Feeling Poorly? Here are 4 Things You Should Do to Boost Your Immunity!

Your immune system needs to be strong enough to fight the myriad disease-causing pathogens and bacteria out there. A poor immune system makes you prone to falling sick very often. Now there are many ways to strengthen your immunity, but this endeavour can’t possibly be achieved overnight. Building a robust immunity is a cumulative process of developing small daily habits over a period of time, which will go a long way in protecting you from harmful infections and ailments. So what are we waiting for? Let’s look at four things you must do to steadily boost your immunity!

Ways To Boost Immunity

Your immune system is an incredibly complex system of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to prevent you from falling sick, but not so strong enough that it overreacts unnecessarily, resulting in allergies or other autoimmune disorders in which it starts attacking the good cells within your body. Needless to say, this delicate system needs to function in a balanced way, and for that it is extremely necessary to adapt to some everyday lifestyle habits that focus on giving the immune system the boost it needs. Here are four scientifically proven ways to ensure your immunity has everything it needs to function to its optimum level.

1. Maintain a Well-Balanced Diet

A varied and well-balanced, healthy diet is key for building and maintaining a strong immune system. Your diet must comprise essential micronutrients such as vitamin A,C,D, E, B complex, and minerals like zinc, calcium, magnesium, and iron among other things to bolster your immune system. If your diet lacks these nutrients, you could be prone to deficiencies, which in the long run could lead to chronic ailments such as cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases, type-II diabetes, and auto-immune diseases, among other things.

Include lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet and limit the consumption of refined products, high-sugar foods, and eatables with a high fat content, preservatives and colour. Natural foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains contain dietary fiber, which is very good for the gut, and we all know how a healthy gut contributes to a strong immune system, brain health, heart health, healthy sleep, and effective digestion.

If your food doesn’t provide you with immunity-boosting nutrients, you can consult your regular health practitioner to include supplements to your diet. You can try out Wellbeing Nutrition’s Daily Greens, Vitamin D3 Melts and Vegan Vitamin B12 Melts - all of which will definitely help strengthen your immune system!

2. Exercise Regularly

While the healthy food you eat plays an integral role in strengthening your immunity, the results are more effective when they are supplemented with a regular exercise routine. Exercising regularly not only helps build muscles, or manage stress but also improves immune function by bolstering your overall circulation that allows immune cells to function effectively in the body. Furthermore, it aids in digestion and prevents other gut related issues that further support the immunity. As a general rule, engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate-to-fast-paced exercise daily to help invigorate your immune system.

3. Stay Hydrated - Herbal Teas & Ayurvedic Drinks

An ideal way to boost your immune system is by always staying hydrated. Replenishing the water levels in your body from time to time, will help support your immune system. When you don’t drink enough water, you stand the chance of feeling dehydrated and dehydration can slow down the movement of the lymph, a fluid in your circulatory system, which transports significant immune cells throughout the body. The lymphatic system is largely made up of water and insufficient levels of water in the body can negatively affect this system and eventually the body’s immune function.

You should ideally consume close to 3 litres of water in a day. If you struggle to meet the daily recommended quota, supplement it with herbal teas or Ayurvedic concoctions. These teas and drinks are known for their anti-bacterial and medicinal properties, which help to strengthen your immunity and fight cold, cough and flu symptoms. A perfect example of this is Wellbeing Nutrition’s Grandma’s kadha, which is made up of 13 adaptogenic herbs like echinacea, coriander, mulethi, kulinjan, tulsi, black pepper, turmeric, amla, adulsa, dry ginger, bharangi, shankapushpi, and kalmegh. All you need to do is drop one effervescent tablet of our Grandma’s Kadha in a cup of hot water and the immunity-boosting brew is ready to be had!

4.  Get Adequate Sleep

After a hard day’s work, your body needs sufficient rest to recover and recuperate. Sleep plays a very important role for the body to do just that and heal in the process. Furthermore, when the body is fast asleep, the immune system releases proteins known as cytokine, which help to promote sleep. Some of these cytokines need to increase in number, which then help the body fight an infection or inflammation. Sleep deprivation is also likely to cause a decline in the production of these protective cytokines. Sound sleep also helps to improve immune cells known as t cells, which help fight foreign particles and infection-causing pathogens if the body comes in contact with it.

That is why, find ways to improve your sleep quality either by limiting your screen time 1-2 hours before you go to sleep, having a warm water bath before you hit the bed, drinking herbal drinks like lavender or chamomile tea, practising sleep meditation daily or by taking sleep supplements such as Wellbeing Nutrition’s Melts for Restful Sleep.

Final Takeaway

To summarise, the immune system of our body is essential because it acts as a defense mechanism to protect the body against pathogenic microbes. Without a healthy immune system, you would constantly fall sick due to the viruses and bacteria. That is why it is very important to develop immunity boosting habits slowly and steadily over a period of time so as to build a strong immune system. These habits include consuming a healthy well-balanced diet, exercising regularly, staying hydrated, sleeping well, consuming supplements and managing stress. To know more about our immune system, how it works and its different types, read our article, Your Guide To Immunity : Its Different Types

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