We all want to be productive at work, at gym, at home, etc. Yet when we get sick our productivity drops. In this article, I am sharing basic information on how our immune system works and how we can keep the immune system at optimal so that we don't get sick easily and able to keep our productivity going.
Understanding immune system
The immune system is our body’s protective mechanism to block off foreign bacteria, viruses, allergens and chemicals from entering our body that may cause us to have reactions such as fever, cough, infection, skin irritation, and so forth.
In our blood we can find protein called immunoglobulin. There are different types, however their main function is to identify and destroy harmful pathogens and old cells. The type of immunoglobulin that can be found in our gut or saliva can trap pathogens in mucus so it can be excreted from the body and avoid having a reaction. There are other types of immunoglobulins that fight infection and fight against parasites.
Typically, viruses or bacteria do not get through the body because our body fights it right away. However, as you know, sometimes they get through our defense and enter the body. Right away cells called macrophages bind to the virus, bacteria, or fungi and eat it up into small pieces. These small pieces become educator pieces for cells called T cells and educator pieces become antigens. Then the body learns about the virus, bacteria and fungi through antigen and creates immunoglobulins for the antigen or we call it antibodies. Now that antibodies recognize this virus as foreign, the macrophages come back again and eat up the whole virus and eliminate it from the body.
Although this process sounds simple in writing but may take days or even months.
How to Improve Our Immune System
So how do we improve our immune system? Most important part is keeping your health as optimal as possible. This may include weight management, sleep management, nutrition management and daily exercises.
Weight Management
Being overweight does not happen only with your genetics. It is a daily habit that leads to insulin resistance and to overweight or obesity. This also means that blood health may be compromised where immunoglobulin may not be created as fast as it needs to. Even when it is created, when blood sugar level is high the transport of immunoglobulin may become sluggish and may not operate as effectively as it should. If you see any infection, inflammation or tend to get sick more frequently, manage your weight.
Sleep
From science, we know that sleeping less than 7 hours can compromise your immunity by 40% and one night of poor sleep can decrease the activity of natural killer cell by 70%. This means with lack of sleep you will have a higher chance of getting sick and allowing the cancer cells to enter the body.
Set yourself at least 7 hours of sleep. If you have difficulty sleeping, try avoiding caffeine after 12p and set the room temperature around 67F.
Nutrition
Junk food refers to food sources that have calories but have no other nutritional value. These food sources or beverages tend to have chemicals that our immune system must work extra to get it out of our body. With no nutritional value cells and healthy bacteria (probiotics) are not getting proper resources, which leads to poor functioning of the immune system.
We know that immunoglobulin is made of protein, which means we need protein not just to build muscles but also to improve our immune system. Probiotics use dietary fiber that we consume as their food source, therefore, we do need to consume adequate amount of fiber.
Bottomline is stick with whole food as much as you can. This can be meat, fish, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and so on. Consuming junk food such as chips, pizza, candies, cakes, sodas, lattes, should be minimized as much as possible.
Daily Exercise
When you look at any medical journal or article, you will find that at any age or lifestyle you have, exercise helps improve your health. This includes the immune system as well. Exercising with both resistance training and cardiovascular training will help improve your muscle and heart health.
When exercising your muscles, it secretes a hormone called myokines. It is a small protein that is released by the muscles when it contracts. Myokines are known to improve your glucose uptake, reduce inflammation, help with bone formation, and inhibit cancer growth. Because muscle requires recovery time from exercise, 2-3 times per week of 30-60 minutes of resistance training will be ideal with 1 to 2 days of rest in between.
With cardiovascular training heart will be trained to improve stroke volume of the heart, which means how much blood the heart can pump in one stroke. As the stroke volume increases the resting heartrate gets lower because the heart can send more blood in one heart beat. Not only this is helpful to reduce stress to the heart but with better blood output, immunoglobulin can be transferred more efficiently, which help eliminate virus, bacteria, and fungi before they enter our body. To see benefit from cardiovascular training, it is ideal to train 3-4 time per week for 20-45 minutes in moderate intensity. Moderate intensity means when you are walking, for example, you should feel working but also should be able to have a conversation without too much issue.
Supplements
Certain supplements may help improve your immune system. Here are list of nutrients you should look for:
Electrolyte
Echinacea - When you feel symptom
Glutamine
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Probiotics
Magnesium
Zinc
These are not cure for you sickness but they can improve your immune system and ideal for when closing into flu season or several week prior to your travel.
Kota Shimada
Commentaires