You want to make sure your immune system is strong so that it can fight off viruses and infections. It's even more important during these crazy times of plagues and disease out to kill us!
All jokes aside, you want to boost your immune system, not hurt it. So today, we'll go over things that weaken your immunity so you can avoid them.
Stress
It's easier said than done. But you must try to lower the stresses in your life. Research from the National Cancer Institute shows how stress impacts your brain and causes it to overproduce cortisol (1).
Cortisol is the hormone you don't want more of, it not only impairs your cells from fighting infections. It also lowers your testosterone, killing your muscle gains and leaving you vulnerable to getting sick.
Sedentary Lifestyle
Lack of exercise and too much sitting an actually make you sick. Think of it this way; a pro football player doesn't sit on his couch watching tv, eating potato chips, and not training weeks before a big game. No, instead, he's training every day from dawn to dusk, learning plays, and eating substantially to maintain his workouts.
Like a pro athlete training for a big game, you need to keep your body active and strong, so it's ready to fight anything that comes in its path - both externally and internally. By staying active, you allow your body to build bigger muscle tissues, increase blood flow, and burn off body fat. The benefits of training or getting up and getting that body to move are endless.
Overtraining
On the other hand, moving too much or overtraining can weaken your immunity if you don't allow your muscle and tissues to recover and regenerate properly. Not getting proper nutrition after workouts or lack of sleep can also contribute to the overtraining.
You want to make sure you are taking enough time between workouts to allow your body to repair itself. It's also vital you get proper nutrition, so your cells have the tools it needs to repair tissues, regenerate, and build more muscle fibers. A 2014 study suggests moderate activity, even 30 minutes of regular exercise daily can boost and improve your immune system (2).
Foods
What you eat not only matters when it comes to building stronger muscles and burning fat. Your diet is ever more so critical when it comes to fighting off infections and staying healthy.
A diet high in sugars and refined carbs weakens the immune system leaving you susceptible to getting sick. When your body lacks the nutrients it needs to maintain itself, your cells starve and eventually stop working. Plus, if your body can't digest and breakdown the food you consume, it stores it as body fat and can cause many health conditions like heart disease, kidney failure, cancer, and many more illnesses.
Foods and beverages you should stay away from or at least not consume in excess are:
- Sugars
- Sodas
- Alcohol
- Refined carbs
- Processed foods
Smoking
Whether you smoke traditional cigarettes or enjoy puffing on an e-cig, you are still exposing your body to nicotine. Just like with stress, nicotine increases the production of cortisol and hampers your production of t-cells, which fight off infections (3).
Not to mention when you inhale combustion, you damage your lungs, which is vital for maintaining all body systems operate healthily. And when an organ lacks oxygen, it impairs all other organs from functioning properly. Lack of oxygen also puts a halt to muscle tissue recovery and regeneration, once again leaving you weak scrawny, and vulnerable to catching a disease or infection.
Too much sun
Yes, all energy comes from the sun, and we couldn't live without it as it provides the body with crucial vitamins and nutrients to grow and live. Every living thing on this earth depends on the sun for survival (4).
But, laying out, baking your body for 10 hours a day in the sun just to get a tan might be killing you. Studies dating back to the 1970s, first conducted by Dr. Kripke and Dr. Fisher, show how high levels of sun exposure can lower your immunity and increase the production of cancer cells (5).
Now, this doesn't mean you need to be terrified of going to the beach. Sun exposure in moderation is healthy for you and even promotes longevity. Plus, who doesn't look good with a tan?
Alcohol
First, let me thank the powers that be, for deeming alcohol shops an essential business (:pray:). This section only pertains to excessively consuming alcohol. Your glass of wine with dinner isn't going to kill you.
But, if you are consuming 2-3 bottles a night, you might want to rethink your life. Or at least, your health. Drinking too much alcohol comes with serious negative side-effects to the body. Lowering healthy cell production, the development of diseases in the organs, increased recovery times, and decreases to testosterone production are just some of the causes of binge drinking (6). It messes up your systems and even lowers testosterone.
So, as they say in commercials, Drink Responsibly.