Boost Your Immune System

By Dustin Driver

Drinking tea is one way to keep the flu bugs at bay

The flu bugs have been training hard all summer, just waiting for this winter’s flu season to pounce. What have you been doing? Don’t worry, there’s still time to boost your immune system before the germs attack. Follow this simple immune system workout and you’ll be better equipped to face the flu when it strikes.

Relieve stress
Chronic stress can throw your immune system out of whack. Researchers now believe that a constant stream of stress hormones can desensitize the immune system. Basically, it gets used to high levels of stress and doesn’t respond to an infection (flu or otherwise) effectively. Chronic stressors include work pressures, relationship woes or anything else that has you feeling on edge during the day. Relieving this kind of stress can take some work.

Essentially, you’ll need to adjust your response to perceived stressful situations. Relaxation techniques can help a great deal, and so can cognitive therapy. Hold on, we’re not talking about spilling the beans to a stranger with funny glasses. We’re talking about learning how to manage your own thoughts to reduce stress. Think of it as thought or brain mechanics.

Author and therapist David M. Burns has refined “thought mechanics” for decades. His book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, is a quick and easy read, and it will help you deal with stress. Other authors, like Jon Kabat-Zinn, can teach you how to ride the ups and downs of a stressful life like a surfer on a big wave. Either way, stress relief is probably the single most effective action you can take to boost overall health and immune response.

Eat well
Hamburgers, donuts and French fries taste great, but they’re not exactly great for the immune system. To fight off the common cold or flu, your body needs a wide variety of nutritious foods, mainly lots of fresh fruits and veggies.

The message is drilled into our heads on a daily basis, but we still don’t get it: Fruits and veggies are really good for us. Fruits like oranges and chilies (yes, they’re technically fruit) contain tons of vitamin C. Blueberries are packed with vitamin B. Both vitamins play a key role in the immune system. Spinach gave Popeye his powers, and it can also boost your defenses. The leafy green vegetable is packed with antioxidants and other nutrients that can give your immune system a helping hand. In general, look for foods that contain zinc, vitamins A, C, E, and B-6, and folic acid. All have important influences on immune responses.

A reduced-fat diet may also improve immune system response. Some scientists believe that high-fat diets depress the immune system, increasing infection rates. But it’s not that simple. Certain fats -- from fish or nuts, for example -- can boost immune response. So eat right. It might just keep the sniffles away this flu season.

Exercise
Studies have shown that moderate exercise can boost the immune system over time. But don’t overdo it. Intense exercise can actually harm the immune system. A daily walk or a gradual workout routine can increase overall health and immune response. When you punish your body -- in a 10 km race, for example -- it might shut down immune systems to repair damage or simply recover. Take a walk every day or spend some time on an exercise bike. A few days a week at the gym wouldn’t hurt, either.

Drink water
It’s all too easy to chug soda pop all day. Try to resist and replace that sweet treat with a cool glass of water. Water is the key to the body’s ability to transport nutrients throughout the body. It also plays a huge role in respiration, the main way you generate energy to live. Eight glasses a day is a good general guideline, but you’d do better to pay attention to your own thirst. If you get really thirsty, chances are you’re getting dehydrated. If you’re only a little thirsty, drink a little water. Remember, overdoing it can have consequences. Too much water can flush those nutrients out of your body.

Drink tea
Your doctor might do well by prescribing daily teatime. A new study has found that tea contains certain nutrients that boost the immune system and even help with skin cell regeneration. Researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, found that the alkylamines are similar to chemicals found in bacteria. A small dose of these compounds triggers an immune alertness, priming the immune system for a response to infection. In short, tea acts like a sort of vaccine against infection. So the next time someone offers you tea, take it. It might just help you fend off the next infection.

Vitamin C
Vitamin C is the old staple for immune health, but most of us only take it when we’re feeling sick. In fact, the vitamin is most effective when taken as a preventive measure. A recent study by University of Texas Health Sciences Center graduate students found that people who took a gram of vitamin C every day for two weeks showed improved immune response when compared to those who didn’t. Specifically, the subjects had increased numbers of virus-fighting compounds called cytokines in their blood. When they stopped taking the vitamin, those levels dropped. The lesson? Taking vitamin C during the flu season could prevent a nasty cold.

Rest
We’re all short on sleep, which is probably the best immune system booster around. A good night’s sleep gives your body a chance to repair. Scientists are not exactly sure how this repair process works, but they are sure that well-rested people get sick less often than the sleep-deprived. And it turns out that many animals are also adversely affected by sleep deprivation. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine tested the effects of sleep on fly immune systems and found that the bugs sleep less when sick and get sick more often when they sleep less. It may seem like a stretch to compare flies and humans, but like it or not, we share some genes with the tiny insects. Specifically, the genes related to circadian rhythm, or sleep cycles. So get plenty of rest this flu season. A little extra time in the sack could keep you away from the sick bed.