Boosting Immunity.
The long-term activation of the stress-response system and the subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones can disrupt almost all your body’s processes. This puts you at increased risk of numerous health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, depression, digestive issues and more.
Stressful events are a fact of life. And you may not be able to change your current situation. But you can take steps to manage the impact these events have on you. You can learn to identify what stresses you out, how to take control of some stress-inducing circumstances, and how to take care of yourself physically and emotionally in the face of stressful situations. Stress lowers your resistance and makes you more vulnerable to illness and disease. Prolonged stress lower immunity and affects your health.
Improve Immune System
Steps you can take to improve immune system function. The first goal is to take a look at your lifestyle to see if there is anything that may be interfering with your body’s ability to fend off illness:
• Chronic or severe stress
• Excessive consumption of alcohol
• Exposure to environmental toxins
• Cigarette smoke
• Lack of exercise
• Poor sleep quality
Stress suppresses immunity by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. This is a part of the autonomic nervous system that is responsible for the fight-or-flight response. It is essential to try to reduce the amount of stress in your life, for a properly functioning immune system.
The basic strategy for stress reduction is to find positive, relaxing ways of releasing excess tension and help your autonomic nervous system function under parasympathetic control. Have a lymphatic massage every week, take a walk in nature, exercise daily, listen to tranquil music, laugh more and be totally present to your life.
Eat a diet that is rich in a variety of vegetables including green leafy ones, fresh fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds as these are contain nutrients that can boost immunity .
Include in your diet: Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, collard greens, kale, cauliflower, daikon, mustard greens) as well as sulfur (SH) rich vegetables such as onions and garlic, as these increase levels of glutathione. Glutathione is an important antioxidant, and helps the immune system fight infections and prevent cancer. It is also a powerful detoxifier that eliminates carcinogens. Poor diet, pollution, toxins , medications, stress, trauma, ageing, infections and radiation all deplete glutathione levels in the body. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant vital to many functions in the body including liver and brain function Other glutathione-rich foods are asparagus, spinach, avocado, squash, melons, grapefruit and peaches.
Broccoli contains sulphoraphane, a powerful phytonutrient that stimulates certain enzymes to deactivate cancer cells, allowing them to be digested and eliminated from the body. Sulphoraphane helps turn on helper T-cells to recognize them as invaders and tell killer cells to respond and destroy them.
• Eliminate sugar from your diet. Sugar makes your white blood cells sluggish and can impair your immune function.
• Decrease the intake of saturated fats and cholesterol. A diet high in saturated fat suppresses immunity.
Eckart Tolle wrote: “All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”
In health
Linda Anne
As Owner, Founder and Medical Wellness Director of Beauty Kliniek Aromatherapy Day Spa & Wellness Center, Linda-Anne Kahn helps people achieve a balance of the body, mind and spirit. She is a certified Manual Lymph Drainage Therapist and Nationally certified Lymphedema Specialist and Clinical Aromatherapist. A sought-after speaker, she will lecture at the NLN 11th Annual Lymphedema Conference in Washington, D.C. next fall and also at AIA International Aromatherapy Conference & Wellness Expo in St Petersburg, Florida in September.