Immune System 101

Some science-backed ways to help regulate and boost your immune system

1: Fasting: https://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/

“The study has major implications for healthier ageing, in which immune system decline contributes to increased susceptibility to disease as people age. By outlining how prolonged fasting cycles — periods of no food for two to four days at a time over the course of six months — kill older and damaged immune cells and generate new ones, the research also has implications for chemotherapy tolerance and for those with a wide range of immune system deficiencies, including autoimmunity disorders.”

“When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,”

By controlling food intake timing and causing hermetic (good) stress much akin to exercise stress, the body will recycle the immune system and maintain healthier white blood cells.

2: Exercise Immunology: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254612000075

“Maintaining leanness and a physically active lifestyle during adulthood reduces systemic inflammation, an underlying factor in multiple chronic diseases. The anti-inflammatory influence of near-daily physical activity in lowering C-reactive protein”

Exercising and causing constant recycling of weaker tissue and increasing circulation and inflammation markers, you can help maintain the body’s functions and cycles through repetitive stress for your immune system to adapt. The notion of immunodepression post-exercise supported by strong evidence
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00622.2016

3: Supplements: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11399518

“Sambucol - is based on a standardized black elderberry extract. They are natural remedies with antiviral properties, especially against different strains of the influenza virus. Sambucol was shown to be effective in vitro against 10 strains of the influenza virus. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study, Sambucol reduced the duration of flu symptoms to 3-4 days.”

While plenty of hydration keeps the circulation of inflammatory and immune cells moving, there is more than just vitamin C that may help with boosting your immune system. There is plenty of studies stating that Elderberry consumption whether in supplement form or otherwise has reduced the severity of symptoms and duration of sickness.