Natural Ways to Improve Your Body’s Immune System
Your body’s immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs fighting infections and other diseases. It is made up of your skin (which prevents germs from getting into your body); mucous membranes (the moist inner lining of some organs and body cavities which make mucous and trap and fight germs), white blood cells (which fight infection) and organs and tissues of the lymph system (such as the tonsils, lymph nodes, lymph vessels, thymus, spleen, and bone marrow). Your immune system defends your body against substances it sees as harmful, such as viruses, bacteria, chemical toxins, etc.The following lifestyle improvements can greatly enhance your body’s ability to fight, not only COVID-19, but other viral and bacterial infections as well.
LOSE WEIGHT. Being overweight or obese is the second leading cause of preventable disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the effect of being overweight or obese increases your risks for all causes of mortality, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and many types of cancer, etc. When a person becomes overweight or obese, fat cells set off a complex inflammatory chain reaction that disrupts metabolism and weakens immunity, placing people at higher risk of poor outcomes for a variety of diseases and infections including COVID-19. If you want to have an effective immune system, it’s imperative that you loose any excess weight and stay within your optimal weight range.
AVOID SUGAR. Studies have shown that sugar damages your immune system. After eating even small amounts of sugar the effectiveness of your white blood cells to fight infection decreases by fifty percent for several hours. High carbohydrate food (like white flour, crackers, popcorn, and juices, etc. which break down into sugar in the bloodstream) have the same negative effect on your immune system. For a healthy immune system eat only organic whole foods like organic grass-fed animal products, low carbohydrate vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds, etc.
EXERCISE IN THE FRESH AIR DAILY. Studies show that people who exercised in the fresh air daily had a fifty percent drop in respiratory infections.
AVOID CHILLING. Regardless of western medicine’s opinion that chilling is not a cause of respiratory infection, there is sound scientific evidence that chilling suppresses immunity. Of course, mothers have known this for thousands of years. Therefore, when going out in cool or cold weather keep warmly dressed and your head covered.
GET SUNLIGHT. It has been proven that adequate exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D, which has a very important impact on our body’s immunity. Sunlight also activates key immune cells to move faster to the site of infection to do their work and orchestrate a response.
GET ADEQUATE SLEEP. Most Americans are sleep deprived, which causes a decrease in immune protective proteins called cytokines which are released when you have and infection. Adults need eight to nine hours of sleep a night and children need nine to ten hours of sleep to be able to prevent viral and bacterial infections.
In conclusion, most people who are interested in alternative medicine look for a product or therapy to strengthen their body’s immune system, but neglect a very important principle of naturopathy which is to treat the cause of illness. Natural products or therapies can be a great blessing to assist our body’s God-given healing powers (and I recommend them frequently), but such will do little good without addressing the above lifestyle changes.
For consultation on natural ways to support your immune system, call our office at (417) 683-1300 and speak with Gloria
Christopher S. Deatherage, N.D.
Rural Route 5, Box 806, Ava, Missouri 65608 Phone for Appointment: (417)683-1300