How to Protect Your Immune Health
Hi friends! Immune health and sickness have been on our minds a lot over the last two years and while the information I’m sharing today isn’t new, I wanted to give it a refresh because, let’s just be honest, there’s some misinformation, as well as just weird info out there right now on this topic. I understand that it’s easy to get caught up in fear and have so much advice thrown at you that you don’t really know who to trust sometimes. So today's episode is a few simple reminders of ways to support and protect your immune system’s ability to do its job.
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So right from the start, I want to say that what I’m talking about today isn’t a treatment protocol in any way. This is education about the immune system and how you can best support it and protects it so that it can do the job it was designed to do. Our bodies were created so intricately and intelligently, and our immune systems know what to do - just like our hearts know how to pump blood through our bodies and our stomachs know how to digest food, however that doesn’t mean we can and treat our bodies any ole way and expect them to function well, right?. Just as with our cardiovascular health or our digestive health, the way we live our lives - what we eat and drink, how we sleep, how we manage stress, etc. all affect our immune health as well.
So that brings us to what we can do to support our immune systems and help them function well.
As with just about everything else, we have to start with the gut. Over 70% of the immune system is housed in the gut. Studies have shown that the immune system is actually influenced and taught by the gut microbiome. The microbiome helps determine the vitality of the immune system and its response to infection. We can easily conclude that poor gut health equals poor immune system function. So that is where I think we start.
Support good gut health
Two main aspects that I focus on when working on gut health are protecting the gut lining and supporting a healthy microbiome - both are crucial for good gut function and overall health.
One of the main ways to protect the gut lining is to repair any current damage. Increased intestinal permeability (aka Leaky Gut) is more common than you may think and doesn’t always look like digestive symptoms, although it certainly can. When the gut lining is healthy, it creates a tight barrier all along our digestive tract, but when it is damaged large holes or openings can happen along the tract that allows food particles, toxins, bacteria, etc. to escape into the bloodstream. This causes chronic inflammation in the body which can make you more susceptible to illness and impair your immune response.
One of the simplest ways to help repair the gut lining is by incorporating bone broth into your daily dietary intake either through drinking it or using a bone broth powder.
When it comes to the microbiome, the goal is to have a healthy balance of microbes. We are made up of trillions of tiny microbes, some good guys, and some not so much. When the bad guys (or pathogenic/opportunistic) outweigh the good guys, that’s called Dysbiosis. Research has linked dysbiosis to many common diseases as well as an altered, impaired immune response.
A few ways to support a healthy microbiome are: repairing your gut lining, taking a quality, multi-strain probiotic; reducing food-related toxins like herbicides and pesticides, antibiotics in meat, etc.; promote healthy digestion and nutrient absorption by chewing thoroughly and not rushing through meals or eating when overly stressed.
It’s also a good idea to eat a wide variety of high-fiber fruits and vegetables. One great way to expand your variety is by eating seasonally and trying 1 new fruit or veggie each time you buy groceries.
Lastly in regard to gut health and food, remember to be mindful of your sugar intake, especially this time of year. I absolutely all the fall/holiday desserts and treats that come along with the holiday season, but the intake of sugar can quickly add up and start to cause inflammation in the body. Enjoy the season to the fullest while also being intentional.
Mind your S’s
In addition to caring for your gut, a few other lifestyle factors have a huge impact on our immune health. I like to call them the 3 Ss - sweat, stress, and sleep.
Sweat
We all know that we need to exercise regularly to keep our bodies functioning well, but I’m not sure that we often think of it in relation to our immune systems. When we exercise - move for an extended period of time and get our heart rates elevated a bit, it also helps to create movement in our lymphatic system - which helps our bodies get rid of toxins, it increases oxygen to all areas of our bodies - which increases healing, and helps to reduce stress and chronic inflammation.
In addition to exercise, I also love the use of a combo of dry brushing and either regular detox baths or a sauna to induce sweating and release toxins from the body. This can be especially helpful when you start to feel sick and may not have the energy for exercise.
Stress
Stress activates our fight or flight response, which when experienced in short-term situations, can actually activate the immune system to fight off an infection or “intruder” more quickly. Chronic stress experienced in a long-term situation, however, can have detrimental effects on the immune system by triggering chronic inflammation and altering the production of cytokines and T-cells which work to protect our bodies.
So a couple of quick reminders on ways to reduce the effects of chronic stress on the body:
Exercise, as we just talked about, can induce the good effects of short-term stress and activating the immune system, while also allowing cortisol (stress hormone) levels to regulate, which can help with inflammation. Practicing mindfulness and meditation, including deep breathing exercises can also help to regulate cortisol levels and allow the body to enter into the rest and digest state. Another great way to help your body deal with stress, and therefore support your immune system, is to get outside every day. In addition to the vitamin D, the fresh air often helps to reset mood and can also help with circadian rhythms, which can help with the last S that I want to mention today, sleep (Ideally, you can combine these three things together).
Sleep
Sleep is really one of the most important components of supporting good health in general, and especially of supporting and protecting the immune system. Getting enough good-quality sleep enables a well-balanced immune defense. Research has shown that during certain phases of sleep that immune function actually increases, which allows the body to more efficiently overcome illness and injury, as well as increase immune memory which allows the body to be better prepared to fend off future illness.
The opposite is also true, lack of good-quality sleep can interfere with the healthy functioning of the immune system. Sleep deprivation has been linked to short-term illnesses such as viral infections, as well as long-term health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and neurodegenerative diseases as well as depression and even cancer. It is believed that this is connected to increased chronic inflammation levels in the body brought about by the lack of sleep.
I have an entire episode on sleep that’s full of tips (episode 29) but I wanted to share a few quick ways to help prioritize good-quality sleep.
Both exercise and managing stress which we just discussed go a long way in promoting good sleep at night. All three of these - sleep, stress, and exercise - work cyclically together, each one helping in the other areas.
Also, having a good bedtime routine that you do consistently each night can help trigger the brain that it’s time for sleep. Avoiding blue light after dark and any kind of emotional stressor, as best as you can control it. Research shows that your body gets the most restorative sleep, in which the immune system can actually strengthen and renew itself, in the window of time about 3-4 hours after the sun goes down. This would mean that it’s important to be getting into bed well before this time so that you are sure to be asleep as this window of extra-restorative sleep begins.
These are truly the foundation of a healthy immune system - good gut health and solid lifestyle behaviors that support your body’s ability to function properly.
Extra support
In addition to that foundation, you may need some extra support, which in my opinion is where vitamins, minerals, and other supplements are helpful.
I have another episode that dives more into each of these areas, so I’m not going to get very into it today, but I often get questions about what is helpful, so I want to briefly mention it.
Whole-food multivitamins to fill in nutritional gaps
Whole-food multimineral can also be helpful, especially with sleep (magnesium)
Vitamin C (liposomal in time of stress or sickness) and vitamin D (especially in the winter months)
It’s true that the more intentional you are for caring for and supporting your body, the better it will function. That’s not to say you will never get sick, you will - and that’s okay. Your body is intelligent enough to know what to do. We just need to be sure that we are supporting it well and not living our lives in such a way that it hinders its ability to function well.
I hope that this episode has been helpful to you and gave you some good reminders of how to support and protect your immune system, especially as we continue to manage life during a pandemic, and especially as we get into the fall and winter months.
If you have any questions, email info@yourhealthforward.com.
I also have opened my schedule back up for a few new clients for the fall, and I would love to help you. Schedule a free health coaching discovery call here.
Reference: https://www.ifm.org/news-insights/gut-health-immune-response/; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3256323/;
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24798553/; https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/how-sleep-affects-immunity
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