How to Strengthen Your Immune System To Keep You Safe

We often think of the immune system as a single entity, but that is far from reality. It is a whole bunch of things, like the U.S. Military. The armed forces have multiple functions, with the general task of protecting the country. We have the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, as well as the National Guard. When they fight, they don’t just go in and kill everyone! They have to kill only enemy combatants, and not kill those who don’t pose a threat. Moreover, there are a lot of support staff, as many as ten times as many behind the lines as the number of soldiers. These support staff are essential to keeping the system working. Plus, there is also overlap. For example, the Army has more flying machines than the Air Force, and the Navy and Marines also fly. But each aircraft has different types of specialized weapons to suit their needs.

This is a great analogy of the immune system. We should think of our immune system as soldiers fighting off the micro-enemies that constantly threaten to invade our bodies. But the incredible collective of “armed forces” in our body do so much more. Our immune system is a combination of janitors, military police, and disposal services for the body. When our own cells become disabled, infected, or dead, our immune system cleans up the mess and takes out the compromised cells. When our cells go rogue and stop doing what they are designed to do, the immune system takes them out to prevent cancer and other illnesses. Amazingly, if one part of the immune system is compromised, the other parts can take over the function… but not as efficiently.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Commander-in-Chief, are in the brain, controlling every regiment. You need a good working brain for the immune system to function well. Without good leadership, the immune system goes crazy with lots of “friendly fire” called autoimmune diseases. Mostly, disorder in the ranks comes from emotional trauma and issues.

Emotional stress of any kind will prevent the proper response to a threat. An overactive immune system creates autoimmune disease. An underactive immune system allows chronic infections like Epstein-Barr or Lyme disease. You must keep everything in order. Every part of the system must function well, do their own job, and keep the body clean and free of invasion from within and without.

How To Run an Army

You don’t have to be a West Point graduate with honors to keep a good immune system. It’s part of the AUTONOMIC nervous system and runs very well on its own – as long as it has the resources it needs. Give the army all its supplies, and they will do their job well. But deny them ammo, guns, food, or transportation, and they will flounder!

Remember the famous quote:

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,

For the want of a horse the rider was lost,

For the want of a rider the battle was lost,

For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,

And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

― Benjamin Franklin

So, your only job is to give your military everything it needs to function well. These include:

• Proper nutrition
• Good sleep
• Avoid toxins
• Stress reduction

The basics are easy:

• Sleep 8 hours a night; in bed by 10pm.
• Practice intermittent fasting; no food for 16+ hours, and no food after 6pm.
• Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners.
• Forgive everyone of everything – forgiveness is the greatest emotional stress reducer.
• Take zinc, vitamin C and vitamin D.

Two more things you can do to turbo-charge your immunity:

Meditation For A Strong Immune System

Meditation[1]  is not an empty mind, but rather a focused mind. Stop multi-tasking! Learn to do one thing at a time. Start with a regular meditation practice. Remember that there are many different forms of meditation. Yoga can be great. Transcendental meditation works as well. You can even walk and meditate if you focus on one thing. Prayer is meditation focused on God and is a great way to connect with the Infinite! Meditate for thirty minutes twice per day. If you can only do once, it’s fine. Three times is even better.

Exercise For A Strong Immune System

Exercise helps the brain, and all areas of the immune system.[2] It keeps the hormones balanced and relieves stress. It can prevent cancer, as well as many kinds of infections. Physical activity is also essential to prevent aging. The exercise you do will depend upon what you enjoy. Find what you like to do. Walking is fine, but you get better results with short bursts of high-intensity exercise like interval training, wind sprints, or cross-fit. Playing games like basketball or soccer are great. Work up to a level that builds muscle; don’t try to do it all at once. Find time every day to exercise.

Other Supplements That Improve Immune Function

We often think antibiotics are going to fix everything, but they only work on the bacteria – they don’t work for viruses, nor do they help your immune system. Even anti-viral drugs have limited function. Remdesivir was given to President Trump when he had SARS-CoV-2 infection, but the WHO says it isn’t useful.[3] It’s like giving the army guns with no ammo! Instead of these drugs, we could go back to using what has traditionally worked. Mushrooms and herbs have been used for centuries to fight infections and prevent illness by assistingthe army to fight. Some that have proven benefits include:

• Reishi mushrooms activate the white blood cells to help them remove threats including infections and cancer.[4]
• Echinacea increases white blood cells and prevents viral infections.[5]
• Elderberry increased TNF-alpha by 44 times to increase the immune response to pathogens.[6]
• Green tea has EGCG and catechins that help the cellular immunity to prevent and get rid of cancer cells.[7]
• Quercetin is a free-radical scavenger, decreases allergy and increases viral response while lowering cytokines.[8](Quercetin is very useful for COVID-19.)
• Vitamin E lowers inflammation in the cell membranes.[9]
• N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) is essential for glutathione production to decrease the inflammatory response.[10]
  

  • Pinterest

It should be noted that several of these suppress inflammation while increasing immunity. This is important because

most of the time people with viruses don’t die or get really sick from the virus itself, but rather from the immune response. For example, the coronavirus in COVID-19 is relatively harmless, but can set off a “cytokine storm”[11] that overwhelms the body and causes death. It’s like the army dropping an atomic bomb on a whole city because they found one enemy soldier in it. This is why balance is essential for the immune system to remove the virus without killing the body by a huge reaction.

A good and functional immune system is amazing in its ability to keep the body free from enemies. The immune system protects not just from foreign invaders, but also the internal invaders such as cancer. It may not keep out the viruses but will allow you to get rid of them easily. The methods above will help to keep you safe from COVID-19, as well as all the other flu viruses. While you may be exposed, and even get the virus, your response will be able to handle it easily, and clear it without damaging your body.

 

 

Sources:
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2016/09/06/new-clues-into-how-meditation-can-boost-the-immune-system/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CMeditation%20is%20one%20of%20the,then%20lead%20to%20healthier%20aging.%E2%80%9D
[2] https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007165.htm
[3] https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/who-recommends-against-the-use-of-remdesivir-in-covid-19-patients
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4684115/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15035888/
[6] https://www.webmd.com/diet/elderberry-health-benefits#1
[7]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110602143214.htm#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20beneficial%20compounds,health%20benefits%20of%20green%20tea.
[8]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6273625/#:~:text=Quercetin%20is%20known%20for%20its,suppresses%20interleukin%20IL%2D4%20production.
[9]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7011499/#:~:text=Vitamin%20E%2C%20a%20potent%20lipid,known%20to%20modulate%20immune%20function.
[10] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nac-benefits#:~:text=Ability%20to%20Boost%20Glutathione%20Levels,supplementing%20with%20NAC%20(%2036%20).
[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7527296/