How To Boost Your Immune System Against Airborne Viruses

Airborne viruses are droplets in the immediate environment, much like catching the common cold or flu. This allows the virus to spread quickly from person to person, but it doesn’t mean every person who comes into contact with it, will immediately be affected.

This comes down to certain factors, including the strength of the individuals immune system.

It’s also possible for some to resist viruses, provided their immune is up to the challenge.

This is similar to those who manages not to get sick, when everyone else in the household has the flu.

There is however no specific strategy to follow, in order to fortify yourself against catching any virus.

There are however plenty of tips that can help to make you less susceptible to any form of illness, which will in turn help you to stave off any particular virus.

Ways To Strengthen Your Immune

The first and most proven way to strengthen your immune against illnesses, viruses and infections, is to make sure you have the proper nutrition.

The immune system is powered by what you eat or supplement, and is unable to perform optimally unless it gets the necessary ingredients.

In particular, Vitamin C is considered one of the most important nutrients when it comes to supporting good health and fighting off invaders.

Among other things, vitamin C is an antioxidant, meaning it helps destroy “free radicals” that otherwise enters the body and damages cells.

Vitamin C is also a precursor to the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin, which can help place the body in a calmer and more restorative state.

You can find vitamin C in countless different fruits and vegetables, including (in particular) citrus fruits, apples, peppers, kale, sprouts, berries, and supplemental form.

Most don’t need to supplement with extra vitamin C howver, but since it’s a water soluble vitamin, it’s practically impossible to “overdose.”

4 Natural Sources To Boost Your Immune Against Viruses

1.) – Vitamin E

is a powerful antioxidant, that has a variety of fundamental biochemical reactions throughout the body, that’s governed by the immune system.

2.) – Folic Acid

is extremely beneficial for our immune system, so much so that it is often added to foods. Folic acid is especially essential for young children. Folic acid can be readily found in whole-grain products, such as brown rice and pasta.

3.) – Iron

is vitally important, as its role is to form blood cells. You can get your dose of iron from beans, broccoli, red meats, and fortified cereals.

4.) – Selenium

is a useful ingredient for regulating the immune system, improving its efficiency and preventing unwanted inflammation along with other effects. Natural selenium can be found in garlic, broccoli, sardines, and tuna.

Strengthening The Gut

Another way to fight off viruses and the flu, is to develop a healthy microbiome. This refers to the collection of microbes living in your stomach, intestines, and elsewhere.

Most bacteria are harmless and actually good for you, and in fact they play an important role of keeping bad bacteria AND bad viruses away.

If you have a strong gut fauna, then you will be less likely to contract viruses of any kind.

So how do you strengthen this in your body?

One method is to consume more fibrous foods, along with fermented foods and yogurts. The latter two contain natural cultures of friendly bacteria.

Fibrous foods help to feed the bacteria, by passing it through to the areas where they reside.

The most important way to develop healthy gut bacteria, is to consume a varied “healthy” diet as possible.

Studies show that the cultures with the strongest microbiomes, are also those with a rich and varied diet.

One goal to aim for, is to consume 50 different ingredients/foods every single week.

Adopt A Healthy Lifestyle

One of the best ways to strengthen your immune system is to avoid stress. This is something most might not consider that important, or is impossible to do.

The reality is, when you are highly stressed, you become “run down” and far more susceptible to catching colds and other illnesses.

There is actually a logical explanation for this.

The Stay Or Run State

When stressed, what this essentially does is places the body in what’s known as the classic “fight or flight” state. This is the body’s response to danger, controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.

This is intended to help improve our chances of a positive outcome in a physical confrontation, for instance.

What it does is literally prepares our body to either get into a physical fight, or run away from danger.

Fight Or Flight

When in the fight or flight mode, our body increases the production of adrenaline, cortisol, dopamine, and other “response” neurotransmitters and hormones.

Doing so triggers numerous physiological changes throughout the body: such as accelerating the heart rate, increasing muscle tone, narrowing vision, and at times thickens the blood.

All these adaptations are intended to improve our chances of survival.

The thickening of the blood for instance, is intended to encourage clotting, so we will scab over and not bleed out in case of injury.

What this ALSO does however, is drives the blood and oxygen away from the vital organs, and towards the muscles and the brain.

We need muscle to fight, and we need a sharp mind to spot chances of escape. We fail to concern ourselves with digestion at this point.

Likewise, we don’t channel our energy towards our immune system – as there are bigger concerns than the common cold when we’re stressed.

Thus, the immune system becomes compromised.

Human Evolution And Our Response

In the past when our bodies and brain were still evolving, these types of threats would be immediate and often short-lived.

This is when we might of faced a predator such as a Sabre tooth tiger in the past.

We would of immediately entered into a stressed panic state of mind, and run like hell the other way.

Today, similar sources and states of stress will still persist and follow us around, but they are usually not violent.

You might become stressed about your relationship for instance, or about money, road rage or your boss.

Perhaps you have too much work to do at the office.

So you come home and all you think about are these issues, keeping you in that highly aroused state of stress, while your immune system remains suppressed.

This means you are going for periods of time in a state of high vulnerability, becoming susceptible to ANY illness that might be around and attack.

This is why chronic stress poses a clear and present danger to our health.

The Need To Reduce Stress

So how do you overcome this stress? For many of us, we feel that certain levels and sources of stress are unavoidable.

It’s not easy to just simply quit your job, and your issues at work that are related to stress will go away, as you need the money to survive.

What you can do, is learn to change the way you react to these problems.

This is where exercising, meditation or yoga come in, all which helps to better manage our chronic stress symptoms.

Studies show that especially meditation, can help fight off disease, along with improving other areas of health.

Another way is to mindfully relax more, such as spending more time with friends, doing things you love, planning for the future, or going on holiday.

There are those certain people you know, who never seems to get sick.

They’re also likely the same people who have boundless energy and enthusiasm for life. This is not a coincidence!

These are the people who has their stress under control, hopefully naturally and not by vices such as recreational drugs.

Get Proper Rest

You also need to make sure you get plenty of rest, by getting the prescribed amount of sleep every night, as often as possible.

The opposite of the “fight or flight” response (which is also known as sympathetic response, or a catabolic state), is rest and digest, or the anabolic state.

It’s during this rest period, the body sends more energy to our immune system and digestion, to help us repair and fortify our bodies for the day ahead.

This happens when we are physically and mentally at rest, by having a nice long deep sleep.

The optimum way to get this rest is by making sure that this sleep is also uninterrupted.

Sleep is the most anabolic state the body can enter naturally, and is a time when you will build muscle, restore tissue, and drive away infection and illness.

The more “proper” sleep you get, the more resilient you will become against all kinds of disease and viruses.

How To Get The Best Sleep Possible:

• Make sure your room is as dark and quiet as possible
• Invest in a better mattress if you need one
• Aim to go to bed and wake up at the same time every night/morning
• Take a warm bath or shower right before bed
• Avoid exposure to blue-light emitting devices such as your smartphone or computer 30 minutes before bed
• Avoid stimulating activities such as gaming or watching movies
• Use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and other methods to calm down your mind
• Keep the bedroom slightly cool by keeping the window slightly open

Remain As Mindful As Possible

Did you know that flossing your teeth, will actually reduce your chances of getting ill?

These two things might seem completely unrelated, but it makes sense when you consider how much unwanted bacteria enters the body through the mouth.

This is how our immune takes a constant beating from foreign invaders, and why you will improve your chances of avoiding viruses if you brush and floss regularly!

There are a variety of ways how unrelated issues can affect your immunity – and why you need to generally be aware of what invades your body.

This doesn’t mean you need to be cooped up indoors, as getting plenty of fresh air is highly recommended.

The biggest reason to spend time outdoors, is to naturally increase your production of vitamin D. This vitamin is vitally important, as it works more like a “ hormone” rather than an actual vitamin.

What vitamin D does is stimulates the release of other hormones, most which will boost your immunity.

Recent research shows that vitamin D, may actually be more significantly powerful than vitamin C, when it comes to strengthening the immune.

Sunlight and fresh air can also benefit your health in other ways.

For proof, consider those who spends a lot of time outdoors. They rarely seem to get sick!

Myths About A Weakened Immune

Some believe that getting exposed to cold temperatures, taking cold showers, or swimming outdoors increases the odds of they catching a cold.

The truth however, is that bacteria and viruses prefer to travel when it’s slightly warmer.

All what being in the cold does, is suppresses your immune system and makes it work harder.

So what’s recommended is spending more time in adverse environments from time to time, where your immune system needs to work harder, which will make it stronger.

What you’re doing is improving the immune’s efficiency and durability once you’re in a warmer environment, as it becomes stronger to resist disease.

Combine this with wearing a face mask, while avoiding the known “high” risk areas, all which will significantly lower your risk of infection or viruses.