Our immune system is our most important defence against pathogens – viruses, bacteria, fungi and germs, hence it plays essential role in protecting our bodies against illness and disease.
The complex system is made up of cells in your skin, blood, bone marrow, tissues, and organs that — when working properly — defend your body against potentially harmful microorganisms. To assure efficient functioning of our immune system we need to implement and perform a number of healthy habits, which in combination guarantee good overall health. Apart from good quality food, enough sleep and adequate amount of exercise, we are recommended to cut down or eliminate entirely abusive substances like alkohol, cigarettes or drugs.
Stress is also considered devastating to our natural defending barriers, a it causes the increased release of steroid hormone cortisol, which impairs the immune response at the time of invasion, so it is advisable to keep it under control by using relaxation techniques like meditation. It is also proved that staying outside, close to nature and in the sun helps to keep our immunity in shape, especially due to the vit D emitted by the sun.
However our food is often deficient in proper nutricional value, additionally the pace of life and the number of responsibilities makes it difficult to eliminate daily pressures. Work-life balance paradigm has become a challenge, so our immunity has a lot of intensive work.
What can we do to aid its daily activity?
Apart from all recommended healthy habits, we can enrich our daily diet with substances with scientifically proven positive impact on the immune system, such as :
- vitamins like vitamin D, C, E or A,
- minerals like Zinc, Iron, Magnesium,
- plant extracts like Cat’s Claw, Olive leaf, Rosehip or Acerola,
- intestinal bacteria.
In this section you will find reliable information on the most popular components of supplements as well as the less known agents that may help you become more resistant to illness and strenghten your immune response especially at times of increased risk of viral infection.