The answer is yes, and there are plenty of ways you can build your immune system naturally. Some of the most common ways are to eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and make sure you’re sleeping enough. TH7 also has plenty of equipment that can help boost the immune system, including ice baths, cryotherapy chambers, and red light therapy. Keep reading to learn all about how you can build your immune system to prevent sickness!
Understanding The Immune System
The immune system is like your body’s personal security force, constantly on the lookout for invaders like bacteria, viruses, and other harmful substances that can make you sick. It’s a complex network of bodily processes to protect you from infections and keep you healthy.
At the core of the immune system are white blood cells, also known as leukocytes. These cells are the soldiers of your immune system. They patrol your body through the bloodstream, searching for any signs of trouble. When they find something harmful, they either attack it directly or send out signals to recruit more immune cells to join the fight.
The immune system is essential for keeping us healthy, and while it’s incredibly powerful, it also requires balance. If it becomes too weak, you’re more prone to infections. But if it’s too active, it can start attacking your own body, leading to autoimmune diseases. Understanding how the immune system works can help you appreciate the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep, all of which support a strong and balanced immune system.
Signs You Need To Build Up Your Immune System
Your body doesn’t want you to contract infections and illnesses, so it will often tell you when something is wrong with your immune system. There are several signs you might notice, including:
- High-stress levels: Stress decreases the number of white blood cells in the body, leaving you without enough to fight off viruses and infections you may pick up.
- Constant common colds: Adults usually have two or three colds a year, but if you find yourself constantly catching them or notice your symptoms sticking around for more than four days, it’s a good sign that your immune system can’t catch up with you.
- Tummy issues: Almost 70 percent of your immune system is located in your digestive tract, and beneficial bacteria that live here can support it, but frequent diarrhoea, gas or constipation might be a sign that your immune system is compromised.
- Slow-healing wounds: The body goes into damage control once it’s hurt with a burn or cut, sending nutrient-rich blood to the injury to help patch it up as soon as possible – but if your immune system isn’t up to par, your skin can’t regenerate and will have a more difficult time healing.
- You feel lethargic all the time: If you’re getting enough sleep yet still feel sluggish, your immune system might be telling you it’s struggling.
- Frequent infections: Your immune system might be putting red flags up if you find yourself fighting several infections every year – such as four ear infections each year, pneumonia twice in a year, or needing more than two courses of antibiotics a year.
Methods To Naturally Build Your Immune System
As you can imagine, a poor-performing immune system is never fun and can greatly influence your daily habits and routine. Luckily, there are quite a few ways you can naturally build your immune system and strengthen it at home, including:
Eating A Balanced Diet
A balanced diet can make sure you’re getting all the nutritious foods you need to boost your immune system. Some of the best foods to boost your immune system include citrus fruits, red bell peppers, broccoli, garlic, ginger, and yogurt.
Getting Enough Sleep
Like many processes within our bodies, the immune system needs a full eight hours at night to recharge and replenish. If you’re not giving your body enough rest, your immune system will become sluggish and struggle to keep up with you.
Exercising Regularly
Regular exercise can increase the movement of blood and white blood cells around your body, which will deliver immune cells wherever they’re needed in a shorter amount of time. This means you’re less likely to get sick as your white blood cells are working faster and more effectively to fight off harmful germs.
Get Your Vaccines
Vaccines are essential to maintaining your immune system as they can help fight the more difficult and stronger illnesses, putting less strain on your body. Instead of your body having to fight off the flu on its own, which can take weeks, a vaccine can shorten this time, or make your symptoms easier to manage.
Minimising Stress
Stress wreaks havoc on your body, including your immune system. Stress creates a hormone called cortisol, which can allow inflammation to take over the body, which your immune system will have to fight against. This will suppress your immune system, making it less likely to fight off invaders.
Equipment At TH7 That Can Help Build Your Immune System
While there are plenty of home remedies to support your immune system, sometimes it needs a bigger boost which can only be offered through certain therapies and equipment. TH7 offers plenty of options to give your immune system the reset it needs, including:
Full Body Cryotherapy Chambers
Cryotherapy chambers introduce the body to incredibly cold temperatures (-80 to -110 degrees C) which acts as a mild form of environmental stress on the body to activate its stress response. This can offer a number of benefits to your body, including an improvement in immune function.
A study on the immune system of cold-exposed and cold-adapted humans showed that cold water immersions increased metabolic rate due to shivering. This caused an elevated blood concentration of catecholamines, which in turn activated the immune system. This indicates that regular cold exposure (the study used immersion three times a week for six weeks) could boost immune responses and make it more adaptive in the future.
Ice Baths
Likewise, ice baths can also improve your immune system by stimulating your body’s defence system. When there are no germs to fight but your body releases white blood cells anyway, they move to another part of your body for no reason. They’re not used, so they’re exercised and ready for the next time they’re needed. Think of it as a practice run for the real deal!
A review on the health effects of cold water exposure noted several studies that indicated the benefits of ice baths in relation to immunity, including a study by Arai et al. that showed that cold water immersion increases the metabolic rate and spikes plasma concentrations of catecholamines, which in turn affects the immune system. While the review noted that more detailed research would be needed, the initial findings are certainly promising.
Contrast Therapy Pools
Contrast therapy combines both hot and cold temperatures to create a pumping effect on the blood vessels. This effect changes the blood flow across your body, which is great for strengthening your immune system. There are many ways contrast therapy can do this, including increasing the number of white blood cells you have in your blood, increasing acute phase proteins, and stimulating the vagus nerve.
Going from hot to cold temperatures shocks your body in two ways rather than just one, stimulating the production of heat shock proteins and cold shock proteins.
Red Light Therapy
Red light therapy uses near-infrared light to activate the mitochondria, giving our cells a great boost of energy that ultimately benefits the entire body. There are plenty of benefits that come with red light therapy, including a boost to the immune system.
While red light therapy is still relatively new, there have been several discussions on its effectiveness for immunity. One review concluded that optimisation of light parameters allows near-infrared light to act as an inflammatory agent in a wide range of medical applications. As we’ve mentioned before, the less inflammation in the body, the more your immune cells can rest and get ready for any invaders they’ll need to attack.
Final Thoughts
The immune system is incredibly important to the body, but sometimes it needs a helping hand and a much-needed boost. Luckily, you can help this with a few lifestyle changes, such as eating well and exercising regularly, along with getting enough sleep for the immune cells to recharge throughout the night. There are also several therapies that can boost your immune system, including cold water immersion in the form of cryotherapy chambers and ice baths, contrast therapy, and red light therapy. These, paired with a healthy lifestyle, will surely get your immune system back up and running to the best of its ability.
