The global pandemic has led us all to one conclusion: there’s nothing more precious than our health. Your immune system plays an essential role in your overall well being and you must do everything that you possibly can to keep it in fighting shape. A healthy and strong immune system will enable you to manage the pressures of modern life.
We all have incredibly busy lives and it can be easy to forget about the importance of our overall well being. Many people simply put this on the back burner, until they start to feel fatigued. There are, however, combative steps that you can take to boost your immune system. In this article, we are going to be exploring several different ways you can boost your immune system naturally.
What Does It Mean To Boost Your Immune System?
Before we dive into several ways in which you can naturally boost your immune system, let’s first take a moment to understand what it means to boost your immune system. A strong immune system doesn’t guarantee that you’ll never get affected by bacteria and viruses, but it can certainly help your body to combat challenges as and when they arise.
Boosting your immune system is about giving your body the strength it needs to protect itself from toxins and infection. It’s the body’s ultimate defence mechanism. Boosting your immune system will only increase the chances of your body being able to successfully fight off infection. A weaker, less equipped immune system would find it more challenging to hold a strong line of defence against infection.
Natural Methods Of Enhancing Your Immune System
Subtle changes to your daily routine can be enough to significantly strengthen your immune system. We have identified 6 potential steps that you can take to naturally enhance your immune system. Each of these steps can be easily incorporated into your daily routine as you look to further prioritise your overall well being.
It’s often surprising that the tiniest of changes to your life can have the biggest difference. When it comes to building a strong immune system, this is certainly the case. The health of your immune system is something that will need to be maintained on a regular basis. This is why it is paramount that you introduce natural methods of boosting your immune system into your daily routine.
Get A Good Night’s Sleep
Your sleep cycle directly affects your health. There are certain chemicals that the immune system releases when it is trying to fight infection. These are proteins called cytokines and they are released when a person is asleep.
If you’re not sleeping enough, your immune system will not produce enough cytokines, and naturally, your body’s ability to fight against infection will be drastically weakened. Ideally, an adult should be getting at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. In the hecticness of modern life, we understand that this could prove to be challenging, but you should try to strive towards these numbers.
Stretching a night’s sleep to a length of 10 hours would be exceptional, but rarely practical. This is something that you could try to aim for on a weekend. Whilst it’s important to keep track of how many hours you sleep, you should also consider the quality of sleep that you’re getting. An undisturbed, peaceful night of sleep can give your body the time it needs to refresh and revitalise.
Consume Fatty Acids
The consumption of fatty acids has been found to be essential to our overall health and well being. Several scientific research studies have shown that fatty acids can directly impact on the activity of immune cells. You can find these fatty acids in food such as salmon, olive oil, nuts, and seeds. Bringing foods that are rich with fatty acids into your diet can help to improve immune function.
Healthy fats, specifically omega-3 fatty acids, are capable of tackling inflammation. Over time, chronic inflammation can weaken the immune system. Alongside their other benefits, it has been found that fatty acids can be a strong protective agent against heart diseases.
Give Citrus Fruits A Squeeze
Vitamin C has often been hailed as an immune system booster. The most natural way of incorporating this essential vitamin into your daily routine would be through the consumption of citrus fruits. Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, and tangerines are all rich with vitamin C. During the cold and flu season, it’s common for many households to stock up on these citrus fruits in an attempt to boost their immune systems.
It is believed that vitamin C has the ability to increase the production of white blood cells in the body. White blood cells play a vital role in fighting infections and are a key component of your immune system. During the day, having a citrus fruit as a snack is one of the easiest ways to effectively boost your immune system.
Get A Taste Of Some Garlic & Ginger
Store-cupboard essentials like garlic and ginger can be powerful immune system boosters. You can add garlic or ginger to a wide range of different recipes. These two ingredients are also relatively inexpensive. To experience the benefits of garlic and ginger, you don’t need to add excessively large amounts of these ingredients to your recipes. Just a few garlic cloves and a pinch of ginger will be plenty to support your immune system and overall well being.
Allicin in the garlic offers enough sulfur to strengthen your body’s defence system. Garlic is known to have anti-inflammatory properties and can also soothe chronic pains. The great thing about these two ingredients is that you can consume them in many different ways. Adding garlic and ginger to your diet is a highly practical method of boosting your immune system.
Turn To Turmeric
This spice rack staple has shown the potential to be used as an anti-inflammatory, regulating and controlling unnecessary inflammation in the body. Turmeric can be purchased as a food supplement in small capsules that can be digested with a small amount of water. Alternatively, you can buy this spice as a powder in your local supermarket, mixing it into a recipe of choice.
Unfortunately, you cannot rely on other people to change your lifestyle. The buck stops with you. If you want to boost your immune system, you are going to need to take proactive steps to make those positive changes. Something as simple as eating a citrus fruit for your mid-afternoon snack can go a long way. Change is certainly possible, but it must begin with a commitment from you.
Final Thoughts
The ball is in your court now. It’s your responsibility to take control of your health and boost your immune system. All the tips that we have given in this article are very simple to implement. There are several different routes that you could take to boost your immune system and we hope that you proactively embark on a few of these.
If you are concerned about your immune system, it is important that you seek the advice of a qualified medical professional, such as your GP or pharmacist, who can assist you further. We are not qualified medical professionals and the suggestions in this article are based on anecdotal and scientific evidence.
Turmeric tea has also become rather popular in recent years. Teabags with turmeric are readily available at most supermarkets in the UK and can often provide additional therapeutic value upon consumption. There is nothing more relaxing than sipping a cup of warm tea. With turmeric tea, you can achieve a sense of calm and bliss whilst supporting your immune system.
Avoid Unhealthy Habits
Having the restraint to avoid unhealthy habits is easier said than done, but it could be the difference between having a strong and weak immune system. Most people have a reasonably good sense of whether they are leading a healthy lifestyle or not. Poor eating habits, smoking, and a lack of physical exercise can collectively amass to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Unfortunately, you cannot rely on other people to change your lifestyle. The buck stops with you. If you want to boost your immune system, you are going to need to take proactive steps to make those positive changes. Something as simple as eating a citrus fruit for your mid-afternoon snack can go a long way. Change is certainly possible, but it must begin with a commitment from you.
Final Thoughts
The ball is in your court now. It’s your responsibility to take control of your health and boost your immune system. All the tips that we have given in this article are very simple to implement. There are several different routes that you could take to boost your immune system and we hope that you proactively embark on a few of these.
If you are concerned about your immune system, it is important that you seek the advice of a qualified medical professional, such as your GP or pharmacist, who can assist you further. We are not qualified medical professionals and the suggestions in this article are based on anecdotal and scientific evidence.