5 Effective Ways to Boost Your Immunity

1. Reduce stress in your life
Stress may have positive effects as it is a kind of training before real run, however excess of stress has negative effects and does great damage to your body. Health experts claim that stress decreases immunity and this makes body vulnerable to diseases. Learn to relax and occupy yourself with things you really like. This would have positive effects on your nervous system.

2. Enjoy regular sex
Remember that sex not only relaxes your body and gives pleasure, it also boosts your immunity. Studies showed that regular sexlife (ideally, with permanent partner) is a key to strong health. Latest study examined the connection between health of middle-aged people and sexual activity. Researchers came to the conclusion that people who lead regular sexlife have significantly better health condition than those who make sex rarely.

3. Smile more, laugh more
Researchers tried to find a connection between body protective functions and laugh. It turned out that those who truly laughed during watching cartoons showed immune functions increase.

4. Lead an active life
Regular exercises and generally physical activity do greatly train heart and persistence, they help to increase protective functions of the body and immunity. Spend 15 minutes each day for making exercises. Ideally, spend one hour three times a week.

5. Take up a family pet
Dog is called man's friend for a reason. Among with other pets dog brings a man joy and does not let him seat at one place but instead to move, thus helping to improve human health. It was proved that in these people blood pressure and cholesterol levels get normalized, heart health and vessels health get improved.

Lack of Sleep and the Immune System

A group of researchers from Great Britain and Netherlands studied how human body reacts on lack of sleep. Like stress, lack of sleep (including chronic one) has negative effects on the immune system. 

During stress human body starts to produce granulocytic cells, a kind of leukocytes. Lack of sleep has the same effects. It was proved by a study in which participated 15 young people who slept 8 hours  daily during a week, after which they did not sleep for 29 hours.

Tests have shown that 29 hours of insomnia provoked not only increase in production of granulocytic cells but also break in rhythm of renewal of white blood cells. It was proved that lack of sleep may cause different diseases such as obesity, diabetes and increased blood pressure.

Researchers also say that chronic lack of sleep leads to absorption of body immune system. In the very near future they intend to make one more study during which they plan to study body reaction on stress at molecular level in order to understand how exactly lack of sleep provokes different diseases.

Scientists consider that results of the study are an occasion to overview schedule of work in professions which are connected with long periods of awakenings, for example, where people work in rotating teams.

Low Dose of Stress Strengthens Immunity

It is well known fact that chronic stress is destructive for the body, however, low doses of stress may be helpful. According to a research, acute stress has positive effects on human nature, makes him more accurate and punctual, and sets up his immune system.

During experiments scientists subjected participants to small stress by making them solve simple and difficult tasks, and then invited them to play a game connected with the ability to share. It turned out that those who experienced more stress, were more friendly, generous and trustworthy.

Acute stress helps to better memorizing, say scientists from Buffalo University, USA. Experiments were performed on rats and they showed that stressed animals digest information more quickly and do reproduce it more exactly. The point is that stress hormone cortisone has protective effects on prefrontal parts of brain cortex which controls emotions and learning.

Low dose of stress strengthens the immune system. Review of 300 scientific works showed that chronic stress weakens defense mechanisms of the body making it more vulnerable to infections. Short-term stress trains the immunity, making it more willing to fight pathogens.

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Keep Your Immune System Strong

A number of scientists claim that weak immune system is a result of natural aging process. Dr. Fillips says that it is enough just to change lifestyle to make immunity much stronger. “Eventually, the way we take care of our heath determines the way our immunity system takes care of us.” Here are the ways you may keep your immune system strong.

Eliminate Stress
From the earliest times scholars suspected stress to weaken immune system. At present time, there are many proves of this theory. An experiment was made. Four hundred volunteers used nose drops with virus of catarrhal disease, and group of 26 volunteers used placebo (i.e. drops without virus). Then in both groups was measured stress level in their blood and then they got new dozes of vaccine. As a result, in people with high stress level the probability to get diseased was two times higher than in those who had low stress level. In group of 26 people no one got diseased.

Scientists say that stress contributes to steroid hormones production in atrabiliary capsules which suppress activity of immune system. It is up to you to choose how to fight stress. You should begin with next activities: play with your children, pets, work in the garden, etc. Also you may meditate, practice yoga or read an interesting book.

Have Enough Sleep
“Sleep is a repair shop of immune system” - says Dr. Fillips. During sleep you rest with your body and mind but your immune system keeps working. It must guard your health but it requires less energy to strengthen defense mechanisms. Insufficient sleep has negative effects on your immune system. Scientists have stated that when people lose 3 or 4 hours of their sleep, their immune system activity reduces by 30%.  The conclusion is that you must sleep not less than 6 – 8 hours a day.

Quit Smoking
Tobacco smoke contains formaldehyde, a substance that paralyzes macrophages in lungs. This makes human more vulnerable to the diseases of upper respiratory tract including influenza. So you should give up smoking if you smoke.

Make Regular Exercises
Moderate physical activity prevents from microbes assembly in lungs and strengthens immune system which helps to accelerating of antibodies circulation in blood. In order to keep your immune system strong you should practice aerobics, walk, jog, swim or ride a bike 20 minutes a day.

Study to Look at Writing as Stress-Reducer Among Alzheimer's Caregivers

A University of Iowa researcher is conducting an Internet-based study to see if writing about their thoughts and feelings about care-giving can be a strategy to help those family caregivers reduce their stress.


Alzheimer's Caregiver Study Invites Participants

Newswise — For families who provide care to Alzheimer's patients, stress and isolation can be a burden that's hard to carry. A University of Iowa researcher is conducting an Internet-based study to see if writing about their thoughts and feelings about care-giving can be a strategy to help those family caregivers reduce their stress.

Family members who provide care for patients with Alzheimer's or other conditions of memory loss will be asked to write about their experiences related to their care-giving roles for 20 minutes on three occasions during a week. Participants in the study may write in their homes or wherever they have access to a computer that is most convenient to them.

Participants in the study do not need to be "good writers" or worry about spelling or grammar because it is the effect of the writing that is being studied.

As a means to measure the effect of the writing on reducing stress, study participants also will be asked to complete five questionnaires.

Howard Butcher, Ph.D., UI associate professor of nursing and principal investigator of the UI Informatics Initiative-funded study, will evaluate whether expressing stress and other emotions in writing is a helpful way to deal with the often difficult emotions of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or a condition that involves problems with memory.

Written expression has been used with people who have experienced stressful and traumatic situations such as job loss, abuse, natural disasters and loss of a spouse. The strategy involves participants writing about their thoughts and feelings. Previous research by Butcher has shown that this type of writing promotes psychological and physiological health benefits after just three 20-minute writing sessions.

The studies have shown that writing helps trauma survivors make meaning out of their life circumstances. This cognitive process can result in physiological changes in the autonomic and immune system by reducing stress and facilitating coping.

For more information about participating in the study, visit https://swee.iowa.uiowa.edu or call Butcher at 319-335-7039.

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Bob DeMarco is the Founder of the Alzheimer's Reading Room and an Alzheimer's caregiver. Bob has written more than 1,880 articles with more than 95,100 links on the Internet. Bob resides in Delray Beach, FL.

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