The importance of a healthy immune system

It can feel quite heavy with all the health doom and gloom in the press and on social media. The limited access to dental and medical professionals, extended waiting lists, and rising reports of illness within society are like a foggy cloud hovering around us.

Take the issue that does the rounds of root fillings causing cancer. The different bacteria, they say, are the issue, are found throughout the body as part of our normal microbiome. Just because microbes exist in our bodies doesn’t mean that they automatically cause disease.

Disease-causing bacteria only cause disease when the environment is right, and they are allowed to exist in sufficient numbers. If our body stays in balance, our immune system is designed to keep disease-causing microbes at bay. However, if our body environment changes negatively for long enough then disease will set in.

So, when the world around us feels out of control, the one massive thing that each one of us can leverage to improve our health outcomes is to maximise the potential of our amazing immune system.

Our immune system is designed to keep us healthy. It uses a complex network of compounds, cells, tissues and organs to fight infections and disease. Practically everything we do can either have a positive or negative effect on our immune system.

Immune system boosters include getting a good night’s sleep, increasing daily exercise (even walking like you are late), increasing vitamin D levels (catch those sun rays), daily deep breathing practice, meditation or prayer, keeping your gums healthy and eating natural foods.

The other side of the coin is to reduce the immune system baddies, like stress, smoking, and the mountain of modern chemicals we are unfortunately increasingly exposed to. Even my cats won’t eat the supermarket-cooked chicken. Peruse the food label, and you’ll find it contains many ingredients from your friendly laboratory, hence the unnatural pong.

These synthetic ingredients in highly processed, refined junk foods are chipping away at our immune system, causing it to stall and our cells to misfire, which allows disease to proliferate.

So, try to take comfort from the fact that by strengthening your immune system, you can lower your risk of a new illness or potentially reverse an existing illness.