How To Boost Your Immune System With Natural Remedies
We are in a time where everyone needs to keep their immune system functioning properly and focus on staying healthy.
With chronic stress and pressures of our daily lives, it can be so easy to forget about our health and even take it for granted.
Here are some things that I do at home every day to keep my immune response strong and healthy.
Let’s get right to it.
How To Boost Your Immune System With Natural Remedies
1. Drink plenty of fluids:
Hydration is very important for a healthy immune system. As most of us are out of our normal routines during the pandemic, it is key to properly hydrate.
Our immune system is dependent on the nutrients in our blood stream, and our blood stream is made mostly of water. If we don’t have enough water in our system due to dehydration, the body cannot properly transport nutrients to the organs which reduces your immune response.
2. Regular exercise:
Did you know there are small amounts of immune cells that consistently circulate throughout the body on a daily basis?
When you increase movement of your body through exercise, you also increase movement of blood and lymph into the bloodstream which improves your immune health. This is because that blood and lymph contain white blood cells.
3. Minimize stress:
Have you ever heard of “psychoneuroimmunology?” This is the study of how psychological processes (like stress) affects the nervous and immune systems of the human body. Simply put, your state of mind affects your state of health.
If you struggle with stress, here are a few effective ways to quickly put you in zen vibes:
- Meditation: You only need to do this for 10 minutes to 15 minutes a few times a week to lower your stress.
- Yoga: Practicing yoga also lowers your stress hormone levels and calms your nervous system.
When you reduce stress, you also reduce inflammation in the body.
So slowing down and making time to meditate or practice yoga is a great immune boosting technique to stay healthy and to keep your natural immunity performing at high levels.
4. Get plenty of sleep:
One of the best ways to boost your immune system is to make sure you are getting plenty of sleep at night. When we sleep, our bodies produce a protein called cytokines, which target infection and inflammation. This is one of the many reasons why getting enough sleep is important. It is a time where the body needs to heal and repair.
5. Eating well-balanced meals:
This means eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and lean protein foods. Obviously there are lots of other health benefits to increasing your fruits and vegetables intake, like improving your overall health and maintaining a healthy body weight. However, the COVID-19 pandemic threw people out of their normal routines and it’s become more difficult to take care of our health while balancing our stressful life. I have seen this happen with many of my clients who come to me for help with this struggle specifically because the pandemic has made it very difficult to maintain a healthy diet and a healthy mindset. This is most likely due to the stress and pressures that we have been bombarded with. If this is something you are struggling with and have no idea where to start, make sure to check out this blog post.
6. Get some sun:
The sun strengthens your immune function because it helps produce vitamin D and vitamin D is essential for a healthy body.
In general, people only need 5 to 15 minutes – up to 30 if you’re dark-skinned. You can stay out longer but definitely don’t forget your sunscreen.
7. Meditation:
We already touched on this earlier in the post but I wanted to go into a little more detail here especially if you are a beginner.
I like to use guided meditations on Youtube. There are SO many to choose from and you can get really specific depending on the type of meditation you need. For example, my favorite meditations are “deep breathing guided meditations” and I always notice the benefits right away.
I like to meditate while I’m lying in bed about to go to sleep because it helps slow my body down and helps me sleep much quicker.
Also, when you are focused on your breathing, your mind is not thinking about the million other things that may be going on in your life.
8. Eat plenty of ginger:
Ginger has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects that are very well studied and has been used for centuries as a remedy for lots of ailments.
My personal favorite way to use ginger is to drink it in my tea. It is super easy to make!
All you need is 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger (no need to peel), sliced into pieces no wider than 1/4-inch and 1 cup water. You can also add optional flavorings like cinnamon stick, fresh turmeric or several sprigs of fresh mint.
Instructions: combine the sliced ginger and water in a saucepan over high heat. If you’re adding any flavorings add it now. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer for about 5 minutes. Carefully pour the mixture through a mesh sieve into a mug. Enjoy!
9. Wash your hands frequently:
There are so many viral infections that can be picked up when you don’t wash your hands. Think about all the things you touch throughout the day, especially when you leave your home. Wash your hands and wash them frequently to keep your immune function working properly.
10. Maintain a healthy weight:
Excess weight can affect how your body functions which can lower immunity. It’s not the fat itself that is dangerous, it’s that the fat worsens other risk factors. With high body fat comes high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes so it’s important to maintain a healthy weight to lower risk.
11. Take a probiotic supplement:
Probiotics are the good bacteria that live in your digestive tract and helps digest food and supports your immune system. Eating more foods packed with probiotics, like kefir and sauerkraut, during cold and flu season may reduce the symptoms of the common cold. Furthermore, inside the gut are about 100 trillion live microorganisms that promote normal GI function and protects the body from infection. Your gut is responsible for more than 75% of the immune system!
12. Increase your garlic intake:
The active ingredient in garlic, allicin, is known to have antiviral and antimicrobial effects. Allicin is found in freshly crushed garlic, and can boost the number of virus-fighting in your bloodstream.
Tip: you need to let the crushed garlic sit out for at least 5 minutes before you use it for the allicin to “activate” and the garlic needs to be chopped/crushed for the allicin to come out.
13. Take a cold shower:
A simple way to strengthen your immune system is to take a cold shower every day or end your shower with cold water for 30 seconds like I do. I still love my warm showers so I don’t think I will be practicing this just yet, but I do rinse off with cold water, it still counts! I definitely notice a shift in my energy after rinsing off with cold water. It helps me feel more awake.
Cold exposure reduces pro-inflammatory responses in the immune system. Exposing your body to the cold on a regular basis has been shown to have positive effects on reducing chronic inflammation.
14. Sit in a sauna:
This is one of my favorite things to do after the gym! I just feel so good after and I get this healthy pink flush to my cheeks!
Using the sauna has been shown to reduce the incidences of colds and flu, improves stress, boosts your immune system, detoxes your body, and elevates mood!
15. Practice grounding:
Grounding, which is also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically connect you to the earth. This is direct skin contact with the surface of the Earth, such as walking on the grass with bare feet: something I’ll be doing all summer long.
Studies show that grounding has amazing effects on the body like reducing inflammation, improving immune responses, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Grounding exercises to connect you to the Earth are simple: just take off your shoes and socks outside and stand on the Earth. Whether that’s grass, stone, sand, or dirt, it all works. You can stand in one place, walk, or lay down or you can simply touch a tree if you can’t be barefoot.
Can’t wait for you to try this!