html
Harvard Health. (2021, February 15). How to boost your immune system. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system
Ld, S. S. M. R. (2020, April 1). 9 ways to boost your body’s natural defenses. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-boost-immune-health#3.-Eat-more-healthy-fats
Bedosky, L. (2023, July 26). 8 ways to keep your immune system healthy. EverydayHealth.com. https://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/ways-to-keep-your-immune-system-healthy
Dietary Supplements Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Ingredient (Vitamins, Botanicals), By Form (Tablets, Soft gels), By End-user, By Application, By Type, By Distribution Channel, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030. (2023, October 17). https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/dietary-supplements-market#:~:text=The global dietary supplements market,9.0%25 from 2023 to 2030.
How To Naturally Boost Your Immune System
With the cold winter months coming before us, it is now a good time to start thinking about how best to protect and reinforce our immune system for this winter, and to prevent any unnecessary sicknesses in the times of this pandemic.
As you will see, our immunity largely depends on external factors such as food, exercise, and lifestyle habits, meaning that it is well within our control to promote and maintain a healthy and strong immune system.
If you are interested in finding out how to take care of your immune system and how to prepare it for the colder months ahead of us, then read on.
Hope you enjoy : )
ESSENTIAL MICRONUTRIENTS FOR IMMUNITY
VITAMIN A:
This vitamin has been linked with lower levels of inflammation in our body, which is directly linked with a healthier and stronger immune system. Not only that, but scientists believe that it has a role in the way our immune system responds to pathogens and how our white blood cells
Sources: Eggs, cod liver oil, orange and yellow colored vegetables and fruits, broccoli, spinach
VITAMIN C
It enhances white blood cell functioning and is needed for initializing cell death of old and unuseful cells. Apart from that it also protects against oxidative stress as it functions as an antioxidant, where lower levels of oxidative stress have been linked to lower incidences of chronic diseases.
Sources: Red bell pepper, citrus fruits, kiwis, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, spinach, green peas
VITAMIN D
Enhance the ability of white blood cells in our blood to fight pathogens and prevent our immune system from becoming too sensitive to the environment around us.
Sources: Salmon, sardines, egg yolks, mushrooms, sunshine (outside)
VITAMIN E:
Vitamin E is also an antioxidant and a crucial substance that plays a part in almost 200 biochemical reactions inside your body. It is well recognized as a contributing factor in the development and healthiness of your immune cells.
Sources: Sunflower seeds, almonds, sunflower oil, hazelnuts, olive oil, pine nuts, avocado, brazil nuts
ZINC:
Zinc is required for the development of white blood cells as well as the communication between your immune cells in combating inflammation inside your body.
Sources: Oysters, beef, seafood, legumes, pumpkin seeds, natural yogurt
SELENIUM:
A rather understated mineral, but selenium has more recently been shown to have a role in regulating inflammation and overall immunity in our body, where sufficient levels of this mineral have been linked with resulting in a less over-reactive immune systems and being able to treat chronic inflammation
Sources: Brazil nuts, seafood, and organ meats
5 PILLARS OF A STRONG & HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
NUTRITION
ADEQUATE SLEEP
MODERATE EXERCISE
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS
STRESS MANAGEMENT
1. NUTRITION
EATING WELL
Perhaps food is not the first factor you expected to see on how to maintain a healthy immune system, but it is a crucial and often an understated factor. Food has been used for millennia as not only a source of energy and time for socializing but as a way to treat, regress, and prevent diseases and sicknesses. Back then, medicine as we know it today was not available, so they had to take care of illnesses with what they had around, which was most of the time food in some shape or form.
The food we eat plays a crucial role in our health and consequently also our immune system, as whatever we input into our bodies, we absorb and use, so we have to be mindful of what we eat.
In terms of food that has been scientifically shown to have a positive effect on our immune system, you will see foods in their whole food (unprocessed) form, many of which are rich in micronutrients such as vitamin C and zinc, as well as foods naturally rich in antioxidants and probiotics. Here are some of the best foods you can eat to maintain a healthy immune system:
Red bell peppers
Spinach
Citrus fruits
Ginger
Natural yogurt
Almonds
Turmeric
Broccoli
Seafood and shellfish
Kiwi
Green tea
DRINKING ENOUGH WATER
Unsurprisingly, drinking water also affects our immune system just like at large it affects our overall health. Water plays many vital roles in our body, which is why it is so important to keep hydrated throughout the day. You can read more about the importance of water and why it is relevant to our health in this blog post: Why Drink Water
In short, water plays a few key roles in terms of our immunity. Firstly, keeping hydrated makes us less susceptible to germs and harmful bacteria as when our body is well hydrated it functions better all together, meaning that our immune system can fight off pathogens and viruses much more effectively.
Secondly, water is needed to allow our body to naturally detoxify itself and remove any unneeded metabolic waste products out of our system.
Thirdly, drinking enough water also makes sure to keep our blood healthy as our blood is predominantly made out of water so that our blood can effectively transport the needed nutrients and micronutrients to our body’s cells whenever they are needed. Linking with the previous point on food, if we want to be consuming foods with a high vitamin C content, it is additionally advised to drink water during your meal or your day, as vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, meaning that without water, our body will not be able to absorb it and thus make use of it.
CONSIDER SUPPLEMENTATION
Although I am a strong advocate for getting your nutrients straight from their raw source - food - as that brings along with it the most health benefits, it may also be worth considering supplementation in the case that you fall short of the recommended daily dosage of any of the important micronutrients for your immune system.
Supplements can come in the form of tablets that you take with a glass of water or tablets which you dissolve in water, but do your own research in terms of which nutrient you may be lacking and what dosage do you have to take, to cover your needs.
Regardless of whether it is our diet, our lifestyle our the weather outside (Vitamin D), we have to make sure that we are doing our best job of getting sufficient amounts of these micronutrients every day. Always try to first source your nutrients from food and then resort to supplements in the case that you may be deficient in any nutrient, especially if that nutrient is important for your immunity.
2. ADEQUATE SLEEP
More and more research is coming out reporting a strong link between poor sleep quality and a weaker immune system. The main reason behind this is that during sleep our body both produces and releases special immune proteins called cytokines, which are heavily responsible for controlling and fighting both inflation and infection in our body.
If we sleep less than what we should be or if our sleep is of poor quality, our body produces less of these cytokines, leading to a weaker immune system. Furthermore, sleep plays an important role in regulating our internal environment, where it also affects the efficacy of other immune cells.
In addition to this, sleep in general is very important for our health, as it performs a variety of different functions in our body. Inadequate sleep has also been correlated to a greater incidence of developing chronic diseases as well as greatly impacting our mental well being. You can read more about sleep and its importance here: The Hidden Power Of Sleep
3. MODERATE EXERCISE
It has been found that doing moderate exercise every day not only improves our cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, and reduces our chances of developing chronic diseases, but it also positively contributes to the well being of our immune system. The reason behind this is still being researched since there are a lot of factors to take into consideration here.
One idea may be that doing exercise improves our blood circulation, which may help in expelling unwanted toxins and inflammatory molecules from our bodies. Better circulation also delivers more oxygen to our cells, which can directly impact their functioning as our cells need oxygen for respiration and for staying alive.
Since our breathing rate is faster during exercise, exercise may actually help clear up our lungs and airways, by flushing out harmful bacteria through having to breathe faster.
Lastly, since exercise has been effectively shown to decrease levels of stress in our body, that has also been linked with better immunity, as you will see below, stress has a direct impact on our immune system
4. HEALTHY LIFESTYLE HABITS
QUIT SMOKING
Smoking has been for a long time now labeled as a hazard for our health, including our immune system. Smoking and inhaling smoke has been linked with our body being less effective at fighting disease and inflammation, making us more susceptible to falling ill.
Furthermore, smoking distorts the balance of our immune system where it increases the chances of us developing autoimmune diseases (Diseases where our body will attack its own healthy tissues and cells). Overall smoking is not a healthy practice as it impacts a myriad of other aspects of our health and acts as a major carcinogen for our body. Abstaining from this practice is one of the best things you can do for your health.
KEEP ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION MODERATE
Excessive alcohol consumption has more recently been linked with a poorer immune system, whereby immunologists have observed that drinking too much alcohol, destroys different types of cells throughout our body, such as those in our respiratory pathways that are responsible for clearing up our airways of trapped dust particles and bacteria.
Furthermore, alcohol has also been shown to kill healthy normal gut bacteria, that otherwise have a positive impact on our health, but due to excessive alcohol consumption, their functioning is inhibited.
Apart from that, alcohol also interferes with our sleep where it has been shown that it impacts the REM part of our sleep cycle, and as we have seen previously, whatever impacts our sleep also impacts our immune system.
HYGIENIC PRACTICES
Keeping a good level of hygiene is important for general well being and preventing seriously harmful pathogens from entering our body.
This however does not mean that our environment should be excessively sterilized and sanitized, as our body needs to be exposed to a certain degree of uncleanliness for our immune system to stay active and also for it to not become over-reactive.
Generally, try and keep yourself clean and avoid having your hands in contact with your face, as our hands usually carry the most bacteria, but however do not go overboard with your sanitation practices, as that can also have an adverse effect.
5. STRESS MANAGEMENT
You might be surprised to hear this, but high levels of stress have been associated with a weaker immune system, which might be making you more susceptible to infections and illness.
A reason for why this may be happening is that when we are stressed, our body produces different stress hormones such as cortisol and corticosteroids, which have been shown to suppress the effectiveness of our immune system.
Stress impacts our body in more ways than you may initially think, ranging from slower digestion, headaches, higher blood pressure, raised heart rate, and raise blood cholesterol levels. All of these individual factors do not only contribute to a higher incidence of developing chronic disease, but also resulting in a weaker immune system.
Apart from this, people also use different coping methods to handling stress, such as excessive alcohol drinking, poor diet choices, sleeping less, or not taking time to exercise, all of which additionally add on top of the stress and worsen our immune system even more.
