How to preserve your immunity?

Lifestyle and homeopathy: actions and useful therapy to preserve immunity

The body’s ability to defend itself, in particular, against aggression can be weakened by various factors. A healthy lifestyle and an adapted diet help strengthen its immune defenses.

What is immunity?

Immunity is our body’s ability to defend itself including, against aggressions caused by substances that threaten its proper functioning such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, and malignant cells as well as aggressions caused by foreign bodies during injury.

What can weaken our immune system?

In addition to serious chronic diseases, chemotherapeutic treatments, and age, which all weaken the immune system, there are also other factors that can exhaust our natural defences, notably:

• A poorly balanced diet (whether in quality or quantity);
• Lack of activity or, on the contrary, too much physical activity;
• Lack of sleep;
• Contact with toxic substances such as cleaning products, phytosanitary products, insecticides, etc;
• Outdoor pollution and pollutants inside the home;
• Obesity;
• Stress

The good news is that this list constitutes many levers that we can act on each day, both naturally and simply, to help maintain or preserve our defences.

What can we do to preserve our immune system?

Adopting a healthy lifestyle gives us the best chance of stimulate our immune system.

• Eat a healthy and balanced diet: we cannot stress enough the importance of eating sufficient quantities of fruit and vegetables, proteins and “good fats” on a daily basis.
• Regular moderate physical activity: in addition to benefiting the cardiovascular system, weight control efforts, and blood pressure maintenance, exercise improves blood circulation as well as the circulation of various immune system substances.
• Better manage stress, which can have a negative effect on health if it is constant. The hormones it releases damage the immune system when produced for long periods of time.
• Get an average of 7 hours of sleep each night.
• Refrain from smoking.
• Maintain a weight appropriate to your height.
• Respect basic rules of personal hygiene to avoid contracting illnesses (and transmitting them): wash your hands regularly, sneeze into your elbow, and clean and dress wounds.

What foods can help maintain our immune system?

Food is a source of health capital, and certain foods are good for our immune system:

• Foods containing vitamin A: the livers of fish and farm animals are rich in vitamin A. Vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, dandelion, parsley and other herbs, lettuce, spinach, etc. are also good sources.
• Foods containing vitamins B6, B9 and B12
  • Vitamin B6 is found in products of plant origin, such as cereals in all their forms, vegetables containing starch (rice, potatoes, wheat, corn, etc.), products derived from soya and fruits other than citrus fruits. It is also found in foods of animal origin: beef, veal, pork and poultry liver, as well as fish.
  • The main food sources of vitamin B9 are legumes, leafy vegetables, liver, brewer’s yeast and wheat germ.
  • Vitamin B12 is found in offal (especially liver), fish, eggs, meat, milk and other dairy products.
• Foods containing vitamin C: fruits (such as blackcurrants and citrus fruits) and vegetables, including parsley and red peppers.
• Foods containing vitamin D: fatty fish, cod liver oil (which is particularly high in vitamin D) and egg yolk.
• Foods containing vitamin E: some vegetable oils, cod liver oil and certain nuts.
• Foods containing copper, selenium, zinc and iron
  • Copper is notably contained in offal, shellfish, molluscs, and oleaginous plants. Significant amounts are also found in liver, dark chocolate, oysters, potatoes, and certain mineral waters.
  • Selenium is found in fish and other seafood, meat, eggs, and oleaginous plants (particularly Brazil nuts).
  • Zinc is found in meat, offal, cheese, legumes, fish, and other seafood.
  • Iron is particularly found in liver, all types of meat, fish and other seafood, legumes, nuts, cereals, egg yolk and green leafy vegetables.

Homeopathy: a useful tool to help preserve immunity, especially as winter approaches  

The arrival of the cold season, the decrease in sunlight, fatigue, the stress of going back to school and increased time indoors (where pathogens circulate easily) make our body more vulnerable. Even if we are careful to maintain a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet, the body becomes less adept at resisting external aggressions. This is the time to give it a boost to preserve our immunity, and in the event of an illness, to alleviate symptoms and facilitate a return to health.

Homeopathy is a solution that can help everyone maintain their immunity. The homeopath considers the individual as a whole, including his or her history, living environment, psychological state and, of course, health. Thus, by considering each person as a unique whole with specific needs, homeopathy provides a response specifically adapted to each person.

References:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunité_(médecine)

https://www.passeportsante.net/fr/Actualites/Dossiers/DossierComplexe.aspx?doc=aliments-booster-systeme-immunitaire

https://www.irbms.com/defenses-immunitaires/

https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-03040322/document (page 101)

https://ciqual.anses.fr

https://www.anses.fr/fr/content/vitamine-caroténoïdes-provitaminiques