Every single day, a war wages on inside of our body. There’s a constant fight between foreign invaders (viruses, bacteria, etc) and our immune system.
Fortunately, most of the time, a strong immune system will immediately knock out these pecky invaders before they grow into anything significant inside of our body.
But if your immune system is weaker, its strength to fight off these ongoing infections is limited, which can leave you feeling sick and worn down.
Therefore, a strong immune system is imperative to a healthier you. Follow these 6 simple steps to max out the strength of your immune system and leave sickness in the dust!
#1: Eliminate stress
Stress is a real thing and it can certainly tax your body. Long term stress and anxiety has been shown to increase inflammation in the body and create imbalances in immune cell function.
So what can you do about stress?
Perhaps the most powerful tool is moderate to intense exercise! Other recommended activities include mediation, yoga, journaling, and practicing mindfulness.
Tips To Eliminate Stress
- Stay active. Exercise plays a significant role in your body’s ability to manage stress. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate activity each day.
- Remove unnecessary distractions. Multi-tasking is an action that can trigger stress in the brain. Maintain focus on one task at a time rather than spreading yourself too thin between multiple projects. A great way to do this in today’s era is to remove unnecessary notifications from your phone.
- Think about what you are grateful for. When you shift your attention toward gratitude, it naturally shifts your mind away from frustration. One of the best ways to become more grateful is to continuously compare yourself to people “below” you, rather than “above” you.
#2: Stay hydrated
Our cells thrive in the presence of water! That’s because our cells literally use water in the energy creation process, otherwise known as ATP hydrolysis.
When you become dehydrated, cellular function and performance immediately drops. This means your white blood cells, the ones responsible for detecting and eliminating foreign invaders, weaken as well.
Keep your cells strong by aiming to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day!
Tips To Increase Hydration
- Travel with a water bottle. Make drinking water easy and convenient. Research shows that simply having access to water will help you consume more each day.
- Drink before you eat. When you become hungry, more commonly it’s because you are actually dehydrated. Having a drink first approach will naturally increase your daily water intake.
- Add flavor to water. Find a flavor that you enjoy such as lemon, lime, orange, kiwi. This will reinforce you to drink more water because you enjoy the flavor.
- Get an IV therapy treatment. The fluids from IV hydration therapy bypass the digestive tract and are absorbed at 100% into the blood stream. This treatment is very useful if you are feeling exceptionally weak or are looking for a large boost in immune support.
#3: Reduce your sugar intake
Though great taste to the tongue, sugar can wreak havoc on your body’s hormones.
When you consume sugar, your body’s insulin levels surge through the roof, which is a huge contributor to weight gain and type 2 diabetes. Both obesity and diabetes have been linked to increased risk of chronic illness.
Reducing your sugar intake can help keep your hormones more balanced and keep excess weight off your body. For optimized health and immune function, it’s recommended to keep your sugar intake to less than 25 grams daily, which is equivalent to about 2 tablespoons.
Tips To Reduce Sugar Consumption
- Reduce cravings. Drink beverages that reduce your desire to consume sugar such as gymnema sylvestre.
- Drink water when you are hungry. Most hungry is caused by a lack of water. Simply reducing your hunger by drinking water first can help reduce sugar cravings.
- Exercise when you feel emotional. Sugar consumption most frequently occurs when our emotions are high. You can reset your body’s physiology through activity to help resist the urge to eat sugar.
#4: Get enough sleep
Some of the most important biochemical processes that aid in maximal cellular function happen while your body is sound asleep. So it’s no surprise that research shows that people who are in a constant sleep deficit also get sick more often.
Lack of sleep is a big contributor to increased inflammation and elevated stress hormones like cortisol.
Try to shoot for at least 7 hours of sleep each night for an optimized immune system. Also consider other good sleeping practices like avoiding blue light (tv screens, phones, and other electronics) an hour before bed and sleeping in a darker room to maximize the quality of your sleep.
Tips To Improve Sleep Quality
- Look at red light. Research has shown that red light helps your body produce more melatonin before bed.
- Expose yourself to the cold. Extreme cold exposure such as cryotherapy helps trigger a flight or fight response in the body. This process naturally calms the nervous at night, easing you into a much deeper sleep.
- Add essential oils to your bedroom. Essential oils such as lavender have been shown to help make you fall asleep faster and sleep deeper.
#5: Eat more healthy fats
Healthy fats like Omega 3’s are extremely beneficial to the immune system as they help the body fight inflammation. The anti-inflammatory properties found in Omega 3 rich foods such as salmon, olive oil, and chia seeds, can assist the body in detecting viruses and bacteria faster before they replicate into something larger that’s harder for your immune system to handle.
Aim to consume at least 250 mg of Omega 3’s everyday for the added support it can provide to your immune system!
#6: Keep your inflammation levels low
You might be seeing a pattern by now. Chronically high levels of inflammation in the body lead to decreased immune system function while activities that lower inflammation help boost the immune system tremendously.
Arguably, one of the most powerful ways to keep your inflammatory levels low is with cryotherapy. This therapy uses cold temperatures to specifically trigger the reduction of whole body inflammation.
As a result, regular use of cryotherapy has been shown to decrease sickness, improve energy levels, and promote an overall sense of wellbeing.
The bottom line
An effective immune system has the power to keep you from getting sick. Stress or a lack of self care are contributors that can leave you feeling under the weather.
By regularly focusing on hydration, healthy nutrients like Omega 3’s, and stress management, you can optimize your immune system to ensure you are regularly feeling healthy and strong!
At RISE Modern Wellness, we offer a full list of immune boosting services that are perfect for increasing your overall health and wellness. With same day appointment availability, it’s never been easier to take care of your body.
