The Importance of a Healthy Immune System

(Photograph of a virus vs. the immune system).

The fall season is one of my favorite times of year but it can also be quite stressful – between running around trying to get it all done in time and eating on the run –  can cause havoc on your health.  Last month, I had an episode with my own health and ended up being hospitalized for four days with some funky virus.  Granted, as the doctor explained, viruses are around us all the time – and some are affected by them and others are not.   But I do understand that if my immune system wasn’t compromised, then it wouldn’t have affected me so severely.  I had been pushing it for quite some time and honestly wasn’t paying attention to my health. However, there are steps you can take to make sure you sail through the holidays virus free!  I am actually thankful that I had this experience as it was a reminder of how important our health is and not to take it for granted. 

The Immune System:

We have all heard about our immune system, but what exactly is it and what does it do? Our immune system is an intricate network of specialized organs, cells, and substances that is our body’s key defense against disease as well as an array of bacterial, viral, and fungal infections that we come in contact with every day just by breathing, eating and living our lives. Our immune system is busy removing cells that have been killed due to trauma, toxins, microbial attacks, and other processes that occur in the body every day. 

There are three vital defensive strategies that our immune system utilizes:

1. Our first line of defense is our skin and gastrointestinal tract that acts as a physical barrier and the millions of immune cells that help prevent an infection.
2. The second line of defense is our bloodstream and our body’s inflammatory response.  That is why it is recommended not to treat a minor fever as it is the body’s way of fighting off the infection. With an inflammatory reaction we see our body become warm and/or swell and tissue redden. All of these responses happen to help contain the infectious agents and prevent them from spreading further. You don’t want an inflammatory response to go on too long as it can damage tissues and cells.
3. The final line of defense is within our various organs in the body, particularly the spleen. liver, and lymph nodes (Source:  Alternative Medicine).

When our immune system is impaired we become vulnerable to illnesses. This can be due to environmental insults, chronic stress, a poor diet, toxins and food allergies among other assaults. The result is an immune system that becomes unbalanced and becomes either underactive or overactive.

According to the authors of the must-read book about health – Alternative Medicine: “A dysfunctional immune system can leave us vulnerable to illnesses such as allergies, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Cancer results when the immune system malfunctions and no longer recognizes and destroys cancer cells.” (Source: Alternative Medicine).

You can see it should be a priority to keep our immune system as strong as possible. This means we should pay attention to what types of foods we eat, try to manage our stress levels with exercise, and engage in activities that bring us peace of mind. This could mean going to lunch with some girlfriends, spending quality time with the family, and/or spending time at your place of worship. Whatever helps to calm the mind will in turn help to keep the body balanced as well. In my next post, I will talk more about ways to strengthen you body’s immune system.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/75536060@N07/6788890148/sizes/z/in/photostream/

Reference:

• BurtonGoldberg, Alternative Medicine – The Definitive Guide.  2^nd Edition by Celestial Arts.