“How to improve immunity?” An important question, now also a popular one. All thanks to COVID-19. Building strong immunity in these tough times has become very important and urgent as well.
What if I tell you how to boost immune system naturally? Yes!! In this blog, you’ll get to know the ways to boost immunity along with some basic information about what it is and how it works?
Contents
Immune System and Its Working
The immune system is the network of cells, tissues and proteins that defends and protects our body against infections. Before scrolling to find the ways on how to improve immunity, let’s first know how our immune system works.
The immune system can identify the difference between our own cells and some foreign cells. These foreign cells are disease agents or antigens like viruses, bacteria or parasites. When these antigens are detected, our immune system creates antibodies to fight with them.
Scientifically speaking, B cells (a type of White Blood Cells) are triggered to create these antibodies. Even after all these antigens are finished, the antibodies still remain in our bodies in case of future infection of similar antigens. That’s the reason why you had to improve your immunity.
I’m sure you’ve also read about antibodies during these Covid times. That’s why the government is asking its citizens to donate plasma so that other people’s immune system can also make antibodies for corona.
In some cases, vaccines also work the same way. A vaccine introduces the body to a virus or bacteria that is weak enough to harm us. But, it let our immune system to produce antibodies for the future attack.
How to Improve Immunity?
Just below are the ways and some lifestyle changes that can boost your immune system naturally at home. Let’s get straight to them one by one.
(A) Sleeping Boosts Immunity
Proper sleep of required hours is very essential to increase your immunity. Remember, when you have a headache or a fever, good sleep is one of the ways to boost immunity to fight and makes you feel better. By sleeping, the body gets the chance to restore itself.
Lack of sleep prevents your body from resting and makes you more infectious. It also hurts your immune system. We can also increase immunity in kids by making them sleep properly and for a sufficient period. If a kid is not sleeping for 12-14 hours, then it might harm his/her immune system. Not only kids, but lack of proper sleep can harm our immunity also.
But, don’t worry; I’m not here to increase your stress levels. Let me tell you some of the ways to get a good sleep. You can limit your caffeine consumption at night, reduce long daytime naps, fix your sleep timings and also reduce the blue light. This way, you can get a good sleep and also improve your immunity.
(B) Improve Immunity by Eating Healthy
If you ask someone how to build immunity? The first answer you get is to follow a healthy diet. There are many foods that boost immunity. Adding these to your diet reduces the chances of normal infections and also improves immunity.
1. Citrus Fruits makes you more immune
Citrus fruits are a good source of Vitamin C, which helps in the generation of immune cells. These cells fight with the foreign cells which makes you healthy. Citrus fruits include grapes, oranges, lemons, etc. As our body does not produce Vitamin C, you should consume them regularly. During these Covid-19 times, these are the most widely consumed foods that boost immunity.
2. Ginger improves immunity
Ginger is a good source of anti-oxidants which helps in improving our immunity. If you’re living in India, then you can easily find ginger in your kitchen. During illness, it is usually consumed along with tea or taken in the form of juice mixed with honey. It works as a home remedy for cough, cold, nausea, vomiting, etc.
3. Strengthen Immunity by Spinach
Another food to improve immunity is spinach. It is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, fibre and iron that helps in boosting our immune system. It also helps in cell division and DNA repair. Along with nutrients, it also has anti-oxidants properties that increase the capability of our immune system to fight viruses and bacteria. No doubt, why it is called a superfood.
4. How Turmeric Builds Immunity?
Turmeric is anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial that promote the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut. This helps in improving immunity. Also known as Haldi (in Hindi), it is also one of the common household ingredients.
It’s widely consumed in India in a powdered form mixed with warm milk during cough, cold, weakness, body pain and in normal cases too. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties that improve immunity.
5. Garlic Boost Immunity
Garlic also has nutritional properties that can increase our immunity. It increases the T cells in our blood that fights viruses. It acts as a home remedy for cough and cold.
6. Reduce sugar levels and Improve Immunity
Sugar has become a part of our daily eating routine. It feels sweet, no doubt. But, eating excessive sugar can make your immune system weak. This can have a negative impact on your health and make your immunity weak. Try to reduce the intake of sugar or sugar-added foods.
7. Immunity needs Hydration
Hydration is a good way of detoxifying yourself and decrease the odds of flu. However, how much water should I drink a day? It’s a good habit of drinking 8-10 glasses of water. If not, it might lead to dehydration, which can create problems sometimes. It can cause headaches, illness, weakness and also negatively affect health and kidney functions. According to a study, dehydration can also hurt our immunity.
(C) Improve Immunity by Regular Exercise
Every solution on how to improve immunity is incomplete until the exercise point is not mentioned in it. Regular exercise can decrease inflammation and help in regenerating immune cells regularly. According to a study, an active body is less likely to be affected by acute and chronic illnesses. Every solution on how to improve immunity is incomplete until the exercise point is not mentioned in it.
Take out at least 15-20 minutes daily and make a habit of exercising daily. You don’t need to go to a gym or need some fancy equipment; even light exercise make you live longer.
Regular exercise improves blood flow which helps our immune cells to move everywhere fast. If you don’t want to exercise for some reason, you can play outdoor games, walk for 20-25 minutes, or ride a bicycle.
(D) Meditation Improves Immunity
Here’s is one more solution to the query on how to increase immunity? Deep-rooted stress and anxiety can promote inflammation and also cause imbalances in immune cell functions. People having stress and anxiety all the times might have serious issues like headaches, heart problems, depressions, etc.
To manage your stress levels, meditation can play a major role. Regular meditation can improve mental peace and reduce stress. It also increases the number of CP 4 cells, which are the helper cells of our immune system involves in transferring signals to other cells. You can also try yoga meditation if you love to do yoga.
When we meditate, our mind relaxes and calms down. A healthy mind can fight disease more strongly and with minimal effects. To improve immunity, meditation is very beneficial and also effective. It involves improved heart functionality, an increase in natural antibodies, reduced pro-inflammatory gene expression.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve found the answer to the question “how to improve immunity?” These are some of the ways if implemented properly and regularly, can give you definite results. As you’ve read, you don’t need to do something extraordinary to boost your immunity, just small changes in your lifestyle can also do the work.