Many of us like to take whatever steps we can to boost our health.
Having a healthy immune system can help defend your body against sickness and disease, and keep you feeling your best. And while this can be easier said than done, there are several ways you can bolster your body’s natural defences.
With this in mind, here are 10 ways to help boost your immune system…
1. Eat a healthy, balanced diet
Making changes to your diet is one of the easiest and most effective ways to boost your immune system.
We’ve identified three changes that, according to research, are the most helpful for protecting our bodies.
Incorporate more whole plant foods into your diet
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the single best thing you can do to improve your immune system is incorporate more whole plant foods into your diet.
This is because foods like fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds are rich in antioxidants and can help decrease inflammation in your body. Chronic inflammation can suppress your immune system and is associated with numerous health conditions like heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and cancer.
What’s more, whole plant foods contain nutrients that can help ward off harmful pathogens. Fruits and vegetables contain lots of vitamin C, which research shows can help us get over a common cold much faster. Studies suggest that being deficient in vitamin C can actively increase the likelihood of infection.
Because our bodies don’t produce vitamin C, we have to get it from our diet. Foods like citrus fruits, kiwis, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are all great sources.
To find out more about this important vitamin and how you can incorporate more of it into your diet, check out our article; Everything you need to know about vitamin C.
If that weren’t enough reason to reach for the fruit bowl, the fibre in plant foods feeds the healthy bacteria that lives in your gut. Having a healthy gut can improve your immunity and lower your susceptibility to illness.
Make sure you’re getting enough healthy fats and protein
Research shows that eating enough healthy fats (such as omega-3 fatty acids) and protein is also important for a healthy immune system.
Healthy fats are associated with a decreased risk of diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and can help your body fight off harmful bacteria and viruses.
To make sure you’re getting enough omega-3 fatty acids, you could try to incorporate foods like salmon or chia seeds into your diet.
Protein is also important for healing and recovery, so you should try to include protein-rich foods like seafood, lean meat, eggs, beans, peas, soy products, and nuts and seeds in your diet. Our article, 12 high-protein meal ideas, should offer plenty of inspiration.
Try eating fermented foods
Finally, try eating fermented foods regularly.
Fermented foods are packed with probiotics, which improve the health of your digestive tract and can make it easier for your immune cells to distinguish between normal cells and harmful cells.
Multiple studies show that people who regularly eat fermented food have a stronger immune response. Therefore, foods like miso, yoghurt, kimchi, kefir, and sauerkraut are always good to add to the shopping list.
For more ideas, you might like to check out our articles; 8 fermented foods for gut health and How to make your own fermented foods at home.
2. Drink lots of water
Staying hydrated is also one of the easiest and most effective ways you can boost your overall health.
While drinking plenty of water doesn’t necessarily ward off germs and viruses, research shows that it does help to support your immune system.
In our circulatory systems, there’s a fluid called lymph, which is predominantly made from water and transports infection-fighting cells around our bodies. When you’re not sufficiently hydrated, the movement of lymph is hindered, which can lead to a weakened immune system.
Not drinking enough water can cause headaches and adversely affect your focus, mood, and digestion, as well as the function of your heart and kidneys, which can increase your susceptibility to illness. Try to limit your intake of sugary fruit juices, soft drinks, and sweet teas, and drink plain water which is free of additives and sugars instead.
It’s also advisable not to wait until you’re thirsty to drink, but to make sure you’re drinking water regularly throughout the day. As we age, science suggests that the innate desire to drink water declines. We don’t know why this happens exactly, but it’s still beneficial to try to get into the habit of drinking water regularly, even if you’re not thirsty.
For further advice, it’s worth checking out our articles; 11 tips for staying hydrated and why it’s important and 9 healthy and hydrating alternatives to water.
3. Get plenty of sleep
Getting enough sleep is vital for boosting your immune system, and your overall physical and mental health.
When you’re asleep, your body heals and regenerates. Specifically, it produces essential immune cells like cytokines (a protein that fights inflammation) and T cells (white blood cells that controls immune response). The reason why people tend to sleep more when they’re ill is to give their body a chance to fight off the illness and repair itself.
Multiple studies show that if you don’t get enough sleep your immune system can weaken, putting you at increased risk of becoming ill. Ideally, you should try to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep a night, and practise good sleeping habits.
Good sleeping habits include limiting the use of electronic devices before bed and getting into a routine where you go to bed at the same time each night. It’s also helpful to avoid stressful conversations in the hours before bed, and to sleep in a completely dark room.
Even with good sleeping habits, however, some people can still struggle to get a good night’s sleep. If this is you, you might find some of these tips helpful. Or, if your sleep challenges persist for more than a few days and you suspect you may be struggling with insomnia, it’s worth speaking to your GP so they can talk you through the available support.
For more information on sleep-related matters, including how to find the right mattress and the best and worst sleeping positions, head over to the sleep and fatigue section of our website.
4. Take steps to minimise stress
Learning to manage stress and anxiety can also be helpful in boosting your immune health.
While most of us recognise that stress isn’t good for our health, we aren’t always aware of just how harmful it can be to our overall health and wellbeing.
When we’re stressed, our body responds by instigating a stress response that inhibits our immune system, and increases our chances of falling ill or developing infection.
Long-term stress can be especially harmful. In fact, research shows that chronic stress can lead to elevated levels of the steroid hormone cortisol. While cortisol is helpful on a short-term basis – for example, when your body goes into fight or flight mode – on a longer-term basis it can impair the immune system’s ability to protect the body.
It’s almost impossible to avoid stress altogether, but it can be helpful to try and identify potential sources of stress, so you can take steps to manage them.
For ideas on how to manage stress levels, you might like to check out our articles; 7 tips for coping with stress and anxiety and 9 simple stress relieving activities.
5. Exercise regularly
Regular exercise isn’t just a good way to strengthen your body – it’s also an effective de-stressor. When you exercise, your body releases endorphins, or ‘happy hormones’, while also reducing cortisol levels.
Because of this, doing regular (but moderate) exercise is one of the best ways you can reduce stress and improve your health. But exercise also has a direct effect on the immune system.
Studies show that just half an hour of moderate exercise a day stimulates your immune system and improves circulation, making it easier for immune cells to pass through your body and detect cells that are damaged or infected.
Research also suggests that even a single session of moderate exercise like cycling, swimming, or jogging can improve the effectiveness of vaccines in people with compromised immune systems.
Plus, there’s powerful evidence that people who exercise regularly have significantly lower rates of acute illnesses, like viral and bacterial infections, and chronic ones, like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
To find out more about fun ways you can exercise, head over to the fitness and exercise section of our website.
6. Practise deep breathing
Lymph flow is directly related to immune health, and anything we can do to improve lymph flow can boost our overall immunity.
In addition to staying hydrated, another effective way of improving lymph flow (which can also reduce stress) is deep breathing.
The idea that simply breathing can boost your immune system may sound far fetched, but it’s grounded in science.
Each time we breathe, our diaphragm moves up and down, causing a sequence of pressure differences that create movement in the body – including lymph flow, which sends those essential infection-fighting white blood cells through our bodies.
One of the best ways to make sure you’re regularly practising deep breathing is to have a go at mindfulness or yoga, which are both focused on becoming more aware of your breathing. Or, you might like to try practising these breathing exercises.
7. Limit your alcohol intake
We know drinking too much alcohol isn’t good for our health – and this includes our immune function.
Alcohol is a toxin that your body works hard to expel when you drink it. This process takes effort, so while it’s happening, normal immune function is neglected. This means that if you regularly drink too much alcohol, your body may struggle to process excess toxins and maintain normal immune system function.
Studies show that drinking large quantities of alcohol can undermine the body’s ability to fight infection and also extend recovery time. As a result, heavy drinkers are much more likely to suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome, liver disease, certain cancers, and pneumonia.
If you enjoy a glass of wine or an evening whisky, you don’t need to stop altogether, but where possible, you should try to limit your alcohol consumption to 14 units per week (according to the NHS). You can find out how to accurately calculate units on the Alchohol Change UK website.
You can also find out more about the benefits of cutting back on alcohol and tips on how to do this in our article on the subject.
8. Give up smoking
Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide, nicotine, nitrogen oxides, and cadmium – and research has shown that these chemicals interfere with the growth and performance of immune cells like cytokines, T cells, and B cells.
Smoking cigarettes also aggravates viral and bacterial infections, particularly post-surgical infections, those that affect the lungs (for example, pneumonia, flu, and tuberculosis), and rheumatoid arthritis.
If you currently smoke and would like help and support giving up, there are plenty of free, helpful resources that can make it just a little bit easier. Have a look at the NHS stop smoking services to learn more.
9. Keep chronic symptoms in check
Chronic conditions like asthma, heart disease, and diabetes can impact the immune system and heighten the risk of infection.
If you have asthma, for example, you’re more susceptible to catching, and suffering serious health consequences from, the flu. Equally, if you have type 2 diabetes and don’t manage your blood sugar properly, this can create a low-level yet chronic inflammatory response that may harm your immune system.
If you’re living with a chronic condition, it’s important to do everything you can do to manage your symptoms. This means taking any medications as directed, staying on top of doctor visits, and trying to practise health-boosting habits.
Keeping your chronic symptoms in check means you’ll free up more reserves to fight infection and give your immune system a helping hand.
10. Choose supplements wisely
Experts believe that our bodies absorb vitamins more efficiently from food than supplements.
But if you’re concerned you’re not getting enough of a certain vitamin or mineral, you might want to consider taking a supplement.
Some scientific studies suggest that the following supplements might improve your body’s immune response. While they won’t necessarily prevent you from becoming sick, they might make it easier for your body to fight infection…
● Vitamin C: According to this study, taking up to 2,000mg of vitamin C per day reduced the duration of colds by 8% in adults.
● Vitamin D: Being deficient in vitamin D can increase the likelihood of becoming sick, so if you’re low in vitamin D, you might want to supplement it.
● Zinc: This study of people with the common cold found that supplementing more than 75mg of zinc per day reduced the duration of the cold by 33%.
That being said, it’s important to highlight the fact that while supplements may help strengthen your body’s general immune response, they shouldn’t be used as a substitute for a healthy diet.
Eating a balanced diet remains the most important and beneficial step you can take to boost your immune system.
It’s also vital not to take too much of any given supplement as this can cause significant health problems too. If you think you might have a vitamin deficiency, it’s worth speaking to your doctor about your symptoms first, so you can ensure you get an accurate diagnosis before taking any supplements. Equally, it’s important to always seek advice from your doctor before introducing any supplements into your diet.
Final thoughts...
If you’re looking to give your immune system a boost, it’s important to take things one day at a time. Making a gradual transition towards a healthier lifestyle by focusing on sustainable changes rather than quick fixes is often the most effective approach.
For further tips, check out our article; 14 foods that can boost immune health. Or, head over to the general health section of our website.