Learn how to increase defenses of your body is essential to lead a good quality of life, be productive and long-lived. Poor nutrition, infections, injuries, lack of water or stress can be threats that activate the immune system and this will produce a cost for which you will feel weakened and you will age more quickly.
Ideally, your defensive system reacts in a way that does not cause long-term damage and that can be achieved, although you will have to change certain habits with which you will learn to control the immune response (if you do not already have them).
This will mean that you will no longer be passive, but that you will have an active attitude that will allow you to raise your body's defenses and avoid excessive activation of your immune system.
The immune / immune system is responsible for fighting disease-causing microorganisms and leading the recovery process. It can be said that he is the defender of your body.
It is not a question of a concrete structure, but of complex interactions that involve different organs, substances and structures; bone marrow, lymphatic organs, white blood cells, specialized cells ...
There are many signs that the immune system is not working properly: lack of energy, allergic reactions, fatigue, slow wound healing, constant colds ...
There are several factors that can influence our body's defenses:
-The endogenous (internal, of the organism): they understand genetics, age (as age understands less defenses), coping capacity (while one thing is fun for you, for another it can be stressful).
-Exogenous (external): environment (pollution), poor diet, social problems (family, loneliness, unemployment), habits, stressful events (loss of someone close, accident, loss of work).
The factors of poor diet, social, environment or habits are those that you can learn to control so that they have the greatest benefit for your defenses.
I am now going to name you the habits that I have investigated and that influence the improvement of your immune system, thus improving your defenses:
Bad, rapid and shallow breathing makes it more difficult to access the oxygen carried in the blood and causes anxiety and excess stress.
It can be said that there are three types of respiration:
1-Clavicular: it occurs with the elevation of shoulders and clavicles and makes breathing difficult. It usually occurs in stressful situations or when there is respiratory deficiency.
two-Chest or chest breathing: it is the most normal and is produced by stress, although not extreme stress (as in the previous one). There is an elevation of the chest and not enough air enters the lungs, breathing too quickly. To learn to control stress you can read this article.
The main problem with this breathing is that it is unconscious and you must be attentive to it in order to correct it..
Meditation or mindfulness can help you develop that awareness; These are about psychological skills and, just like playing tennis, the more you practice the more you improve.
3-Abdominal breathing: when you breathe from the abdomen you will be more relaxed and your breathing will be deeper, which indicates to your immune system that there is no stress or anxiety.
In this breathing, the abdomen is almost completely in charge, although the thorax also rises a little. It is abdominal breathing that you have to learn to do.
Learn relaxation techniques here.
Although this seems like the simplest or common sense habit, it is not that simple to put into practice..
Regarding nutrition, not only the type of food you eat is important, but your way of eating, the company, the schedules or the eating pattern. All of this has an effect on your immune system..
The more food you eat in a single meal, the more effort your immune system has to do. The immune system of people who eat less but more times during the day has to do less effort.
You may sometimes eat without hunger, for emotional reasons, or eat unhealthy foods.
Avoid eating too much, overeating can make you gain weight and damage the immune system. Obesity prevents the body's defenses from working properly and increases vulnerability to infection.
Some foods and vitamins have been shown to improve defenses:
There are also some natural herbs, mushrooms and vegetables that improve the immune system: Echinacea, Ginseng, Ginger, Gingko Biloba, Turmeric, Ganoderma or Astragalus.
To prevent infections, it is advisable to reduce the consumption of flour, refined sugars, dairy products and meats as much as possible..
Other foods to complete a healthy diet: leek, raspberries, blueberries, pears, grapes, apples, tomato, aubergine, salmon, sardines, walnuts, almonds, orange, lemon, hazelnuts, broccoli, cabbage, watermelon, melon, carrot, olives.
Deep sleep stimulates the immune system, unlike its deprivation. Read this article if you want some tips to learn to sleep better.
The average adult needs between 7 and 8 hours of sleep, although there are people who may need 5 and 10 others.
To sleep better, exercise 2 hours before going to bed, avoid caffeine 5 hours before and eliminate tobacco and alcohol from your diet.
Data from many studies show that exercise reduces the chance of getting sick, with moderate exercise being better.
According to research, to improve your defenses, endurance sports that involve moderate physical activity are more suitable, such as swimming, cycling, skiing, jogging, hiking ... These increase the number of antibodies if the exercise is adapted to your needs and is practiced frequently.
For example, an hour of cycling increases the ability of neutrophils (a component of white blood cells) to destroy bacteria and jogging produces an increase in antibodies..
Negative stress produces an overactivation of the body and in the long term has very negative consequences for our body.
The stress hormone, cortisol, can increase the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancer and in the long term it weakens the immune system.
It can turn off white blood cells or it can over-activate the immune system, which increases the chances of getting autoimmune diseases..
Some of the benefits of meditation are reduced stress and anxiety, reduces the probability of heart attacks, improves blood pressure levels, reduces blood lactate, reduces muscle tension ... Read more about the benefits of meditation here.
As for mindfulness, after just eight weeks of training, it strengthens the immune system. It also helps to cope with stress, obesity and improve self-esteem. Read more about mindfulness here.
Studies have shown that people who undergo heart surgery are more likely to survive if they have a positive mental disposition.
And what do you do to improve your defenses? You can comment below. I'm interested! Thanks.
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