How to Boost Your Immunity This Year
When someone asks me for advice on boosting their immunity or recovering from a cold, the first questions I ask are:
Are you resting when you need to?
Are you managing your stress?
These questions are important starting points because of this simple fact:
Our body’s natural immune response functions best when we create a safe and calm environment that supports those functions.
Later in this post, I will discuss the key vitamins, minerals and herbs that can support our immunity. But, as these can’t do their job without the right environment, we’ll start by exploring how to create a good environment inside the body.
The body can best direct its energy to fighting foreign invaders (i.e. colds, viruses, etc.) when it’s resting.
A stressed internal state demands that the body’s energy is directed to survival needs.
We feel stressed when we’re too busy, have more on our ‘to do’ list than we can handle, are constantly replying to texts/ emails/ calls, and have to split our attention between many tasks at once.
Amongst other things, when we’re stressed, the body releases the hormone cortisol. This suppresses the immune system, leaving the body more vulnerable to illness. How? Cortisol provides an energy boost to the body because this is the need that stress is communicating. To do this efficiently, it suppresses functions that aren’t immediately essential, which includes our immune response.
Continued over time, stress weakens our immune response and increases the chance of illness. To counteract this, we need to reduce stress and allow time for rest.
On the other side of the coin, if we’re already sick, we have to listen to the body and rest. If we continue with high-demanding tasks, the body doesn’t have the safe space to heal.
It can be good to check what increases our stress levels. By identifying the specific things or people, we can create actionable solutions.
This doesn’t mean quitting a stressful job or cutting out people that drain our energy. It just means paying a little more attention to our daily lives.
Reducing stress and increasing rest can look like:
Making self-care a planned weekly non-negotiable
30-min. Epsom salt bath every Sunday, or a daily 5-min. meditation
Saying no to plans or people that burden you with negative energy
Reducing strenuous exercise when you feel under the weather
This weakens our immune system
Making adequate sleep a priority
7-9 hours is a great aim; 6 hours might feel okay but, long-term, it’s not optimal for our body
Giving yourself permission to say you’re sick when you are and to rest in bed
Now that we’ve unwrapped the effects of stress, and encouraged permission to rest, let’s explore how to increase our immunity further.
Here are 6 things you can do:
Prioritise vitamin C
This is a popular one for a reason!
Vitamin C intake is especially important when we’re stressed because, in those states, the kidney excrete this vitamin, meaning we lose some of it.
Food sources: red and green peppers, oranges, tomatoes, broccoli. You can also supplement vitamin C
Prioritise vitamin D
Vitamin D helps the immune system to regulate itself effectively. We get 80-90% of vitamin D from the sun, so reduced sun exposure during winter is a big risk factor here. Whilst sun screen is important, getting tired sun exposure during winter is key for vitamin D production in the body.
Food sources: mushrooms (though often they don’t get enough sun exposure themselves, so sometimes the actual vitamin D quantity isn’t that high), lichen. You can also supplement vitamin D3 or lichen
Increase zinc
Zinc promotes the development of immune cells
Food sources: pumpkin seeds, chickpeas, cashews, spinach, mushrooms
Supplement or increase beta glucans
These are carbohydrates and, specifically, a type of fibre, which support the immune system
Food sources: shiitake, oyster and reishi mushrooms
Reduce refined sugars
These spike blood sugar levels and, in turn, cortisol, which weakens the immune system
Replace with: Dates, dark chocolate and other natural snacks and desserts
Herbal and natural medicine
The following are natural medicines that can boost our immune system and support it during sickness:
Echinacea - This increases the number of white blood cells and is antiviral and antioxidant.
Elderberry - These berries come from trees, and are packed with vitamin C and other antioxidants. They are especially good at viral infections.
Ginseng - Opt for Asian ginseng where you can. Ginseng is effective in boosting the immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells.
Ginger - It’s antimicrobial and anti inflammatory. You can grate it and leave in hot water for 10-15 mins to enjoy as a tea, or include it in meals.
Garlic - It’s antimicrobial and its high sulpfur content boosts the immune response.
Calendula - This plant has anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. You can make it into a tea.
Colloidal silver - This is anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. One use is for infections in the mouth - you can gargle to fight off the infection.
Tea tree - This is anti-microbial and can simply be inhaled.
As with any healthy diet and lifestyle, taking a holistic approach by taking stock of all aspects of your life is the best approach. Our bodies are complex and intelligent, and being open-minded about the root cause of any block we experience will always yield the best results.
Increasing rest and reducing stress is a simple, yet underrated, solution to not only increasing our immunity, but improving overall wellbeing and happiness.
The above are suggestions and should not be taken as medical or dietary advice. If you’re concerned about your immunity, stress levels or any other part of your health, please speak to a professional practitioner.
