Caring for Your Immune System

 

Your immune system is your first line of defense against infection. In the age of Covid, everyone is concerned about maintaining a strong, healthy immune system. That includes the Marketing Department, who would have you believe that if you just buy and use their amazing product, Covid will be too afraid to come near you.

Your immune system has two main parts, the Innate System and the Adaptive System.The Innate System responds immediately to a perceived threat, summoning white blood cells to attack the invader and also activating the Adaptive System through a process called antigen presentation. The Adaptive System gets most of the press, but the Innate System is the first into the fight.

Once activated, the Adaptive System summons a type of white blood cell called a T-cell. These cells directly attack and destroy infected cells, and signal other B-cells to begin to produce antibodies to the specific infection. This can take several weeks, but once you are producing the antibodies you are either immune to that particular infection or far better able to cope with it. This is essentially how vaccines work, by activating the Adaptive System to produce antibodies without having to have the actual infection first.

Obviously, we'd like our immune systems to be as strong and effective as possible. So it may be tempting to load up on the various supplements, diets, and additives that promise to strengthen and support yours. Unfortunately, the only thing that most of them strengthen and support is the bottom line of the company selling  them to you.

I know you are tired of hearing it, but a having healthy lifestyle is probably the single best thing you can do to maintain your immune health. This means no smoking (including vaping and marijuana), drinking alcohol only in moderation (or not at all), maintaining a healthy weight for your height, getting plenty of good quality sleep, learning to manage the stresses of daily life, regular moderate exercise and (yes, you knew this was coming) eating a balanced diet that includes whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

This seems to be pretty much the same advice you keep getting for a wide variety of wellness issues. Perhaps its worth a try instead of those $60 ImmunoSamurai pills.