Boost Your Body's Defenses
-- By Liza Barnes, Health Educator
Your immune system is important. Very much like
your own personal army, it guards your body against
attacks from invaders (like bacteria, fungi, and
viruses), defending against infections and several
kinds of cancer. You can stay healthy, too, by following these six steps.

1. Eat Right
In theory, this one is pretty simple: Eat just enough of
the right foods when you feel hungry. Avoid eating too much, which can lead to weight gain and harm the immune system. Research has shown that Obesity prevents the immune system from
functioning properly, increasing its vulnerability to
infection. Some nutrients and foods that have been found to enhance the immune system include:

Vitamin C-rich foods, like citrus fruit and broccoli
Vitamin E-rich foods, like nuts and whole grains Garlic
Zinc-rich foods, like beans, turkey, crab, oysters, and beef
Bioflavanoids, which are found in fruits and vegetables
Selenium-rich foods, like chicken, whole grains, tuna, eggs, sunflower seeds, and brown rice
Carotenoid-rich foods, like carrots and yams
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in nuts, salmon, tuna, mackerel, flaxseed oil and hempseed oil.

Of course, you can find these nutrients in pill form,
but food is always the best and most usable source
of vitamins and minerals.

2. Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise reduces the number of sick days. Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous to provide these benefits—in fact moderate exercise may even
achieve a better result. A study published in Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise found that upper
respiratory infections were more common among
athletes during heavy training. Whatever you do,
listen to your body. If you’re under the weather
already, take it easy until you feel better.

3. Get Enough Sleep
Deep sleep stimulates and energizes the immune
system, while sleep deprivation has the opposite
effect. According to the National
Institutes of Health, the average adult needs between
7 and 8 hours a night, although some people may
need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours. To
make sure you are getting enough quality sleep,
avoid caffeinated drinks (and other stimulants),
decongestants, tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol can
assist falling into a light sleep, but it interferes with
REM and the deeper stages of sleep, which are
restorative.

4. Manage Stress
Between fender benders, work deadlines, marital
problems and hectic schedules, keeping stress out of
your life is impossible. But how you choose to react
to stress can greatly impact your overall health.
Sweeping problems under the rug as opposed to
solving them can turn short-term stress into chronic
stress, which can cause health problems. These stress hormones can work in two ways, either switching off disease-fighting white blood cells or triggering a hyperactive immune system, which increases your risk of developing auto-immune diseases. So find ways to de-stress a few times per week, whether you
exercise, practice yoga, meditate, or take a relaxing
bath.

5. Quit Smoking
Smoking and using tobacco products contributes to a host of health problems, and this is one more you can add to your list for reasons to quit.

6. Consume Alcohol in Moderation
Chronic alcohol abuse is defined by the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as the use
of alcoholic beverages despite negative consequences.
Clinical and Experimental Research states that alcohol abuse can also cause lead to immunodeficiency, making you more susceptible to bacterial pneumonia, tuberculosis, and other communicable diseases. But the moderate use of alcohol (one drink daily for women, and two for men) has not been associated with negative effects on the immune system.
In fact, according to a 2007 article in the British Journal of Nutrition, there is an increasing body of evidence linking health benefits linked with moderate consumption of polyphenol-rich alcoholic beverages, like wine or beer.
The article states that, while heavy alcohol use can suppress the immune response, “moderate alcohol consumption seems to have a beneficial impact on the immune system compared to alcohol abuse or abstinence.” So for the time being, the advice remains: everything in moderation.