3,600 seconds in an hour, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – your immune system is at work around the clock throughout your entire life, performing at its best every day. Your silent companion in everything you do! It is your shield against bacteria, viruses, and harmful cells.
How important is the immune system really, how does it work, and how can YOU support it and keep it strong so it can work optimally?
How important the immune system is
Your immune system is a fascinating natural system made up of various hardworking organs and body cells.
May we introduce? Your superheroes:
- Immune organs such as tonsils, lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, and bone marrow
- Mechanical and biochemical barriers like skin and mucous membranes, oral cavity and oral flora, stomach and stomach acid, intestinal tract, gut flora and gut immune system, respiratory tract, and urinary tract
- Cellular defense, white blood cells such as phagocytes and killer cells, etc.
- Fluid defense like antibodies, interleukins (messenger substances of immune system cells), and the complement system
Together they are strong in the fight against viruses, bacteria, and other invaders that want to harm your body: They neutralize pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi and remove them from your body. On top of that, they detect all environmental toxins and neutralize them so they pose no threat to your body. And – last but definitely not least – they fight pathological changes such as cancer cells.
How the immune system works
Did you know that the immune system can be divided into an innate and an acquired part? Both are closely connected, support each other, and are responsible for a well-functioning immune defense.
The innate defense, as the name suggests, is present from birth and represents the first line of defense. Special components of the blood, called phagocytes, recognize viruses or bacteria as soon as they enter the body. They then engulf and destroy these foreign cells.
Sometimes, however, the phagocytes fail to detect or completely eliminate the pathogens. That’s when the acquired defense comes into play, consisting of specialized defense cells that your immune system has developed over your lifetime through exposure to various pathogens. The defense cells of the acquired immune system include, for example, white blood cells. They can mark specific pathogens with so-called antibodies and identify them as dangerous to the phagocytes.
As long as your body's defense works smoothly, it goes unnoticed. But if it fails because it is weakened or cannot cope with aggressive pathogens, you become ill.
The good news: In most cases, we can influence how vigorously our immune system fights viruses and bacteria – because if we take good care of it, it works well.
How you can support your immune system
How can you help it?
With regular exercise outdoors! Even a walk in the forest strengthens the immune defense because the effort gently stimulates and thus trains it at the same time. Additionally, Japanese scientists have discovered that tree communication, i.e., communication between plants using chemical compounds called terpenes, strengthens our immune system. These bioactive substances are absorbed by the body through breathing or the skin, stimulating the immune system and significantly increasing the production of natural killer cells that fight bacteria and viruses.
Also important: enough sleep, because when you are tired, the number of defense cells in your body decreases, and your immune system can no longer perform at its best.
Relaxation time is also an essential prerequisite for a healthy immune defense. If the body is not allowed to rest, exhaustion occurs, creating ideal conditions for the multiplication of pathogens.
Another very important point is the intake of sufficient micronutrients and secondary plant compounds – without these, your immune system would fail within a very short time.
Here are a few example immune system heroes:
Vitamin C – the ultimate immune booster! Vitamin C acts both as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, protecting cells from nasty invaders like bacteria or viruses. The German Nutrition Society therefore recommends a daily dose of 95-110 mg/day. However, if cold symptoms occur, taking up to 2 g of vitamin C per day can alleviate symptoms! A 2013 study confirmed that the duration of colds in adults was reduced by an average of 8% when more than 0.2 grams of vitamin C were taken daily during the cold. In children, the average cold duration was even reduced by up to 18% when the daily dose of vitamin C was one to two grams.
Get enough sunlight, as it promotes the body's own production of vitamin D, which in turn supports and regulates the immune system. If your body has too little vitamin D available, bacteria and viruses have an easy time causing annoying infections – especially respiratory infections. Some studies have shown that taking 2–4 µg of vitamin D helps prevent respiratory infections like colds! Because sunlight exposure is very low, especially during the winter months, the sunshine vitamin – which is actually a hormone – should be supplemented during this time. Studies show that vitamin D levels in this country reach their lowest point for most people especially in March.
Zinc is also essential for the immune system: no zinc – no immune system! Certain immune defense cells cannot be formed without zinc. On top of that, zinc promotes the body's defense against viruses and bacteria and is responsible for the "memory" of our immune defense by helping the immune system remember previous contacts with pathogens!
Selenium is also important for your immune system, because one of the main causes of a weak immune system is free radicals, which – among other things – also damage our immune cells and are responsible for many chronic diseases and inflammations. Selenium is a crucial indirect antioxidant that protects your body cells from attacks by free radicals. Indirect means it does not act directly against free radicals but is responsible for the functionality of almost all enzyme systems that fight free radicals.
B vitamins – the detectives of our immune system.
Over the years, our defense system learns to identify hostile viruses, bacteria, and other unwanted invaders as pathogens. B vitamins support this recognition.
Additionally, vitamin B2 protects against oxidative stress and, together with vitamin B3, helps maintain healthy mucous membranes – important in the fight against runny noses.
Secondary plant compounds were long underestimated – but today it is well known that they also fulfill important protective functions in humans! Nowadays, many positive effects of fruits and vegetables are attributed to secondary plant compounds. Scientists have found that they have antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. This means they inhibit the growth and spread of pathogens like viruses, bacteria, or fungi on the one hand, and on the other hand, secondary plant compounds can neutralize free radicals, thus promoting health.
It’s amazing what the immune system accomplishes – every moment! You have it in your hands – actively support it with enough exercise, sleep, relaxation, and nutrients, and listen to your body when it sends you signals!
With that said: Stay healthy!
Sources:
https://www.gesundheitsinformation.de/wie-funktioniert-das-immunsystem.2225.de.html
https://www.wissenschaft.de/umwelt-natur/vitamin-d-macht-das-immunsystem-scharf/
https://www.kraeuterhaus.de/blog/tag/immunsystem/
https://www.carstens-stiftung.de/artikel/gesundheit-aus-dem-wald.html
