How Good is Your Immune System?

How many days last year did you spend suffering from flu, coughs, colds, sinusitis, stomach bugs, cystitis or other infections?  If the answer is twelve or more, your immune system is not doing its job and it’s time you did something about it.

Our immune system has two basic jobs:

1. To prevent foreign bodies like bacteria, moulds and viruses from entering the body;
2. and to eliminate foreign bodies that do manage to infiltrate the body.

Sounds simple, but in fact the workings of the immune system are amazingly complex and involve your nervous system, bone marrow, thymus gland, lymph nodes, lymph vessels, blood vessels, circulation, spleen, skin, hair, mucous membranes, saliva, digestive juices, blood vessels, liver and hormones.  In short, your whole body needs to be in harmony for your immune system to function efficiently.

Risks of  Neglecting Your Immune System

It’s common knowledge that a weakened immune system means you’ll get sick more often and take longer to get better.  But there are other less well known problems that occur when your immune system has gone awry.  For instance wounds and injuries will heal more slowly.  This is because the immune system cleans up damaged tissue from injuries.

A weak immune response can allow simple infections to develop into serious conditions.  For example, minor chest infections may trigger asthma attacks, simple bacterial or viral infections can lead to heart disease, diabetes 1 and some varieties of arthritis.  And last, but not least, a good immune system acts to destroy cancer cells.

Allergies are another symptom of immune imbalance, as are autoimmune diseases.

12 Dos & Don’ts of Immune Health System

Obviously, anything as complex as the immune system must be hard to fix when it goes wrong but there are a few simple dos and don’ts that can make a big difference.

• Do get eight hours sleep most nights
• Do eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day
• Do drink about two litres of good quality water every day
• Do take moderate exercise most days
• Do work in an environment where you are appreciated
• Do maintain a warm and dry home
• Do seek help with depression or anxiety
• Don’t continually push yourself when you are tired or fatigued
• Don’t eat mostly sugary, processed or fried foods
• Don’t smoke
• Don’t use marijuana or other ‘recreational’ drugs
• Don’t abuse alcohol

If you feel your immune system needs some serious help, you should consult a professional who will help you find out what you are doing wrong and work out strategies to put it right.  A naturopath may also prescribe herbs and nutrients to put you on the right path.

Author: Louise Cooper is a naturopath who operates Simply Natural Health Care of Queenstown.

For more information call her on 03 442 9137 or visit www.simplynaturalhealth.co.nz