There are a ton of products on the market that promise to give you a good immunity boost. But increasing immunity power is a lot more complex than just getting a package of pills. The immune system works in a delicate balance. And illnesses, viruses, and infections can cause a downward spiral.
When in excellent shape, the immune system does a fantastic job of shielding the body from disease-causing microorganisms. But, sometimes, that barrier breaks, and germs invade, successfully making you sick.
To establish a worthy immune-boosting strategy, there are a couple of things you should know. Such as what weakens the immune system, what foods to eat, and which vitamins to take. Including all the other factors that can affect the overall health.
In this guide, you can get a realistic outlook on the top ways to boost your immune system. You can find out more about the best immune-boosting foods and how soon you can notice results. Check the information below to find out more.
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How Does the Immune System Work?
The immune system has a key role: It needs to protect the body from dangerous cell changes, germs, and substances that could make you sick. The primary tasks of the immune system are to:
- Fight pathogens, such as fungi, parasites, viruses, or bacteria, and remove them from the system.
- Neutralize and recognize dangerous substances that come from the environment.
- Fight disease-causing changes in the system, like cancer cells.
The immune system is made up of different proteins, cells, and organs. If it is running smoothly, then you won’t even know it is there. But, if something gets in the way of normal immune function because of weakness, or the inability to defend against aggressive germs, that’s when you get ill.
Germs that the body hasn’t dealt with before have bigger odds of making you sick. Other germs can only invade the body once. Like chickenpox – a childhood disease. (1)
The Relationship Between Immunity and Infection
Infection happens when a pathogen invades body cells and starts reproducing. Infection typically causes an immune response. If the response is effective and fast, it can be contained or eliminated. But, when the immunity is impaired or low, the pathogen damages host cells and leads to disease. (2)
Fever is a classic sign of an infection. The increased body temperature can improve the immune response and create a hostile environment for the invading pathogen. Each of us has the capacity to make a specific immune response to a range of foreign macromolecules.
Sometimes, the immune system can become weak and in need of a solid boost. That’s where incorporating a couple of lifestyle changes comes into play. But, first, it is important to recognize what’s hindering its process.
What Weakens the Immune System?
Many things can go wrong with the immune system. For example, you could:
- Have a disease that is weakening your immunity. Such as immune deficiency.
- Have a highly active immune system, which could happen in people with allergic reactions.
- Have the immune system turn against you, as is the case with autoimmune disease.
Other, less obvious factors can suppress your immunity power. Lack of sleep is a common reason. Sleep has a profound impact on immune, metabolic, and endocrine pathways. Sleep deprivation could cause a deregulated immune response.
This increases the risk of infection or makes a current infection worse. Regardless of how often you deprive your body of sleep, it can make you sick. Any psychological stressors, such as depression, anxiety, and stress, can add more fuel to the fire. (3)
Vitamin D is also important. Based on studies, a deficiency in vitamin D can make you more susceptible to infection. Eating very few veggies and fruits but munching on products high in fat can also hinder your immunity. (4)
Heavy smoking and drinking habits do play a role as well, including lack of physical activity. Talk to a specialist if you need help managing these habits.
What Are Signs of a Strong Immune System?
How do I know my immune system is strong? Your body can show signs of strong immunity very often. People with strong immunity tend to have healthy habits. They follow a healthy diet, drink a lot of fluids, and sleep early.
They get enough shut-eye to give them the energy they need. They spend time outdoors and avoid a sedentary lifestyle. These habits can help you spot the signs of a properly-functioning immune system. They can include:
- Fast recovery from infections, wounds, and diseases
- Weaker symptoms when catching a cold or the flu
- Good sleep quality
- Solid energy levels
- Improved digestion and gut health
- Good mood
Let’s say you’ve had a mosquito bite. This bumpy, red itch is a sign that the immune system is working. When you quickly recover from the flu, this is also proof that the immunity was able to take care of the invader, learn and react to the disease.
If the immune system wasn’t working properly, you would need to wait longer to heal. Based on the nature of the disease, doctors can suggest OTC or prescription medication, particularly if the immunity isn’t responding or reacting fast enough.
How Can I Boost My Immune System Very Fast?
How to strengthen immunity? No miracle solution can improve immunity overnight. In other words, don’t expect a shot of ginger lemon juice to revamp the body. It takes more than that. So, how long does it take to boost the immune system? You can strengthen the immune system through healthy and simple lifestyle changes. When you do them consistently, for a couple of weeks, you can keep the immunity in tip-top shape. Here is how.
1. Work On Your Eating Habits
Immunity is a complex system that needs a lot of working parts. Therefore, there isn’t a fast way to improve it. You will need weeks of regular intervention to notice the results. Start with the food.
The body requires a multitude of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals for optimal function. Research shows that nutrients could have an indirect or direct impact on immune cells. They can cause changes in the cells’ function or provide effects via changes in the gut microbiome. (5)
So what food makes immunity strong? All kinds of foods can help, like fruits and veggies. Great examples of immune-boosting foods are blueberries, broccoli, sweet potatoes, spinach, garlic, and ginger. Other valuable foods for immunity include turmeric, dark chocolate, oily fish, green tea, and almonds.
According to Harvard experts, a high-fiber, plant-rich diet with a ton of veggies, fruits, whole grains, and legumes seems to offer ample support for beneficial microbes. Some of these microbes can stimulate the immune system. (6)
- Probiotic foods contain live helpful bacteria, oligosaccharides, and fiber. They can help with digestion, support gut health, and keep the bad bacteria under control. Foods high in probiotics include yogurt, kefir, miso, cottage cheese, tempeh, etc.
2. Do Some Workouts
Any physical activity, whether it is walking, dancing, running, or lifting, can keep the bones strong and healthy. It also reduces your odds of developing heart problems. One of the key advantages to exercise is that it could aid the body in flushing out the bacteria from the airways and lungs.
This is important, especially when you want to decrease the odds of getting the flu, cold, or other illnesses. Thanks to exercise, the body gets better circulation and blood flow. It also experiences changes in white blood cells and antibodies.
Therefore, the white blood cells and antibodies circle faster, allowing the immune system to detect diseases sooner. The quick spike in body temperature while working out or after exercise could prevent bacteria from growing.
With the rise in temperature, the body could have an easier time fighting an infection. This is very similar to what happens when you have a fever. On another note, physical activity can help ease stress.
And when you are not feeling stressed, your body might have a better chance of fending off diseases. If you don’t know where to start with fitness and immune-boosting workouts, you can try taking a 20-30 min walk every day. Or go to the gym every other day.
If you enjoy golf or bicycling, you can do that too. With an exercise of your choice, you can feel energetic, livelier, and healthier. You can also find the motivation and inspiration to remain physically active.
3. Keep the Body Weight Healthy
Obesity can sabotage your immune system. While a healthy body composition stimulates a healthier and stronger immune system, capable of resisting some minor infections and decreasing the odds of serious ailments. Like diabetes or heart disease.
For adults, healthy or normal body weight is defined as adequate weight for their current height. This ratio is known as BMI (body mass index). Overweight individuals have more body weight in relation to their actual height, which puts a strain on their immune function.
Obese individuals have a large amount of excess fat in relation to their height. Simply put, if the BMI is 18.5 to 24.9 – this is often considered healthy or normal. But, if the BMI falls between 25.0–29.9, it means overweight. And a BMI of 30.0 or over means obesity. (7)
4. Avoid Sleep Loss
Ideally, the body needs 7 to 9 hours of sound sleep to recharge properly and boost immunity. Although many people have a busy schedule, it is important to prioritize sleep and make way for healthy sleep. And consistency is key. You can do that by establishing a sleeping routine.
Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. If you do like to take naps, make sure to limit them to not over 30 min to avoid them from affecting your sleeping schedule. For those who have trouble falling asleep, try changing the sleep environment.
For example, use a different light that makes you feel comfortable. Or work with the room temperature to create that perfect sleeping environment. Eliminate the extra noise and unnecessary distractions. If nothing works and sleeping is still difficult for you, talk to a specialist.
5. Consider Taking Supplements
Wondering which vitamin is good for immunity? Many minerals and vitamins, known as micronutrients, are vital for proper immunity. Those that play a role in immune response include:
- vitamin B6
- vitamin B12
- folate
- copper
- zinc
- vitamin C
- vitamin A
- vitamin E
- vitamin D
- iron
Preferably, you would be getting all the necessary amounts of these vitamins and minerals through a healthy diet. But, when you find that hard to achieve, you could experience nutrient deficiencies. Based on 2017 reports, 31% of Americans were at risk of at least one vitamin deficiency or anemia. (8)
Vitamin deficiencies can happen. Particularly with vitamins such as vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin C, and vitamin A. Dealing with infection and stress can further deplete these micronutrient stores, making it harder to achieve immunity. And with old age, the demand for vitamins and minerals only grows stronger.
To meet the nutritional requirements, some people might want to consider taking supplements. But, before you make any changes to your diet, talk to a doctor. You want to make sure that a supplement can benefit your immune system.
Remember, an overload of minerals and vitamins can hurt you. Too much zinc or vitamin C, and you might develop cramping, diarrhea, and nausea. Over-supplementing with vitamin D can lead to calcium build-up and damage the kidneys and heart, and weaken the bones.
What else should be done besides boosting the immune system to prevent infection?
As explained above, boosting the immune system is not achieved overnight.
Still, winter or sudden infections will not wait for us. Is there anything that can be done in such a moment?
A good approach is to control viruses and bacteria that may cause infection in the environment.
For this purpose, it is recommended that disinfection work be performed after the normal cleaning process.
By taking steps to boost immunity and reducing germs in the environment in parallel, the risk of infection can be kept further away.
Further Tip: HOCl Fogging
The most common method of disinfection is to use disinfectant-soaked wipes or hand sprays to spread the disinfectant after wiping.
While these are good methods to sufficiently eliminate germs in specific areas, controlling germs requires a different mindset. That is, germs are naturally invisible, so they hide in places other than where we normally disinfect, such as light switches, doorknobs, chair railings, etc.
It is a lot of work to identify these and do the disinfection each time, and even more so if the area to be covered is large, such as in a facility.
In such cases, consider to fill the space with HOCl fog in a special fogger, which is effective in sterilization even at low concentrations that are not harmful to the human body.
This will disinfect all surfaces throughout the room without the need for us to identify them.
Reference:
HOCL (HYPOCHLOROUS ACID WATER): ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
4 BENEFITS OF HOCL FOGGING (HYPOCHLOROUS ACID)
Conclusion
There is no “power button” you can use to give the immune system a quick boost. It all comes down to consistency and healthy lifestyle choices. Start by making more nutritiously abundant dietary choices. You can remove unhealthy foods and replace them with quality ingredients. Exercise can help you lose weight, therefore offering a great opportunity for the immune system to work. Getting good quality sleep can also set you on the right track. But, if you lack any nutrients, vitamins, or minerals, you can consider taking supplements. Now that you know how to increase immunity power in the body naturally, you can work on improving your overall health.
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References
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279364/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217803/
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8602722/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6723551/
6. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/nutrition-and-immunity/
7. https://www.ihs.gov/healthyweight/whatis/
8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5537775/
