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The immune system needs constant support from your nutritional intake in order to fight infections and diseases. But most people only focus on boosting their immunity when they are struggling to stay healthy. The immune system needs the right approach to nutrition, sleep, exercise, and stress management for it to function properly. While "boosting immunity" is also claimed by supplements or a single food source, it is untrue. As no single food or supplement can improve the functioning of your immune cells (T-cells).
Research published in the Heliyon journal highlights that your immune system needs consistent nutritional intake that requires a combination of vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients, as well as micronutrients. This is essential as your immune system needs to be able to fight off viruses, bacteria, or any microbes that can enter the body and cause disease.
Why Your Immune System Needs Daily Care
Your immunity is a byproduct of your daily efforts that should ideally involve living a healthy lifestyle. But holistically, the immune system needs a balance through a nutritious diet, sleep, exercise, and a healthy mindset. These aspects can benefit your immune system from the inside out, and their mechanisms are necessary to uplift how your immune system functions on a daily basis.
Habit 1: Prioritise 7-9 Hours of Sleep
Research published in the Annals of Neuroscience suggests that sleep and immune function have a direct relationship. This means your sleep quality, duration, and latency influence how your immune system functions and vice versa.
When the body is well-rested, then your immune cells and antibodies can work in a better manner. Poor sleep quality can have a negative effect on immunity, so to build a stronger immune system, you need to focus on your sleep.
Habit 2: Eat More Colourful Fruits And Vegetables
The Nutrients Journal highlights that consuming a rainbow diet that encompasses multiple colours can increase your nutritional intake. Consuming colourful fruits and vegetables can provide your body with vitamins that are necessary for immune function. Namely, different vitamin groups, as per their food groups, can increase the dose of polyphenols and antioxidants in the body.
For instance, a diet that is rich in citrus fruits, berries, carrots, spinach, and bell peppers can boost your immunity.
Habit 3: Include Adequate Protein Every Day
An ideal protein intake, as per your age and physical activity, is necessary to build the foundation of a strong immune system. Mainly, antibodies are made from proteins that boost the way the immune system functions to eliminate risk factors of disease. A deficiency in it can weaken your immunity, which can only be identified via signs that indicate a lack of protein in the body.
To boost your daily protein levels, consume foods such as eggs, fish, lentils, dairy, and soy foods. Traditional protein-rich foods such as sattu or chickpeas can become a cheap source of daily protein.
Habit 4: Exercise Regularly
Research published in the Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness highlights that exercising regularly is important for supporting blood circulation. Immune cells need constant support, which can be provided by exercises such as walking, cycling, and strength training.
Ideally, daily exercise should be performed for at least 150 minutes weekly, which translates to 20 minutes of daily exercise.
Habit 5: Take Care Of Your Gut Health
Your gut microbiome needs a balance of good and bad bacteria for it to function properly. Maintaining your gut health is essential and can be done by making fermented foods a part of your diet, as they balance the gut microbiota. Alongside this, fibre-rich foods, which contain soluble and insoluble fibre, are needed for balanced gut health.
The foods that can nourish your gut health are curd, yoghurt, kefir, fruits, and whole grains.
Habit 6: Manage Stress Before It Manages You
Research published in the Molecular Biology Reports suggests that stress levels can impair your immune responses. Stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline affect how the immune system functions. To proactively manage it, you need to make practices such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, and mindfulness a part of your daily exercise routine.
Habit 7: Stay Hydrated
Your hydration levels determine how your blood circulates through your body and improve the transportation of nutrients. The direct impact of hydration is on the mucosal barriers, such as the nose, mouth, and eyes, as it can maintain their moisture levels, which decreases the chances of developing infections.
Habit 8: Get Enough Vitamin D
Vitamin D is the cornerstone of the absorption of multiple nutrients in your body, and it plays an important role in immune regulation. The Nutrients Journal suggests that maintaining your vitamin D levels can ensure your immune system is able to fight off infections and diseases. You can increase the level of vitamin D in your body by increasing your natural sunlight exposure, egg yolks, fortified foods, and fatty fish as well.
Habit 9: Avoid Smoking And Alcohol
These two lifestyle habits can damage your immunity and weaken its defences. Smoking affects immunity on two levels: innate and adaptive, as well as causing active DNA damage. Alcohol consumption also affects immunity in a negative manner, as it increases the risk of autoimmune diseases as well as serious diseases such as cancer.
Habit 10: Maintain A Healthy Weight
Keeping your weight under control as per your height and age is necessary to make sure your immune system can fight when needed. If you have belly fat or are categorised as thin-fat or obese, then primarily chronic inflammation can affect your immune responses.
Foods That Help Support Immune Health
Your immune health depends on the intake of certain foods such as citrus fruits, garlic, ginger, turmeric, yoghurt, almonds, seeds, green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, legumes, and many more such healthy foods.
When To Consult A Doctor
A doctor should be consulted when the frequency of getting sick increases. If you are falling sick every couple of days, and you are getting the following:
- Frequent infections
- Slow wound healing
- Persistent fatigue
- Suspected nutrient deficiencies
- Chronic medical conditions
Then you definitely need to consider seeking medical help to assess your immune health.
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.