What Health Practitioners Wish You Knew About “Germs” & the Immune System: Part 2
Diet & Lifestyle Hacks
In this installment, I will be introducing some fundamental diet and lifestyle hacks to help ensure your immune system is functioning at its best.
As I mentioned in Part 1, our bodies are masterfully-designed healing machines. Every second of every minute of every day, they are repairing damaged tissue, making new, healthy cells, regulating our hormones and blood sugar, flushing out toxins, and managing foreign and potentially harmful pathogens that find their way into our system, among many, many other functions. Simply put, our bodies are in a constant state of regulation. The only reason you are alive today is because your body has the innate ability to self-correct, and self-protect.
Too often, I have conversations with people who are terrified of the possibility that a pathogen could find its way into their body that is not supposed to be there, and they go to great (sometimes harmful) lengths to keep this from happening.* What they are forgetting is that their body was literally designed to keep them healthy. That is, IF their immune system is functioning optimally.
This is the basis for the concept of “Germ Theory vs. Terrain Theory” (you can read more about this in my earlier post); if we take care of our bodies through healthy diet and lifestyle practices, they will naturally have a better “terrain” for fighting off infection. As the saying goes: “It is not what happens to us, but how equipped we are to manage it that matters”.
The following are some simple but essential practices that help to keep our immune system primed at all times:
Make sure you are getting enough sleep.
In a study of 164 healthy adults, those who slept less than 6 hours per night were significantly more likely to contract a cold or flu virus that they came in contact with. This is because, during sleep, our immune system releases proteins called cytokines, which protect us against infection. When we don’t get enough sleep, infection-fighting antibodies can become reduced, compromising our immune system’s ability to respond to allergies, pathogens and vaccines alike. For this reason, other studies have even linked proper sleep to improving the efficacy of some vaccines, as well as how quickly we recover from illness.
Eat a healthy diet.
Consuming plenty of antioxidant-rich plant foods, healthy fats, and fermented foods helps to reduce inflammation, boost cellular function, and support the body’s detoxification pathways. This is also a great way to support gut health, as fiber and fermented foods feed those friendly microbes in our digestive tract, which in turn keep our body (and immune system) functioning optimally. By contrast, consuming an inflammatory diet (one that is high in processed foods, trans fats, and refined sugar) can congest our liver and other detoxification organs, hinder cellular function, and slow down our immune response, making it more difficult for the body to fight off infection.
As I explained in Part 1, consuming plenty of whole foods is certainly supportive, but is sometimes not enough. So supplementing with Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc, and/or a high-quality multivitamin can help give you that extra “edge”.
Engage in moderate exercise.
Just 20 minutes a day of light-to-moderate exercise has been shown to boost circulation, reduce stress and inflammation, support detoxification, and strengthen antibodies. In essence, it helps your immune cells perform at their best. Remember, intense exercise is a form of stress on the body, so it’s best not to go too hard. And, as always, engaging in a form of exercise you enjoy will help to further reduce stress, and encourage consistency.
Reduce stress.
Study after study has demonstrated a strong correlation between stress and a suppressed immune response. When we are stressed, our ability to fight off harmful pathogens is reduced. This is because prolonged or excessive production of stress hormones (such as cortisol) can increase inflammation and lower the number of lymphocytes (white blood cells) in our bodies, making us more susceptible to infection. This is where some healthy stress-management techniques (I said HEALTHY – wine and ice cream don’t count) can really go a long way, not only in supporting your immune system, but in improving overall quality of life.
Meditation, yoga, long walks in the sun, breath-work, journaling or talk therapy, prioritization, and boundary-setting are all strategies you can try out. Just like with exercise, engaging in a stress management technique you do not enjoy is only likely to add more stress, so take what you like and leave the rest!
* As I mentioned in my previous post, basic hygiene practices like hand-washing and mask-wearing can help protect us from harmful pathogens. When speak of “going to great lengths”, I am referring to excessive (even obsessive) sterilization and disinfection behaviors, or spending hundreds of dollars on extensive lists of supplements or pharmaceuticals, which really only serve to overload the liver and other organs. Of course, stricter sanitation protocols may be warranted for immunocompromised individuals.