6 Simple Ways to Boost Your Immunity

Your immune system is your shield against a world of illnesses. It can fight against flu, the common cold, and other disease-causing germs such as parasites, viruses, and bacteria. It can even protect healthy tissues by tackling cancer cells!

While your immune system helps your body heal and stay healthy, it is your job to support your own immune health. So how can you do that? Well, boosting immunity can be as simple as eating well, exercising regularly, and reducing stress.

If you thought taking a simple multivitamin would be enough to support your immune system, think again. Your immunity thrives on a delicate balance of lifestyle, diet, and physical activities. In this article, you can learn six effective ways to bolster your body’s immune support.

6 Simple Ways to Build and Maintain Your Immunity

Healthy Eating

Everyone knows that a healthy diet will fuel your immune system. Eating varied and well-balanced meals will strengthen your immune system and help tackle illnesses and disease-causing germs more effectively. Your body needs the right food to make sure it gets a good supply of nutrition. 

Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, especially green vegetables. Also, include whole grains, legumes and healthy fats in your diet. Finally, eat lean protein, or even better plant-based protein, as it is an excellent source of energy. In addition to serving as the energy source for your immune system, healthy eating habits can ensure you get enough micronutrients.

Avoid processed, sugary food and alcoholic beverages. Instead, focus on balanced meals consisting of good-quality protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Further support your immune system with food rich in Vitamin E, C, and B6.

Eat More Immunity Boosting Foods

Surely, eating balanced meals is great for your overall health and immune system too. However, you can augment the progress by consciously incorporating immune-boosting foods. So, what are the foods you should be eating?

Well, there is no better nutriment for your immune system than probiotics. Probiotics are live yeasts and bacteria that live in your digestive tract. Eat probiotic-rich food such as cultured and fermented vegetables like kimchi, tempeh, and sauerkraut. Kombucha, non-dairy yoghurt and kefir are also good sources of probiotics.

Other foods that can help your immune system include blueberries, green tea, and spinach. All of these are rich in flavonoid, which has antioxidant properties.

Dark chocolate can protect your cells against free radicals, while turmeric, ginger, and garlic can improve your immune response with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Get your Omega-3 fix from plant-based sources like flax seeds, walnuts, seaweed and other algae.

Other healthy foods to incorporate include broccoli, sweet potatoes, spinach, red bell pepper, sunflower seeds, and almonds - which offer a varied source of vitamins A, C, E, etc. Oranges and kiwifruits are fruits that can boost your immunity.

Drink Enough Water

Water is just as important as food. If you are not well-hydrated, your immune system will not be able to perform at its best. Lymph, a fluid in your body, carries immune cells around your body. As the fluid is primarily made of water, lack of sufficient water in your body can hinder the efficient transportation of these infection-fighting cells.

In addition to slowing the movement of lymph, dehydration can lead to a weakened immune system. You lose water when you sweat, exercise, respire, and excrete. So, it is vital to replace lost water by drinking more. Find out what your required daily water intake is and make sure to fulfil it. 

Also, to help you quickly rehydrate yourself and replenish the lost sodium and potassium, you can take electrolytes. Electrolytes are essential for your body to function. They provide the electric current required by the body to perform many automatic processes. So simply drink a glass of water with dissolved electrolytes and instantly boost your energy levels and mood.

Exercise Regularly

One of the biggest benefits of exercise is weight control. Controlling your weight can help prevent heart diseases, high blood pressure, and other chronic illnesses. Besides weight loss and maintenance, regular exercise can help strengthen the immune system.

Wondering how? Well, exercise increases the heart rate and thus improves blood circulation. Good blood circulation, in return, enables your immune system to perform more efficiently.

Don’t worry if you are not used to weightlifting and other hardcore exercises. Physical activities as simple as brisk walking can help support your immune system. If you are just starting, try starting with moderate-to-vigorous exercise for 30 minutes daily.

Get Adequate Sleep

To heal well, you must rest adequately. That’s because immunity is closely linked with sleep. If you are not getting enough sleep, your body will not be able to repair itself and defend against illnesses. Poor quality sleep and insufficient rest will increase your chances of falling ill.

Generally, adults are recommended to sleep 7 hours or more each night, while teens need to sleep for 8 to 10 hours. Infants and younger children may require up to 14 hours of rest. Not only will adequate sleep toughen your natural immune system, but it will also enable it to fight illnesses more effectively.

To improve your sleep quality, you can exercise regularly. In addition, limit your screen time before bedtime, sleep in a dark room, and at the same time every day. If none of these work, you can consider taking natural sleep aid supplements to get a night of sound sleep by generating melatonin naturally.

Take the Right Supplements

Modern lifestyle rarely allows one the chance to arrange and eat healthy, well-balanced meals. As a result, you might fail to provide all the nutrition your body requires. One way to make up for nutritional deficiencies is to take supplements.

Some useful supplements to consider are Vitamin C and Vitamin D supplements. These can reduce your chances of getting sick. Zinc, echinacea, and elderberry are other supplements that can strengthen your immune system and lower your chances of getting cold and respiratory infections. If your diet does not have enough garlic, you can take natural supplements consisting of garlic along with other immunity-boosting herbs too.

When choosing supplements, try to avoid those that contain synthetic components. Instead, choose natural and organic options.

Conclusion

Your immune system combats illnesses even without you knowing it. To enable your immune system to do what it does best, you can try taking the first few steps. Don’t worry; boosting your immune system is rather easy.

One of the most important ways to augment immune function is by paying attention to the food you eat. Try to have a healthy spread of balanced nutrients in every meal. Also, incorporate immune-boosting food such as fruits and vegetables, fermented food, and food rich in omega-3.

You can always rely on natural supplements if you find it challenging to meet your nutritional requirements. In addition to focusing on your diet, you should also pay attention to daily exercise, adequate sleep, and proper hydration.