BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY

May 24, 2022

A common word we all have heard at our home or on social media, especially in recent times is Immunity or Immune System.

First, “What is Immunity?”

In simple terms – Immunity is your body’s ability to prevent the invasion of foreign bacteria or viruses. So, consider it as a line of defense against the foreign invaders which in this case are bacteria and viruses.

Our immune system is an essential part of our survival. If our immune system is not working efficiently our body would be susceptible to all the bad bacteria and viruses around us.
To ensure its efficient working, we first need to know what factors influence the working of our immune system. The biggest key factors involved are:

Sleep – Lack of sleep can impair the body’s ability to fight against infections and it even goes to impede the body’s ability to recover optimally.
Nutrition – A well-balanced diet helps us to fuel better for the day and face the challenges that the immunity system fights to keep us healthy.
Stress – An imperative factor in today’s age for everyone across the lifecycle. Be it work, family, and education, every area of life is more stress inducing than before. This stress is pernicious to our health.
Body Composition – To fight with the stress from life, many of us have found solace in drinking, smoking, and food. The conflation of these stress-busting vectors has made many of us obese/overweight.
Smoking – Not only puts us at a greater risk for pulmonary diseases but also makes our immunity weaker against air-borne diseases.

Having discussed the vectors that affect our immunity, when we talk about nutrition, a key component of it is micronutrients, which is rarely a topic of discussion.

Many people promote foods, drinks, or supplements to boost our immune system which are basically sources of vitamin C or maybe protein-rich foods. But if we look at how our immune system works or the research available on it, we know that nothing can magically boost it by one nutrient or supplement.

Micronutrients play a key role in the optimal functioning of our immune system. Deficiency of any of these nutrients can increase the severity of virulent life-threatening bacteria and viruses.
Diving a bit deep into the research we know that some micronutrients play a greater role in the functioning of immune system than others.

Vitamin A, B6, E go a long way in keeping the eyes, organs and the gut going at full strength. Vitamin D follows suit in the production of antimicrobial peptides, with Zinc helping in the removal of oxidative stress.

Omega 3 works wonders too in maintain the structure of cell membrane and all these micronutrients are readily available in our daily diets. Hence the age-old moto, “A balanced diet is the best diet.”

Some micronutrients are also involved in the killing activities of neutrophils and macrophages and thus help us fighting against infections. If you are not able to get the nutrients in enough amounts from your diet, then perhaps one can connect with a registered dietician to learn the right way of eating well.

References