Prevention is better than cure: How to boost your immunity today to avoid getting sick

Getting sick can be a person’s worst nightmare since it won’t just affect your physical condition, but can also affect other aspects of your life like your finances, work, or even your relationships with people. Fortunately, your immune system is there to protect you against most diseases just as long as it is given the support that it needs to function properly.

Throughout the day, your body encounters millions of pathogens from your surroundings that are effectively eliminated by your immune system. But like most defense systems, your immune system also becomes weak and tired, making you more vulnerable to diseases that you’re usually protected from. To keep illnesses at bay, here are some of the easiest and most effective ways to boost your immunity:

• Drink plenty of fluids — A large portion of the body is made up of water, which should be enough to tell us just how important it is. By drinking eight glasses of water per day, you can effectively flush out the toxins from your body before they can cause any harm. Additionally, water helps deliver oxygen to the different cells all over the body so that they can function properly. Make it a goal to achieve the recommended daily intake of water but if you really find it difficult, you can start off by at least drinking one glass right after you wake up since the body tends to become dehydrated throughout the night.
• Exercise — Physical activity has long been implicated in the prevention of heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity, but it does much more than that. It also improves the immune system by promoting blood circulation, allowing immune cells to get the nutrients that they need to fight off pathogens and prevent the onset of diseases.
• Manage stress levels — Stress has become a normal part of life that most people just ignore it. However, this should not be the case since stress constantly pushes the body to its limits in order to overcome it. Give your body some love by doing leisurely activities like reading, getting a massage, painting, or any other activity that you find enjoyable since these can trigger the release of happy chemicals that counter stress hormones.
• Get adequate sleep — No matter how busy you are, always try to set aside eight hours of your day for sleep to give your body time to heal itself from the damage that it had incurred throughout the day. This allows it to replace immune cells like T cells that have become damaged or have died.
• Eat probiotics — The gut contains 70 to 80 percent of your body’s overall immune system so it is very important that you take good care of it. One of the ways through which you can improve your gut health is by eating probiotic foods. This type of food, which includes kimchi, yogurt, and kombucha, contains beneficial bacteria that aid in digestion and in protecting against harmful bacteria that also reside in the gut. If you want to fully enjoy the benefits of probiotics, make sure to eat prebiotic foods like onions, garlic, and oatmeal as well to provide beneficial bacteria with indigestible fibers that they can use as food. (Related: Probiotics help bolster immunity, repair intestinal health, and support healthy pregnancy.)
• Follow a well-balanced diet — Proper nutrition is key to keeping your immune system running so make sure to eat your share of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and carbohydrates. You should also stay away from highly processes foods that contain tons of sugar and harmful additives.

Herbs that boost your immunity

If you want to give your immune system some extra love, you can even use the following herbs which traditional Chinese medicine practitioners swear by:

• Echinacea
• Astragalus
• Garlic
• Elderberry
• Ginger
• Shiitake, reishi, and maitake mushrooms

For more articles about preventing diseases, visit Prevention.news.

Sources include:

AllinaHealth.org

Culligan.com

Prebiotin.com

MindBodyGreen.com