Our immune system is a complex network designed to attack and defend against disease-causing microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other pathogens.

It is almost impossible to completely avoid exposure to these microorganisms, but under normal conditions our immune systems do an amazing job of fighting them off.

The problem lies when changes occur to lower our immune response, making us more susceptible to for a germ to invade and ultimately cause illness.

The good news: You can take steps to improve your immune system’s function and increase it’s ability protect your body against illness.

How YOU CAN Protect Your Immune System:

Many factors go into the body’s ability to fight off sickness including overall health, diet, and stress levels (mental, physical, and emotional). Here are some lifestyle strategies to ensure that your immune system is functioning at full force.

Improve Your Sleep

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of overall health, including immune function. Every system in our body relies on the ability to regenerate and repair cells during our normal sleep cycles. Restoring a healthy circadian rhythm, reducing stress and anxiety, and avoiding blue light exposure from electronics at night are some excellent ways to improve sleep quality and quantity.

For more information about how to improve sleep and circadian rhythm, check out these articles below:

Strategies to Optimize Sleep

Circadian Rhythm

Get Some Sun

Vitamin D is one of the most important micronutrients for regulating immune function. In fact, many experts believe cold and flu season is not caused by decreasing temperatures and cold exposure, but hypothesize that is actually due to people staying indoors and getting less sun. With an extremely high amount of people getting insufficient Vitamin D, especially throughout the Winter months, it makes getting outside in the sunlight essential to preventing sickness.

Avoid Toxins

Environmental toxins are known to cause unneeded stress to the body and ultimately lower our ability to protect ourselves from disease-causing pathogens. Tobacco and alcohol are two of the most common toxins which are also known to lower immune function. Avoiding these toxins during cold and flu season is an important component of a healthy, happy winter.

Improve Your Diet

Nourishing foods with an abundance of vitamins and minerals is an essential part of strong immune system. Many micronutrient deficiencies have been correlated to an altered immune response including zinc, vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and B vitamins. In addition, a diet rich in fruits and vegetables provide many other phytochemicals and antioxidants to further protect the body against disease.

Improve Your Healthy Gut Bacteria

The healthy bacteria in the gut, known as the microbiota, is becoming one of the hottest topics in health science today. The bacteria have strong communication with our immune system and can alter it’s function. When healthy, the microbiome is able to strengthen and regulate the immune system to defend against pathogens.

To learn more about the microbiome, check out the article below:

Microbiome

Reduce Stress

Mental and emotional stress is a strong predictor of many diseases, one being infection due to lowered immune function. When we are stressed, our body releases chemicals and enters “fight or flight” mode, becoming innately focused on only worrying about potential outward dangers (think saber tooth tiger chasing you through the valley). This fight or flight response lowers our ability to fight off long term dangers and decreases our immune system’s ability to fight off infection. Chronic mental and emotional stress wires our body to be in fight or flight mode constantly, ultimately leaving us more susceptible to infection over the long term. Implementing stress management strategies such as yoga, deep breathing, and mindfulness practices like meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety, ultimately strengthening our immune system.

Overall, these strategies are excellent ways to return the body to normal immune function and reduce the likelihood of getting sick.

But what if you are doing these things and want some added protection?

Foods, Herbs, and Supplements to Help Improve Improve Immune Function

Here are some foods and herbs which may improve the likelihood of sickness. Some of these are simply nutrient-dense foods which improve overall health and immunity, while others actually demonstrate anti-bacterial properties.

• Garlic

• Elderberry

• Citrus Fruits (Vitamin C rich)

• Oregano

• Clove

• Ginger

• Turmeric

• Astragalus

• Echinacea

• Medicinal Mushrooms

• Olive Leaf Extract

• Probiotic Supplements

• Zinc

• Fish

The Bottom Line:

It may be impossible to completely eliminate the risk of infection, but we are entirely capable of substantially reducing this risk. Through healthy eating, lifestyle habits, and additional strategies, we can be sure that we are doing everything possible to give our immune system the best chance to do it’s job.