A Self Check of Your Immune System

A Self Check of Your Immune System

According to Harvard Health your first line of defense when guarding yourself against germs and disease is a well-balanced healthy lifestyle. Balance is the key. If you eat healthy but do not exercise, get plenty of sleep and you smoke then your immune system cannot be very well balanced. These are the 7 aspects of your life that need to be balanced for a healthy immune system:

1. AVOID TOBACCO: If you smoke you should make the decision to stop. Many people successfully stop smoking every year and I have never heard anyone say they regretted it.

2. EXERCISE: You do not have to be overweight to need exercise. Everyone, let me repeat that, everyone needs to exercise in whatever way they can. Aside from weight your joints need regular exercise, especially as you age. Your muscles need you to lead an active lifestyle to continue to work for you as you age. Losing muscle tone can spiral into a loss of independence. This is even true for those in their twenty’s because even you are aging. Exercise has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and control diabetes not to mention that exercise keeps the muscle tissue in the heart strong.

• According to the Mayo Clinic exercising can boost your energy levels and it can add years to your life. Quality years.
• If you are overweight exercise can absolutely help you lose weight. Being overweight can create an imbalance in your immune system.
• Exercising on a regular basis can improve your mood and help you manage stress. Not successfully managing stress in your life can negatively affect your immune system.
• Exercising has been shown to improve your sleep. Adequate sleep every night is a big boost to your immune system working properly for you.
• Exercising can be walking with friends and family every night after supper.
• Get a treadmill for rainy days. Point it so you are looking out a window or point it toward a television and watch your favorite television shows.
• Join a community softball league, golf on the weekends, join a bowling team, put a basketball hoop in the driveway, start hiking and get outdoors. Choose to have a more active lifestyle overall.

3. ALCOHOL: Stop drinking alcohol or minimize your alcohol consumption.

4. SLEEP: We just do not take rest and sleep as seriously as we really should. Sleep is so important to a healthy immune system.

In an article by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute it states that we all have an internal body clock that works on a 24 hour repetitive cycle or rhythm. This rhythm affects your cells, tissue and every organ in your body. The article goes on to state that a deficiency in sleep has been lined to chronic health problems including physical as well as mental and emotional issues.

My personal journey with sleep has been a willingness to change habits. In my twenties I could drink coffee all day at work and still sleep just fine at night. In my thirties I noticed I had to stop drinking caffeine by noon. In my forties that was pushed back to just 10 am in the morning. Now, in my fifties, I have to limit myself to just two cups per day consumed no later than 9 am. I will tell you that during times that I am avoiding caffeine all together I fall asleep much, much faster and when I wake up in the morning I really feel quite rested.

5. STRESS: The doctor will tell you to minimize stress and we all generally laugh because our stress is usually coming from things we simply cannot avoid like our jobs, our family, traffic, etc. I think what they really are trying to tell you is to manage your stress. Meditation is a great tool as is exercising as I mentioned above. Good sleep habits go a long way toward being able to easily deal with daily stress. Enjoying one’s life is also a tool for dealing with the stresses of life: Enjoy time with family and friends, watch feel good movies or comedies.

Do not underestimate the power of laughing on a regular basis.

6. HYGIENE: Practice good hygiene. Wash your hands after you use the restroom. If you have been in a public space like work or a grocery store or handling money wash your hands before going to the restroom and then, of course, after you have used the restroom.

• Wash your hands after grocery shopping, after work, after handling money at the bank or store.
• When you wash your hands use soap and be sure to dry your hands off.
• Shower on a regular basis. If you have allergies you should be sure to shower daily if you are going outside of your home. Allergens can get in your hair and on your clothes.
• Only use your bath towel once and then launder it. Do not re-use the same bath towel all week without it being laundered. Just have 7 bath towels and 7 wash clothes on hand.
• Wash your sheets weekly in hot water.
• Wash fresh produce before consuming.
• Floss daily and brush your teeth at least twice a day. Replace your toothbrush at least every 3-6 months. Keep your toothbrush covered when not in use.
• Always close the lid to your toilet BEFORE you flush.

7. DIET:

Increase your consumption of vegetables that are cooked in a healthy manner. Decrease or avoid all together overly processed foods. Decrease your consumption of sugar and sweets. Fresh fruits are very healthy but be sure you are eating more vegetables than fruit. Potatoes are a starch; not a vegetable. Legumes are also not a vegetable although do offer some healthy benefits with the amount of fiber. Bone broth is also very healthy. When bone broth started trending people wondered what is was but it is just broth made from boiling meat on the bone or just the bones leftover after eating the meat. Many broths are made from boneless cuts of meat these days. For bone broth you can just boil bone-in chicken pieces, ham hock, bone-in roast, or even bone-in fish and seafood. If bake a whole hen or chicken you can save all of the bones and boil them for bone broth. The boiling will kill off any germs left by people eating it or if that makes you uncomfortable use bones from chicken that you have removed from the bone before serving.

Focus on dark green leafy vegetables that are very high in Vitamin C and very orange vegetables like carrots, pumpkin and sweet potatoes.

Further reading:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sleep-deprivation-and-deficiency