The Immune System—It’s Time To Focus On Strengthening Your Body’s Defenses
Many of us are taking necessary (and even extreme) precautions to prepare and protect our health. This includes everything from stocking up on supplies, to social distancing, constantly applying hand sanitizer and so on. It can be a bit overwhelming.
The good news is that you are not helpless, not at all. There are precautions you can take aside from hand sanitizer. It starts with focusing on your immune system not just from the outside, but from the inside as well. Let’s look at what your immune system really is and learn 5 key ways you can maximize its potential.
Protecting Your Body in a Toxic World
Your immune system is the ‘armed security’ of your body. It constantly works to identify and appropriately handle the multitude of bad guys that are trying to wreak havoc in your body.
This isn’t a localized system, rather it’s spread throughout the body and includes a network of cells, proteins, organs, and tissues that work together. This network operates like a fine-tuned communication system that works together to protect your body. When a foreign substance or pathogen is recognized, it alerts the immune system which triggers the immune cells to go into action. These cells produce chemicals that relay the message.
How Does the Immune System Work?
How do the ‘Bad Guys’ get into my body in the first place? There are a few common points of entry including your skin, your gut, and your respiratory tract, all systems that have direct contact with the outside world.
Your Skin
- Cuts and scrapes can act as potential points of entry for disease and infection.
- Rashes, histamine, itching are all natural responses of your skin fighting back.
Your Respiratory Tract
- We breathe in many more things than just oxygen in the air: pollutants, smoke, pollen, gases, etc. Also on this list, bacteria and viruses.
- Mucus/Phlegm, coughing, and sneezing are your body’s means to restrict the further entrance of invaders .
Your Gut
- Most of have eaten something that has made us ill at least once in our lives, bacteria and other pathogens are common on old, or otherwise tainted foods and drinks.
- Your gut is the powerhouse of your body’s immune security forces, where over 70% of our immune cells reside. We can ingest the bad guys as well.
Your body has the systems and the ability to fight off all sorts of potential infection and disease. Sometimes however, the bad guys still happen to make it in. Not to worry, there remains another major line of defense. Your body has attack cells keeping invaders from causing damage; epithelial cells, B cells, T cells, NK cells, neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages. Although not a ‘cell’ immunoglobulin or antibodies are a powerful immune protein that can assist in the assault on invaders. Antibodies are key in the fight against bacteria and viruses.
An Unfed Army Does Not Win Victories
For the most part, the immune system is a pretty self-sufficient part of your body’s physiology and will survive and function without input. However, doing your part to support and fuel this system helps to ensure a strong, powerful line of defense.
When your immune system is strong and healthy, so are you. Which in turn allows us to do the things we love, enjoy life, and worry less. So, what can you do to help ensure a strong, powerful immune system? We’re glad you asked. Here are a few tips and tricks you can do today!
- Feed your immune system. Science has long supported the idea that the natural world can combat infection and disease by boosting our body’s own natural defenses. The secrets to such an important claim are found in some pretty amazing superfoods that can change how your body responds to fighting back.*
Medicinal mushrooms have been used for centuries by both Eastern, and now Western, medicine. Known for their unique compounds, mushrooms surprisingly share a lot of DNA in common with humans. As they work tirelessly producing these rich compounds (like beta-glucan, polysaccharides, phospholipids, plant sterols, ergosterol and so much more) for their own immunity, we receive the benefit when we use them for immune support.
Defend is a uniquely designed blend of 6 mushroom species used as a functional food supplement to help you maximize your body’s natural immune response.* Defend also contains organic Wild Microalgae®, a remarkable blue-green algae loaded with nutrients to feed your body and cells what they need to thrive.
- Be mindful of the food you eat. This includes both quality and quantity. When it comes to food, focus on consuming a diet rich in whole foods, foods that haven’t been processed or have been minimally processed (legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies, lean meat and so on…). The human body runs at its best on food very close to, or in, its natural state.
- Make it a priority to support your gut. Today, we understand that gut health is crucial to immune function and overall wellness. We know and understand that a majority of your immune function, over 70% of our immune to be exact, resides in the gut and we understand that, to get the nutrients from our food, we require a healthy gut to absorb them. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we make gut health a daily priority. A great place to start is with a daily probiotic but that can’t be where this daily support ends if you are interested in maximizing your immune system and gut function.
It’s an amazing system that deserves a support system to match… A support system that replenishes your gut for all that it does for you and keeps it running smoothly. Learn more about the actions you can take to support your gut here.
- Allow your body to rest. A variety of research is showing that adequate rest has a positive impact on the immune system. In this case, there is a variety of reasoning including the impact on cytokine production, the structure of white blood cells, the impact on T cells and so on. Without getting into all of the details, let’s just sum it up by saying that getting enough sleep will definitely help you optimize your immune system functions.
- Check your stress. Stress, there is no way to avoid it, we all deal with some sort of stress on a daily basis. And it just so happens that when it goes unmanaged it wreaks havoc on your entire body, especially your gut and your immune function. The good news, there are a variety of things we can do each day to manage our stress levels including yoga, exercising, and meditation to name a few. Identify what works best for you and make time for it each day. Your immune system and entire body will thank you.
Live the #NewEarthLife
At New Earth we are on a mission to positively impact the health of every body and soul we come in contact with. We specialize in producing third-party certified, organic whole food supplements that feature a rare, yet highly, nutritious superfood, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA). Also known as organic Wild Microalgae®, AFA is a unique type of blue-green algae that is available in many forms including algae tablets, algae pills, and algae powders all designed to help you on your journey to holistic wellness. Visit our website for more information as your gear up to support your immune system.
*This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
