Supporting Healthy Immune Function: Lifestyle Basics
By Dr Kelcie Rosendahl & Dr Emily Wiggins
Simple and effective tips from our Naturopathic Team to support your immune system year-round.
1. Manage Your Stress:
Cortisol is our primary stress hormone. Intermittent spikes in cortisol are necessary for a healthy stress response. However, many of our cortisol levels are chronically elevated, which can lead to negative effects on our health.
Chronically elevated cortisol levels can decrease the body’s lymphocyte count. Lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell that help to fight off infections. Decreased amounts of lymphocyte puts you more at risk for contracting a viral illness, including the common cold.
Regular exercise, deep breathing, yoga, meditation and practicing gratitude are some effective ways to decrease stress levels.
2. Eat Your Fruits and Veggies!
Fruits and vegetables provide nutrients that improve immune function such as beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E. Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that reduces inflammation and increases the amount of white blood cells and natural killer cells (cells that help to control viral infections) in the body.
Foods rich in beta-carotene include green leafy vegetables, carrots and sweet potatoes. Vitamins C and E are antioxidants that support various cellular functions in the immune system.
Food sources of vitamin E include nuts, seeds, spinach and broccoli. Red pepper, oranges, strawberries, broccoli and lemons are great sources of vitamin C.
3. Exercise:
Exercise can have both immediate and ongoing benefits to your immune system.
Exercise immediately helps to move immune system cells from the lymphatic tissues to the blood. The primary role of lymphatic tissue is to transport lymph throughout the body, a fluid that contains infection-fighting white blood cells. Although the movement of lymph seen with acute exercise is temporary, an additive effect occurs over time.
Continued exercise results in improved immune system surveillance of invading pathogens and decreased rate of infection.
4. Sleep:
Research shows that people who do not get enough sleep are more likely to become sick after being exposed to a virus.
Cytokines are released by your immune system during sleep. Cytokines are proteins that help to mediate immunity, inflammation and hematopoiesis, or the production of all cellular components of the blood. Certain types of cytokines need to increase when you have an infection to signal an appropriate immune response.
Lack of sleep can decrease the formation of these protective cytokines and result in increased illness. It is recommended that adults get 7-9 hours of sleep nightly.