8 Key Factors Balancing Body Immune System

 

Some time ago, I was driving coolly in the old town of Ipoh, Perak Malaysia. It’s a lovely old town with many low storey buildings and mural paintings. Suddenly my eye catches a middle-aged man, untidy clothes, crumbled hair and looked unwashed for many months and was carrying big old plastic bags. He was picking up some leftover food stuff from rubbish bins and eating it. It bugged my mind with questions – does he fall sick, how strong is his immune system, did the body adjusted to environmental change or he has mind power on his immune system?

We are built by what we supply to our body. Every day we are exposed to human body invaders and some are very dangerous such as coronavirus (Covid-19). Fortunately, our body has a built-in munitions system called immune system which keep protecting our body since the day we were born. WHO (World Health Organization, 2019) published a report saying that in Europe, every year there are 23 million people falling ill from contaminated food. More shockingly, about 4,700 of them die. The only way for us to keep ourselves healthy is through making our internal body organs to function in good condition. Immune system is the system which keeps us from falling ill. Building strong balanced immunity would maintain an effective and highly protective immune system.

The enemies of human body are from the surrounding environment within us. On daily basis, we are exposing ourselves to these enemies knowingly and unknowingly. We cannot be clean of these enemies, either these germs look for us or we look for them through our daily activities. Immune system protects us by defending the body from invaders. The immune system protects us from pathogens from environment such as viruses, bacteria and parasites. Broadly, it’s a complex network and sub-network of cells and protein that defend our body from deadly invaders. However, the immune system cells have memory coding to record every pathogen it has ever defeated. Memory coding allows immune cells to identify and destroy the microbes if it enters the body again. Immune system comprises white blood cells, antibodies, the complement system, the lymphatic system, the spleen, the thymus and the bone marrow.  

Generally, our immune system does an outstanding job by protecting our body against disease-causing microbes. There are times our immune system fails. Germs strategically invade our body successfully and make us sick. How can we improve the strength of our immune system? Before deciding on how to boost our immune system, we must understand that our immune system is not a single unit but a system. For immune system to perform at optimum level, it has to be in a harmony and balanced situation.

Is there any possibility of building a strong immune system? Prior to exploring into such an approach we must understand how our bodies function. It’s all about what do we supply and do with our body. Sometimes we may eat well and rest well but still the body may signal uneasiness. Eating well does not mean eating the right food for your body. Eating right food, resting sufficient time and doing exercise for better blood flow would eliminate the uneasiness by increasing your immune system.

Around globe, researchers are exploring the factors affecting our immune system. Plan a healthy-living strategy to build a strong immune system is necessary. Multiple factors like age, diet, sleep, stress, medications, life-style, exercise and mind-power can affect the staging of immune system. Another fact to consider is on the deviation from the normal pattern can affect human immunity. The 8 key factors affecting our immune system 

Age

Age and immune system’s capacity works on reverse direction. As we grow older, the strength of immune system declines due to decrease in functioning of T-cells. The thymus gland in the body slows down in its functionality if we don’t manage it well. Generally, older people have weaker immune system. However, if we manage it well with proper and effective food supplements the immune system works equally well.

Diet

The immune system operates with macrophages as the soldiers to defend the body from dangerous microbes. Studies show vitamins C, A, E, B6 and B12 and minerals like iron and zinc are important for the maintenance of immune function. These vitamins and minerals can be found in fruits, nuts, herbs and vegetables. According to Dietary Guidelines for Americans the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables per day is 4.5 cup.

Sleep

Sleep is important for the body to reboot the body systems. A study also shows that very little sleep or poor quality sleep would make immunity lower. During busy times, it can be difficult to get enough sleep and it gets worse if a person is stressful. Studies suggest that suppression of immune function and increasing signals to activate immune system happens while we’re sleeping. During sleep, we have decreased levels of the stress hormone called cortisol. For adults, it’s recommended a minimum of 7 hours of sleep. 

Stress

A study by The American Psychological Association found that 75% of Americans experience moderate to high levels of stress. High stress has direct impact on immune function. However, indirectly unmanaged stress can influence our sleep patterns, our mood, our dietary intake and our physical activity levels. These factors could impact the functionality of immune system.

Medication

The intake of medications due to certain critical illnesses could suppress the effectiveness of our immune system. It limits the immune response and weakens the ability to fight against any foreign entities invading the body.   

Life-Style

Busy lifestyle of work, social and family can impact the functionality of immune system. In my understanding, life-style has direct impact of stress and exercise. Busy lifestyle would limit your time allocation for exercise and relaxation. We need time to relax and chill out.  

Exercise

Exercise will help your body to have better blood flow, which automatically improves the ability of our immune system to fight invaders. Exercise also clears airways and flushes out the microbes. Changes in antibodies and white blood cells strengthen our immune system. Moderate exercise would be helpful. Sometimes, heavy and long-term exercise could be harmful to your body. Moderate and consistent exercise on a scheduler basis would increase your immune system.

Mind Power

Mind is your most precious possession. If you think good health, good health will follow. Our mind is our bodyguard, protecting us to be safe and healthy. Supply your thoughts with positive vibes to create a harmony, balance and happy mind-body connection. The much happier you are internally would lead you to a much healthier life.

Allow me to share on the type of food helpful to balance and boost your body immune system. There are varieties of fruits, nuts, herbs, drink mixture can give us the immune boosting supplements. These are the natural sources of supply without any chemicals and preservatives. 

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Author - Michael Magena

Social Health researcher and writer on Immune System and regarded as Business Coach. Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development, Masters in Financial Planning and NLP Master Practitioner.