What is immunity? Five tips to boost immunity naturally

What is immunity ? 

• Immunity is the body’s innate ability to protect itself by fighting against infection/disease-causing microbes or microorganisms. 
• Our blood contains these fighter or immune cells that become active in response to any invasion caused by the pathogens or disease-causing microorganisms in our body.  Platelets, monocytes, neutrophils, Macrophages, B and T lymphocytes, etc. are the immune cells that come into picture whenever some pathogen attacks or invades the body. 
• Whenever a bacteria or virus enters our blood system or even our body surface, the immune cells are stimulated and they induce an inflammatory response by fighting with those germs, bacteria or virus, etc.  This warms up our body and we feel hot, it is called fever. 
• Fever is a common physiological response indicating our immune cells are fighting the infectious agents. 
• Immunity can also be called a self-defence system.  It is extremely necessary to have a good immune system in order to protect the body from any germs, may it be of cold or flu or even more serious disease-causing pathogens. 
• To most of the extent immunity can be attained by healthy diet and good lifestyle.  The pandemic Covid 19 taught us all the importance of immunity and though, we cannot resist getting covid despite good immunity, however, many other infections can have a milder to no symptoms when we have better immunity. 
• Our body's immunity also depends on various factors such as age and lifestyle.  The research shows that the children and elderly people have less immune power compared to the adults.  In kids, the immune cells are not developed properly and in elders, the immunity response drops down with age and they respond quite slowly to any infection or pathogen.  It becomes inevitable to take care of the kids and elder persons in our family to keep them away from disease or infection. Healthy food and hygienic precautions are necessary to be followed to keep diseases at bay. 

How can we boost our immunity naturally? Is it possible to enhance immunity using Natural tips or remedies?

The simple yet great answer is Of course, Yes!! We can. 

Let us know 5 best tips to boost our immunity naturally.

1. Healthy food

2. Healthy lifestyle

3. Healthy self care

4. Healthy thoughts

5. Healthy habits

Healthy food: 

Our food is the most important factor that contributes to our body's health. We should focus on having a balanced diet that contains all the nutrients such as carbohydrates,proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in optimum proportions.  The relation of food is intertwined with our body's immunity. When you are strong physically, your body has good immunity and you fall less sick. however, this does not mean that you are eating more food and having a big body. The focus of food lies on the fact that you eat a healthy diet that is enriching your body and blood.  It is your food that builds up the nutrient content in the blood. So if you are weak, your body lacks the energy, the nutrients and this is what makes you get sick often. 

Your food must :

• Be clean and hygienically prepared.
• Be cooked properly preserving the nutrients.
• Contain a fresh fruit and a couple of vegetable daily.
• Be a balanced diet. 
• be less-oily and free from harmful fats.
• Minimum use of packaged foods.

when you are eating healthy, you are naturally increasing your body's immunity. 

Foods/spices that increase body's immunity naturally are:

1. Ginger
2. Turmeric
3. Cardamom
4. Black Pepper
5. Tulsi
6. Garlic 
7. Fruits 

ADD these spices to your food while preparing and enjoy the magic. These spices are rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and healing properties that help our body to build up healthy immune cells at a faster pace. Having a ginger cardamom tea, pepper added fruit salad and vegetables cooked with lots of garlic and onions in it can definitely help you boost your immunity levels. 

Healthy lifestyle:

Nowadays our lifestyle has changes drastically. From working laboriously into the fields to turning upto the desk, it is our health that has been impacted negatively.  Initially we had good activity levels and we used our body as whole. We used ot walk or climb stairs and do more activities. in other words, we took work from our body.  But the current scenario is a complete opposite.  We are bound to the work from home office and there are more online works or tbale-desks jobs than ever before. This makes our lifestyle a sedentary. We have to sit for long hours on the chair and this makes our body feel dormant. This has a direct effect on our body's health.  Again this is accompained by wrong eating or more oily food snacks which worsens your digestive system. It is said that your immunity depends up on your digestive system and when there is some trouble with it, your immunity starts to suffer. 

Working under sunlight for prolonged periods,smoke or gas area or chemicals or conditions that trigger your body to various allergens may also affect your immunity levels. 

Healthy lifestyle can be achieved by:

• 
  Exercise
• Work-outs
• Walking
• Stretching
• Meditation and self care
• Aerobics
• Active use of body
• Avoiding long periods of sitting or standing
• Protection from sunlight and safety at work
• Use of face masks and face shields to protect from smoke,pollution, etc. 
• Have a good sleep of minumum six hours. Some research says that immune levels of people who sleep less is generally less compared to others who sleep well at night. 
• Limit the use of technology such as mobile phones, escalators, elevators, etc. Read books instead and choose walking up the stairs, for example. 

Healthy self care:

A person who takes care of self properly often stays healthy. Self care includes everything right from waking up early, to exercise to bathing and working and sleeping early at night. 

Few self care tips that are good to be followed and these can help you keep up your immunity. 

Self care tips are:

• Early to bed, early to rise
• Brushing you teeth twice a day. Oral hygiene keeps 99% oral infections away.
• Healthy food intake
• Plenty of water intake, almost 4-6 litres a day
• Cleaning the body properly with antiseptic soap
• Handwashing prior to meals and after using the toilets for atleast 20 seconds. It is the best approach to keep your body healthy and reduce the burden on your immune cells. 
• Exercise twice a week or more as per your convenience. 
• Practice Yoga and Meditation. These can naturally increase your immunity.
• Avoid taking stress.

Healthy Habits:

Bad habits such as addiction of alcohol, smoking cigars and bidis are the major factors that compensate yoru body's immunity levels. Try to limit their intake or if possible, it is best to quit them naturally. Avoid smoking if you are an elderly person or person with co-morbid illnesses. It can alter your body's response to infections and the immune levels can go even lower.  Make handwashing a daily healthy habit. 

Healthy thoughts:

Increased stress levels often affect your brain negatively and this in turn causes your body to feel weak and your immunity is lowered.

Keep your thoughts healthy and positive. Communicate with your family whenever you have problems in your life. Do not suffer alone.  Have a positive mindset about your body and your life. 

You should have a sound mental health if you want to stay away from disease or illness. See this to know more:

Top 10 ways to improve your mental health.  

Develop a sense of positive self image and appreciate yourself for what you have. 

All the above tips help you keep yourself healthy fit and fine. when you are healthy, teh immunity levels are always good. So whenever by chance, if you get infected, your body will give a tough fight to the pathogen and you would either get mild symptoms of illness or no symptoms at all. So without any further delay, check on what you need to add to yoru checklist and pave a way to be healthy as never before. 

Follow this blog and like and comment for more such informational blog posts. See also: What is health? 20 supertips to stay healthy.