Your Immune System: a bio-powered Fighting Machine
Our bodies are built with the immune system to fight off infection and disease.
It is stronger than any antioxidant or antibiotic out there. Hence, we must do every to protect our immune system with good nutritional foods, clean environment, and better lifestyles.
Don’t think you are safe just because you wash your hands a few times a day. Bacterial and viral agents can enter the body many different means.
Let’s have a look at some examples that illustrate steps of what happens when disease-causing bacteria enter your body.
1. Bacteria or viral organisms enter your body through touch, sneezes, physical contact or through other mechanisms. Keep in mind if someone coughs, their phlegm may spread over 350 feet, meaning whatever illness they have will shower the people around them unless they cover their mouths. That is why it is so important to close your mouth and cover your mouth if you have to cough or sneeze.
2. Your body’s immune system receives a signal from your brain that shouts out ‘Time to make white blood cells!” White blood cells are the form of cells in your body that react to infection. Their job is to help create cells that fight diseases whether they are viral or bacterial in nature.
3. If your immune system is as strong as it can be, your body will send enough antibodies to fight any attack, no matter how severe. This doesn’t mean you won’t get sick, it means your body will do everything it can to keep you healthy. If you fall sick, your chances of recovery from illness are high if the immune system has been maintained from the past.
4. It may take you a few days to get well, but most people easily recover from minor infections or viruses. It may take some days for an average cold or bacterial infection. Immuno-compromised patients may take their body much longer to overcome something even as simple as the common cold.
Most people do not have a fine-tuned immune system. If you had it, you probably wouldn’t need to read this piece. Information like this helps you “fine tune” your immune system so you have the best chances of reducing the length and preventing an ill health simultaneously. Now that you understand how the immune system works, it is necessary you are aware of some major factors that influence your immune system or make it function less optimally than it ought to.
Factors That Influence Your Immune System
Your immune system may be compromised in several ways, which are also reasons your body may not jump to attack an infection or disease the way it ought to.
That you engage in one or two of these habits today without issues, doesn’t mean your immune system is happy. The speed at which people fall ill differs from person to person, depending on the level of their immune system. Here are some common factors that negatively influence the immune system.
Excessive fast food and saturated fat in your diet: Fat can clog your arteries, thereby narrowing the path of blood flow. Take note that the heart will continue to pump blood at its normal rate for you to be alive. As these happen, the heart now requires a higher pressure to continue its normal process. Hence the victim experiences what is known as high blood pressure. This lifestyle over time will result in drastic weight gain due to increase in total body fat accumulating in the body. Thereby bringing about life-threatening diseases such as stroke, etc.
Irregular exercise: When you don’t exercise your body, or you overdo it, you may become ill rather than prevent illness. Sometimes more is better; however, more is not better if you exercise to the point where you over train your muscles and body. You need to give your body a break, especially between strength training sessions, so you are able to fight against the disease. Here, Moderation should be the watchword.
Stress: This sends levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) through the roof, which can result in general dissatisfaction or illness. Stress is a killer, which can lead to heart attacks, anger, depression, high blood pressure, and aggression, and many other disorders. The less stressed you are exposed to, the better your body will be at fighting off diseases.
Insomnia: Sleeplessness or insufficient sleep changes the hormonal levels in your body. This situation inspires you to eat more and increases your weakness to common colds or infections. You may gain weight, which also puts you at risk for diseases such as II diabetes. At this point, it must be noted that if you sleep too much, you may have a health problem. (Consult with your doctor). Most people do well when they sleep 6-8 hours each day.
Poor diet: This factor should have come first, but I decide to use it, to sum up, the points so you will have enough time to ponder on it. A balanced diet is not that too expensive, compare to all the junk foods around. Also, you need to eat too much (This actually slows down your metabolism, meaning you will gain weight even if you eat fewer portions than you have in the past), or totally deprive yourself of food to fight disease (your body goes into starvation mode). Use a practical approach, one that encourages moderation in our eating habit.
Just as you put the engine oil in your car to prevent heating and wearing away of the metal, so you have to care for your body to be able to fight off illness.
One thing you must invest in, however, is your health. When your health is good, you feel good. When you feel good, you can do almost anything your desires.
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