Immunity boosting tips

Eat enough complete nutrients, get enough deep sleep, maintain regular moderate-intensity exercise, and don't let your emotions be in a high-pressure state for a long time. Doing these four things is more effective than taking any health supplements.

I helped my mother adjust her immunity in the past two years. She got colds and coughs when the seasons changed. I bought three or four cans of protein powder and several boxes of Vitamin C effervescent tablets every day, but I didn't see much improvement. Later, after eating with a friend from the nutrition department, I learned that there is actually quite a controversy about supplements. One group is the "Supplement First Party". They feel that people now eat takeout every day and have a large dietary gap, which must be filled by supplements. ； The other group is the "diet first" party, which believes that as long as the daily diet is reasonable, there is no need to spend extra money on supplements. In fact, there is really no need to argue about right and wrong. If you eat takeout every day and the total amount of green leafy vegetables you eat in a week is not enough for one plate, then there is nothing wrong with taking a multivitamin every day. ； But if you can eat one kilogram of vegetables and half a kilogram of fresh fruits every day, and have a palm-sized amount of high-quality protein (fish, poultry, eggs, milk, and soy products of your choice) in every meal, then there is really no need to spend so much money. My mother now adds a small handful of plain nuts in the morning, eats a piece of fish or lean beef at noon, and drinks half a cup of warm milk at night. Over the past six months, she has rarely had a runny nose. It is much more effective than two cans of protein powder before.

Speaking of this, I remembered that I had to work on a project two years ago. I stayed up late for two weeks and slept no more than 4 hours a day. Later, when I got off work and the night breeze blew, my fever reached 39 degrees. I went to the hospital for a blood test. The doctor said that my lymphocyte count was almost half lower than the normal value. It was purely due to the collapse of my immunity. Many people think that as long as they sleep for 8 hours a day, everything will be fine, but in fact, there is a school of thought in the field of sleep medicine that pays more attention to the proportion of deep sleep: if you sleep for 8 hours, you can wake up three or four times throughout the night, and the proportion of deep sleep is less than 15%, which is not as good as the immune system of people who sleep for 6 hours and account for more than 20% of the sleep. I used to wear a smart bracelet to measure, and the proportion of deep sleep was around 12% all year round. Then I tried throwing my phone in the living room an hour before going to bed, and switching to a small orange lamp to read for half an hour. Now the proportion of deep sleep is basically stable at around 22%, and I no longer feel groggy in the morning as if I have never slept.

Don’t think that to improve your immunity, you have to go to the gym every day, exercise, or run five kilometers. I have a friend who didn't exercise at all in order to "enhance his physical fitness". Then he ran 5 kilometers every day for a week. As a result, he directly contracted myocarditis. The doctor said that excessive exercise will suppress immune function for a short period of time, making him more likely to get sick. Nowadays, the sports circle is also very noisy. Fitness parties say that high-intensity interval training is highly efficient and can achieve exercise effects in just ten minutes. ； Health advocates say that gentle exercises such as Baduanjin and walking are not harmful to the body and are suitable for long-term persistence. In fact, there is no standard answer. It all depends on your own foundation: if you usually sit for a long time, a brisk walk of 20 minutes after get off work every day is enough. ； If you have a foundation in exercise, do moderate-intensity exercise three times a week for half an hour each time. After exercise, you will be slightly out of breath but can speak normally, which is just fine. If you insist on practicing until you lose strength, it will simply hinder your immunity.

Another point that many people don’t take seriously is emotions. I used to know a nurse in the oncology department. She said that many of the patients she met had a long-term period of emotional depression half a year to a year before the onset of the disease. It is really not a mystery. High cortisol levels under long-term high pressure will indeed kill immune cells and reduce the body's resistance. Nowadays, there are two schools of thought regarding emotional regulation. One school says that you need to cultivate your mind and keep your emotions stable, neither sad nor happy. ； The other school says that emotions should be vented in time, and problems will easily arise if you hold them back. I have tried it myself, and there is really no need to force myself to be an "emotionless saint." If you feel wronged at work and get off work, you can complain to your friends for half an hour, or you can go climb a mountain on the weekend and stand on the top of the mountain and roar and vent your anger. It is much better for your immunity than pretending to be happy.

In fact, to put it bluntly, immunity is your body's "personal bodyguard". If you feed it enough food, get enough sleep, don't mess with it, and don't let it follow you around in fear, it will naturally help you block most of the external germs. Those who advocate ways to quickly improve immunity in 7 days basically charge IQ taxes. Slowly incorporating these small things into your daily life will be more effective than any panacea.