By reading this article you will discover the best 10 habits to keep your immune defenses high and live a healthy life.
Before going into specifics and discovering together what we can do on a daily basis to keep our defenses high, we must understand the strong correlation that exists between the immune system, the endocrine system (responsible, in our body, for the production of hormones) and the central nervous system .
This correlation (much stronger and more interconnected than we can imagine) includes many variables including: stress, time and quality of sleep, level of physical activity (including inactivity), smoking, alcohol, age, body composition and last but not least, diet.
As you can see, these 3 “systems” of our body are influenced by a very heterogeneous series of variables .
Immune system and nutrition
In this first part of discovering the 10 habits to keep your immune defenses high, we focus on the beneficial effect that healthy eating has on our defenses , we could say that this is the 11th good habit useful for our purpose.
Indeed, it has long been demonstrated that adequate nutrition is an important factor that allows the correct functioning of our immune system throughout our lives.
Malnutrition can occur when the diet we follow does not contain the right quantity and quality of nutrients and this can lead to a deregulation of our defenses.
To understand the importance of the relationship between immune defenses and nutrition, let's think of a pen drawing a circle on a sheet of paper ; healthy nutrition is the ink (and as long as the pen is "recharged" correctly it will continue to write), while the circle it draws is our immune defenses.
In fact, it has been shown that all immune functions are based on an adequate intake by us of foods with a high quality of nutrients . The studies did not stop there, (to strengthen the defenses - quality of nutrients binomial) they went on to demonstrate how the qualitative changes of some macronutrients influence specific immune functions even in apparently well-nourished people.
To conclude this first part we can state that the deficiency of some specific micronutrients (resulting from a poor diet) is associated with a compromised and not entirely effective immune response and therefore a greater susceptibility to infectious diseases.
Furthermore, many human studies have shown that adding deficient micronutrients to our diet (either by modifying our diet or through food supplements) modulates immune function and resistance to infections.
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Buy NowThe “Typical” Day You Should Avoid
Very often (if not always) we forget that our immune system is also “massively” stressed by the external environment and not just by viruses or infections.
We can cause our immune system to malfunction even without getting sick, but only by being constantly alarmed by "external agents". Furthermore, physical inactivity, nutritional deficiencies (which we saw a little while ago), the stimulation of stress hormones, the loss of circadian rhythms (don't know what they are? Read our article ), excessive use of smartphones or PCs , negative thoughts or recurring anxieties and dehydration are among the most common causes that can lead to lowering our "defense level" .
Correct Cortisol Levels
Below you will find the “typical” day that you should avoid , or rather that you should never live because it is the enemy of your immune system: wake up after 9 in the morning, skip breakfast and drink only a sugary drink, stay on the couch all morning looking at social networks, have lunch with foods rich in salt (such as cold cuts and processed products: sandwich bread, chips, salami, snacks, etc.). In the afternoon drink a hot chocolate and for dinner (while perhaps starting an argument with a relative or watching the news on TV) eat a pizza or a plate of pasta, staying awake until at least 1.
I know that reading these lines you will have thought: “This is enjoying life, are you telling me to give up?”, No, this is absolutely not the purpose, we just wanted to summarize some of the incorrect behaviors that you should not do .
Here are 10 habits to keep your immune defenses high
It's time to break the ice and discover together the 10 habits to keep your immune defenses high:
- Wake up early, before 8am
- Wet your face and wrists with cold water for a few minutes
- Do some simple physical exercises
- You can choose for example: skipping rope, going up and down stairs, jumping on the spot, running on the spot or other, the important thing is that they involve cardiac variability.
- Alternate one minute of rest with one minute of exercise for 5-10 times, depending on your personal abilities.
- Eat a hearty breakfast , preferring low glycemic index carbohydrates, fruit and foods rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals.
- Dilute 2 scoops of our Powerday in water and drink them during the day , or prepare it for breakfast in a tasty smoothie with water and fresh seasonal fruit.
- Avoid anxiety , recurring negative thoughts
- Call or see people who are nice and fun to you
- Read a book and use backlit devices (e.g. phones, tablets, PCs) as little as possible.
- Dinner with vegetables and functional foods , foods with a negative PRAL, useful for not over-stressing the digestive system, in a time window in which it does not have to work too hard
- Take a warm bath before going to sleep , which is useful for giving a further signal of relaxation and preparation for sleep.
We want to end this article with one last precious piece of advice, always remember that challenging our immune system for too long does not allow it to work efficiently and effectively against infections such as viruses and bacteria.
