Strengthening Immunity
Disease causing agents called pathogens are found in the air, food, and on nearly every object or person. When a pathogen is virulent, it is strong enough to overcome host resistance (our bodies resistance) and cause disease. We become immunocompromised when the immune system is impaired.
To simplify, we need to minimize our risk of infection AND strengthen our own immunity/host resistance.
Our bodies natural defense against disease causing pathogens include: skin, specific immune response, blood and lymph, tears, saliva, respiratory tract, stomach, large intestine and urinary tract. They all works constantly to protect us.
But what can WE control? We can improve our lifestyle and behaviors to strengthen our immunity. A few behavior changes we can make include:
- Practice good personal hygiene (the basics you are fully aware of)
- Sleep well (allows our body to restore, repair and energize)
- Move more (physical activity/exercise increase our resistance)
- Eat well (healthy nutrient dense foods are natural medicine that is packed with antioxidants) by consuming a lot of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes-beans, peas, lentils
- Avoid too much stress (manage stressors and/or considering downshifting)
- Avoid misuse/abuse of drugs
We need to understand that there is a risk of infection in living, but we can make lifestyle changes to decrease our risk, strengthen our immunity and live our best life!
No matter where you are right now, you can improve your health by improving your lifestyle behaviors.