Boosting Your Immune System

Health experts agree that strong immune system support is essential to getting well and staying well. Immune system support is also one of the best ways to battle a disease or health condition when you need a boost in the right direction. The body’s natural resistance is sometimes not enough to handle the impurities and invaders constantly trying to penetrate the body’s defenses, but the right support offers protection and healing.

At Edica Naturals, we have continuously seen how a better, stronger immune system can change a life. Here is more about how the immune system works and why immune system support is so essential.

What Causes a Weak Immune System?

A healthy immune system is not only an excellent weapon against sickness and deterioration within the body, but it also facilitates faster healing if you do get sick. An immune system works hard consistently, battling its way through the germs and changes it must make on a cellular level. If your immune system is operating correctly, you will never know how hard it works; when your immune system is weak, you know about it.

A weakened immune system cannot fight off illness or adapt to environmental dangers. It not only increases your risk of suffering from seasonal colds and flu, but also severe and chronic diseases. Most people start with a healthy, strong immune system, so how does that change? Your immune system weakens in the wake of many factors, including:

• Aging. The immune system will naturally weaken as we age, so immune system support becomes even more important in our later years.
• Poor diet. An unbalanced diet weakens your body’s natural resistance as it craves essential nutrients.
• Stress. Chronic stress or trauma acts like a persistent injury, puncturing the immune system’s ability to heal by suppressing the immune response. It ‘lives with the pain’ instead of reacting to these new threats. The body fails to recognize the new imbalances after a time, and our health suffers.
• Inadequate rest. Many people do not get enough sleep. Your body builds lymphocytes and killer T cells while you rest, and these are essential immune response cells. If you are not sleeping enough, you are not producing adequate immunity.

A nutrient deficiency is also a huge factor in weakened immune systems. A healthy body requires the proper nutrients to thrive, which it gains from the right diet, a conducive lifestyle, and a limited amount of stress that keeps us active but not tense. The good news is that you can improve a weak immune system through lifestyle changes and supplements.

Best Supplements to Boost Immune Systems

Supplements are an excellent way to boost immune system support and keep the body functioning efficiently. It is possible to garner the right nutrients from a healthy diet, but there are many factors that might make this difficult as your immune system faces challenges. High-quality supplements feed your body on a cellular level, where immunity takes place by providing more vitamins and minerals.

The key is to figure out which supplements your unique body and stage of life might need so that the body can absorb these amounts well. For example, you may need more Vitamin A, C, and B12 as you age to help your cells adapt better to infection and other illnesses. The best supplements will address your deficiencies and work with the lifestyle you have chosen.

Foods That Boost Your Immune System

There’s a reason that health experts emphasize a balanced diet, and building a strong immune system is one of the primary benefits. Changing your diet to feed your cells is not as complicated as it sounds, and these simple changes often involve adding or removing items from your grocery list. If that’s all it takes to create a strong immune system, it should be easy to give your body what it needs to ward off disease.

Let’s explores a few of the essential components of a healthy, immunity-supporting diet:

Vitamin C-rich foods or supplements are essential to the body, and you can find it naturally in most citrus, peppers, and leafy greens. It facilitates the production of disease-fighting white blood cells, which is why health experts recommend that you add at least six servings of fruit and vegetables to your diet to reach optimal levels of Vitamin C. Kiwi, guava, grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, cantaloupe, and papaya are all excellent sources of Vitamin C.

Vitamin D-rich foods are vital to a healthy immune system that needs regulation and modulation. It appears in milk (whole fat milk), dairy products, beef liver, egg yolks, and fish. You can also add to your immune system support with Vitamin D production by enjoying a few minutes of sunshine each day.

Carotenoid-rich foods increase your disease-fighting cells. A carotenoid has antioxidant properties that combat the signs of aging. Carotenoids abound in sweet potatoes, tomatoes, collard greens, kale, spinach, and carrots.

You may have heard of the phytonutrients called bioflavonoids, which are also antioxidants. These compounds unburden your immune system by fighting pollutants from the external environment. Foods rich in Bioflavonoids include cherries, raw fruit juices (unprocessed), grapes, grains, oranges, apples (with skin), true teas, red wine, leeks, broccoli, onions, celery, and grapefruit.

Omega-3 fatty acid is essential in “powering up” your immune cells. It feeds the cells and gives them the energy to fight bacterial infections, viruses, and more. Fatty fish like salmon is a powerful source, as well as flaxseed, flaxseed oil, sardines, and tuna.

Zinc-rich foods provide robust immune support by increasing the production of white blood cells. It also helps these cells activate as needed to counter the spread of disease within the body. Add beef, oysters, dark meat, turkey, crab, and beans to your diet for a higher zinc intake.

The final category includes selenium-rich foods, a mineral that can increase the production of “killer” cells. Sunflower seeds, cottage cheese, tuna, egg yolks, garlic, whole grains, lamb chops, and brown rice are full of selenium and excellent additions for healthier meals.

A Note On Foods that Weaken the Immune System

There are also a few foods to eliminate while you are making dietary changes for immune system support, including:

• Processed foods. Microwaveable or fast food and highly processed items contain additives and preservatives that can deny your immune system valuable nutrients.
• Sugar. Refined white sugars are detrimental to immunity, especially sugar-laden drinks like sodas and processed fruit juices. Cakes, candies, cookies, and other high sugar content are also harmful to your immune system.
• Carbohydrates (white flour). Refined carbohydrates compromise immune system support, including white rice, white bread, and processed white flour-containing foods.

Incorporating foods that feed the immune system is a significant first step to boosting your immunity.

Actionable Strategies to Boost Immune System

When it comes to strong immune system support, diet is only one essential component; it is also important to evaluate your lifestyle and notice how each choice affects your body’s natural resistance.

Bring Stress Under Control

Chronic stress wreaks havoc on your immune system by inhibiting the production of immune-boosting cells. When we feel stressed, our body reacts how it would for an injury. It increases the production of cortisol (the stress hormone) to distract lymphocytes from their job of circulating the blood generally and directing it to the specific area of pain or infection.

Cortisol causes inflammation in the body, and the lymphocytes send the blood to that spot. This is how we heal after an injury, but it doesn’t work long-term. Heightened cortisol production suppresses the immune system so that cells cannot fight disease effectively. The immune cells redirect their efforts to fighting off the stress-related “inflammation” from the overstimulation of cortisol instead of strengthening the immune system.

Try these stress-busters to keep cortisol levels down:

• Meditation. Even fifteen minutes a day reduces feelings of stress and handles worries more effectively. You can meditate anywhere and bring your body into stress recovery mode.
• Coping skills. If stress is a daily part of life, professional help is essential for you to learn healthy coping skills. You will feel better and increase your immune system support simultaneously.

Boost Immune Health Support With Exercise and Rest

Rest is as essential to your health as regular exercise, perhaps even more so. The two activities go hand in hand with exercise improving your quality of sleep and reducing stress levels. Simple, daily exercises are a great start to improving your health, supporting your immune system, and giving you a better night’s sleep.

You can also boost immune system support with the following activities:

• Exercise daily. Make the time your body needs to be healthy and schedule a thirty-minute per day at a minimum. Schedule a walk the same way you would schedule a meeting or other important event.
• Set a sleep schedule. Studies indicate a “healthy sleep” routine increases REM sleep and makes falling asleep easier, so go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day.
• Meditate. A great time to meditate is right before bed; deep breathing will set you up for a good night’s sleep.
• Avoid exercise before bedtime. Daily exercise is essential, but not within thirty minutes of bedtime. Exercise energizes you and can keep you from falling asleep at the right time to uphold your sleep schedule.
• Create a sleep-only zone. Train your brain to recognize your bedroom as a sleep zone, so do not work or watch TV there. A peaceful, quiet bedroom ensures that your brain and body are ready to shut down each night.
• Limit blue lights. Blue lights emitted by smartphones and other digital devices keep the brain awake—turn them off in the bedroom.
• Cut caffeine and sugar. Avoid caffeinated beverages after lunchtime and sugary treats in the evening, which both interrupt sleep patterns.

Immune Health Supplements

Scheduling rest and exercise elevates them to the position your body deserves, but a healthy lifestyle also needs proper nutrition every day. Finding the nutrients you need from diet alone is challenging. For example, you would need to eat six servings of fruits and vegetables daily to take in enough Vitamin C.

Immune system support supplements are helpful to fill in the gaps, especially high-quality supplements that feed your body on the cellular level where immunity takes place. It makes boosting immunity easier with quick absorption and healthy changes.

Edicanaturals.com, a leader in safe, effective, and natural supplements, has created Too-Mush Immune™ to easily and quickly boost the power of your body's own immune system.

Experience a natural boost with daily supplementation of our immunity enhancer Too-Mush Immune™.

• Immunity Support
• Reinforces Antioxidant Defenses
• Natural Anti-Aging Effects

Too-Mush Immune™ consists of four synergistic plant-based ingredients, and our unique formulations use traditional Ayurvedic botanicals sourced from natural, sustainable farms.

Cordyceps

• Improves immunity function to boost exercise performance
• Anti-aging properties
• Benefits for heart health

L-Glutathione

• Helps combat free radicals
• Supports immune function
• Breaks down some free radicals
• Helps certain enzymes function
• Regenerates vitamins C and E

Lion's Mane

• Strengthens the immune system
• Boosts the immune system

Shiitake

• Helps strengthen your immune system
• Boosts your immune system
• Supports strengthening of bones

Frequently Asked Questions

All vitamins and minerals are essential for immune system health support, but particularly:

• Vitamin A for “adaptive immunity” because it boosts the production of B cells and T cells.
• Vitamin C for supporting immune health on a cellular level with better immune cell function.
• Vitamin D to keep immune cells functioning correctly.
• Vitamin B12 to improve the physical barriers to infection with B-complex supplements.

A strong immune system will probably not prevent you from catching COVID-19, but it will prepare your body to fight off its effects. The COVID-19 virus is a “novel virus,” which means that antibodies are not yet present. However, a robust immune system will certainly help you and might even reduce the symptoms’ severity.

Vitamin D, zinc, elderberry, Vitamin C, and other strong immune health support supplements can help.

Teas support the immune system with vitamins and minerals.

• Rooibos Tea is a South African tea rich in Vitamin C.
• Echinacea Tea (Coneflower) contains polysaccharides vital to the functioning of killer T cells.
• Graviola Tea (soursop) comes from a South American fruit that is a powerhouse of immune support. It contains high levels of Vitamin C, phosphorus, calcium, and antioxidants.
• Matcha Tea is a potent immune-boosting tea with similar health properties to green tea but a higher potency. It is made from the whole tea leaf while still green.

“Immune system age” varies significantly at any chronological age, but it is true that our bodies lose some of their immune power in our later years. Science seems to indicate that you can have a healthy immune system at any age, though. If you follow a healthy diet, rest, decrease stress, and use strong immune system support supplements, you can enjoy a lifetime of healthy immunity.

How you live your life and how you feed your immune system are more important than your age. A recent University of Birmingham study found that immunity starts to decline at 60, but not for everyone. Even 40-year-old participants showed weaker immune systems where their lifestyles and immune-boosting supplements were inadequate.

Your immune system’s efficiency fluctuates throughout the day, and some studies indicate they are weaker in the early morning hours while we are asleep. For example, a hospital study found that sepsis patients typically die from the disease between 2 am and 6 am. Health professionals have subsequently considered the role of providing an immune system booster during these hours to reduce fatality.

Stanford University also conducted a study to determine when our immunity is at its highest. They found that our circadian rhythm (the natural sleep-wake cycle) plays a tremendous role in determining when our immune system protects us most effectively. For example, a disrupted sleep cycle leaves us vulnerable, with our body decreasing its immunity level by as much as 20% when we cannot sleep during our usual slot.

There are no specifics when it comes to which time of day your immune system is the strongest. It is personal, and you will need to find the immune system support that works for you.

Feel free to explore immune system support supplements like the Edica Naturals range for the protection and strength your body needs to thrive.