What you eat is very important in keeping your immune system strong but there are a lot of other factors that can affect your immune system.  Let’s start with the big immune system buster-stress.

Stress is the most dominant factor affecting your immune system. When your body is stressed the digestive system is inhibited, blood pressure rises and you will experience an increased heart rate.  All three of these outcomes weaken the immune system.  It is important to find a way to manage stress in your life that works for you.  Let’s review some of the great methods for alleviating stress from our lives.

Relaxation Techniques such as meditation, guided imagery or prayer can take our minds away from the stress and allow the body to calm.  These techniques increase the antibody levels in our bodies by reducing effects of stress which is vital for boosting the immune system.  It can be difficult to start using these techniques only because you might not know where to start.  With the internet you can actually find guided meditations that help you to learn how to meditate.  But the simplest way to meditate is to find a quiet place, make sure you are comfortable, close your eyes and just focus on your breathing.   Guided imagery would require the same space, but you focus on an image such as the ocean, by keeping an image in focus your mind has time to quiet.

Practicing breathing techniques is another way to relieve stress. Inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7 and exhale through your mouth to a count of 8 making a whooshing sound.  Repeat for 6 to 8 times.  Breathing exercises can lower your blood pressure, calm a racing heart, assist with an upset digestive system, and influence your emotions and your moods.  Make this a daily habit.

Here is another great breathing technique to use.  While you visualize the stress leaving your body practice the following hand and breathing techniques.

Set 1

Touch the thumb to the index finger and breathe in through the mouth for 5 seconds, out through the mouth for 5 seconds.
Touch the thumb to the middle finger and breathe in through the mouth for 5 seconds, out through the nose for 5 seconds.
Touch the thumb to the ring finger and breathe in through the nose for 5 seconds, out through the nose for 5 seconds.
Touch the thumb to the little finger and breathe in through the nose for 5 seconds, out through the mouth for 5 seconds.
Touch the thumb to the index finger and breathe in through the mouth for 5 seconds, out through the mouth for 5 seconds.
Set 2

Sequence is identical to set one however the breathing work is only 3 seconds.

Set 3

Sequence is identical to set one however the breathing work is only 1 second.

Adding tai chi, yoga or qigong to your daily work out will allow you go relieve stress through movement and breath.  In these disciplines you focus on your breath while moving which allows the mind to have a break.

Exercise relieves stress also.  A program of 30 minutes, 5 days per week of moderate exercise not only relieves stress which improves your immune system but also bolsters many defenses of your immune system including antibody response and natural killer (T cell) response.

Sleep is an important factor in improving your immune system.   With 8 hours of sleep a day your immune system is stimulated and energized.

Another important factor in increasing your immune function is sunshine.  It increases killer T cells and adds vitamin D3 which has many anti-cancer properties, but remember too much or too little weakens immune system.

Keeping your body alkaline is also a critical factor for a strong immune system.  Along with the food you eat there are other factors that affect the body’s pH.  Smoking and drinking are two major behaviors that negatively affect your body’s pH.

Fasting resets your bodies DNA, assists in detoxification, reduces fat cells that store toxins, causes an increase in the ability of white blood cells to destroy harmful bacteria, increases antibody levels of IgA, Igm and IgG (immunoglobulins that fights disease).  Regular fasting will boost your immune system.