May 2009 

"If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself."
 ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Could Your Immune System Use a Boost?

Like most aspects of human life, we don’t really think about our immune system until something goes wrong or we feel threatened. Supporting our immune system is actually like building the foundation of a house—if we don’t make an effort to strengthen it, the frame, the rafters and everything in between can come tumbling down under the right circumstances.

To begin building, let’s start with the basics. We need to get enough sleep; exercise; the right foods; enough water; and good hygiene habits to be healthy. Sleep is important because it is the time we recharge our bodies. Most adults require seven to eight hours of sleep per night to keep our immune system working well. And if we walk as few as 30 minutes a day we help our lymphatic fluids to flow, making immune system cells more responsive. So let’s take advantage of our great New England summers and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine! The Vitamin D we get in 15 minutes of sun will boost our immune system, help prevent osteoporosis and certain cancers and provide numerous additional benefits.

Good nutrition and healthy hydration are probably the two basics that have an enormous impact on our immune system. Among the important foods to consume are Brazil nuts and tuna (just be careful about mercury) for selenium. This mineral slows the formation of free radicals that act like rust on our bodies. Eating garlic is beneficial for its antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties, but it also helps the body make other immune stimulating compounds. Zinc, which is found in seafood, turkey, eggs, and pumpkin seeds increases our antibody production to fight off infection, along with Vitamin B6, found in salmon, bananas, carrots, lentils, or sunflower seeds.

Other important vitamins to boost immunity are Vitamin C, found in peppers, tomatoes, and citrus fruits; Vitamin E in wheat germ and fish oil; Vitamin A or beta-carotene from carrots and L-Lysine found in cheese, eggs, fish, lima beans, milk, and potatoes. Pure nutritional supplements are also useful when strengthening the immune system. You want to be sure GMP (Good Manufacturing Process) is on the label and that the supplements are of high quality. One resource for this is the Comparative Guide to Nutritional Supplements published by the Canadian Government. It includes ratings of over 1,500 manufacturers.

Remember to drink six to eight glasses of water a day, too. Our cells are 80 percent water and require hydration to function properly. We also want to keep the mucous membranes in the nose and throat moist enough to trap viruses in the air before they are internalized.

Now, if there are “right foods,” there have to be “wrong foods,” right? Well, right up there at the top of the list is sugar. It actually depresses certain cells of the immune system, and depletes our nutrients as it is being metabolized. Besides being an ingredient in the obvious choices, such as cookies and candy, sugar is in what nutritionists call the “whites”—pasta, white flour, potatoes, and bread. You want to avoid highly processed and refined foods (anything that is pre-packaged and has a long list of ingredients) as well.

Every child is taught to wash his or her hands before meals and upon leaving the bathroom. Hygiene includes more than proper hand washing, though. We need to cough or sneeze into the crux of the elbow, avoid sharing towels, keep kitchen and other surfaces clean with hot, soapy water, and don’t share sips of a beverage or bites of food—even with loved ones.

Loving and caring for one another seems to support the immune system. According to Dr. Maoshing Ni in The Secrets of Self-Healing, a Southampton General Hospital study in England showed that “A five-minute episode of feeling genuine care or compassion can enhance the immune system, causing a gradual climb in IgA, your body’s natural antibody against colds, flu and infections.”

Considered by many to be the foundation for immunity, gratitude and forgiveness are attitudes that most spiritual practices encourage. The habitual use of prayer, meditation or visualization supports a process of continual renewal for the mind, body and spirit. In fact, it may just provide the resiliency that sustains and helps us bend like trees blowing in the wind to weather whatever storm comes along to challenge our immune system.

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