5 Things That Are Making Your Immune System Weaker

5 Things That Are Making Your Immune System Weaker

Keeping your immune system robust has become more than a priority in today’s life. Your body’s defense system should be capable of combating pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and toxins that might harm your health.

Maintaining a good diet, getting adequate sleep, and keeping your body healthy on the inside and out are just a few of the things you can do to boost your immune system. However, a variety of things are undermining your immune system.

In this article, we will discuss the five things that are making your immune system weaker and how you should avoid them to strengthen your defenses.

1) Your Eating Habits

It is no surprise that your food influences how effectively your body performs, which is why a nutrient-dense diet benefits your immune system. Avoid these six things in your diet as they make your immune system weaker.

• Foods rich in sugar and salt
• Fried and processed foods
• High-fat foods
• Refined carbs
• Artificial sweeteners 
• Alcohol 

Consume foods high in vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, B, C, D, and zinc. Eating fermented foods and fiber-rich meals helps to promote your gut health and, as a result, boosts your immune response.

2) Your Fitness Level

Exercising improves blood flow throughout the body and aids the body’s defense against disease-causing organisms. A person who exercises regularly or has an active lifestyle is more likely to be healthy than someone who does not exercise or move throughout the day. This is because a healthy body is always ready to fight diseases, and it has superior defensive activity and metabolic health than an obese body. 

Walking, running, yoga, weight lifting, and other types of physical activity help to boost the immune system and keep illnesses at bay. Remember that any exercise is better than none since both inactivity and obesity weaken your immune system.

3) Your Sleep Pattern

Sleeping allows the body to restore, replenish, and fight off sickness. First and foremost, sleeping at night is not the same as sleeping during the day. You cannot swap a lack of quality sleep at night for sleeping during the day and call it equal. This is attributable to the fact that your body heals and reenergizes faster and better when you sleep during the hours of darkness.

Sleeping at night corresponds to the circadian cycle (sleep-wake cycle) of the body. Proper circadian rhythm is critical for sleep quality since it affects metabolism, immunity, mental health, and general bodily health.

4) Emotional Well-Being

Your mental health is just as vital as your physical health. Poor mental health influences your body’s physical health and ability to fight illness. Over time, stress may cause inflammation, and continuous stress and worry can depress your immune system, making it even more difficult to combat germs and viruses.

Sometimes your emotional health has an indirect impact on your immune system. For example, anxious thoughts keep you awake and disturb your sleep cycle. As you may recall, a night of poor quality sleep has a direct impact on your body’s immune response. Therefore, prioritizing your mental health and working to reduce stress is crucial.

Although it is difficult to eliminate stress in your life, you can prepare to view it in a different light and change how it affects you. To enhance your emotional health, consider meditation and other mindfulness exercises.

5) The cleanliness of your surroundings

Although the “hygiene hypothesis” is hotly debated, excessive cleanliness might contribute to anti-inflammatory diseases or allergies, particularly in children. This is because children’s immune systems must learn which antigens are genuinely hazardous and which are not. 

Our immune systems evolve as a result of our exposure to the environment. As we practice combating lower-level threats, our immune system becomes more well-rounded. Therefore, an excessively clean atmosphere stops our immune system from acquiring the necessary exposure to combat high-level threats.

But on the other hand, there is no clear proof that washing your hands frequently may affect your immune system. So, don’t be scared to lather up with soap and water daily or when you return home from being outside. Keeping yourself and your surroundings clean is vital to prevent infections and diseases.

The problem is that you should be able to strike a balance between protecting yourself against infections and exposing yourself to an environment that supports your body’s immunological response.

To wrap Up

Working out keeps your body and mind in shape, and a healthy body has a stronger immune system. At Athletic Vision, we believe in the same philosophy, and we work hard every day to bring you one step closer to living a healthy and fit lifestyle. If you want more tips on how to take care of your health access Athletic Vision Blog