My head cold is like a ruthless racketeer threatening that it’ll wreak havoc on my pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium if I don’t get right back into bed and stay there for the week. For the record, it’s been three weeks… three weeks of gasping for breath in the night; three weeks of waking up with a throat that feels like crushed crackers; three weeks of being unable to taste any flavors aside from “hot” or “sweet” or “acidic;” three weeks of piling up tissues like a shrine to the gods of sinus; three weeks of feeling like my body’s been run over like a Mack truck and my head’s been squeezed by a nutcracker. It seems preposterous that some stealthy germ could knock me down like this. I’ve survived broken bones, mono, infections, chicken pox, food poisoning, and colitis. Well, enough of my ballyhooing. Let’s look at some proactive steps to strengthen your immune system and ward off evil.
1. Get a 45-minute Swedish massage. You’ll decrease arginine vasopressin (aggression hormones), decrease cortisol (stress hormone), and an increase in lymphocytes (cells that help the immune system fight harmful toxins).
2. Eat immune-boosting foods. Prevention Magazine says this includes yogurt, oats and barley, garlic, fish, chicken soup, fish, black tea, lean beef, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms.
3. Up your intake of soluble fiber. Change the “personality” of your angry immune cells, transforming them into healing cells that help you recover from sickness faster. You can find this type of fiber in oat bran, barley, nuts, seeds, lentils, citrus fruits, apples, strawberries, carrots, and Metamucil
4. Decrease your calories by 10 to 30 percent. Studies show that cutting calories had reduced allergens detected in the body and improved T-cell function.
5. Exercise… But rest too! Moderate exercise of 30 minutes three or four days a week is recommended for a healthy immune system, but too much exercise can make you more vulnerable to illness. The average adult needs seven or eight hours of sleep to keep their hormone levels and immune system tip-top.
6. Make love, hug, shake hands. WebMD says the best way to boost IGA, a protein in the body that keep pathogens from harming the body, is to make love and get your endorphins going. The same opioid peptides are released, to differing degrees, when you receive a hug or handshake too.
7. Don’t be a jerk to yourself. That means no excessive drinking, smoking cigarettes, abusing drugs, or engaging in activities that senselessly stress you out. Easier said than done, but deep down, you know this is elementary.
8. Limit your sugar, processed soy, dairy products, gluten and wheat. Your immune system is compromised for eight hours after drinking a sugary soda. Refined carbohydrates and processed foods are also known immune system agitators.
9. Drink more water. FitDay reports that water oxygenates your blood to flush out toxins, helps produce lymph to carry toxins out of the body, flushes infection-causing microbes out of the eyes and mouth, helps digestion, and treats ailments from depression to leukemia. Aim for 8 to 10 glasses daily.
10. Don’t worry, be happy. Research indicates that happier, hopeful, and more optimistic people are healthier than pessimists. They’re also more likely to follow the doctor’s orders and recover quicker.
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| Article: Jennn Fusion Twitter: @jennnfusion |
