In order to be healthy, one must look inward. Most people think of only workouts and diets when it comes to taking charge of their health. However, they forget an important factor-a well-functioning immunity.
The human body is a strategic machine, and immunity is its first line of defense, against ANY OUTSIDE stimuli, which include bacteria, viruses, and even just the air around.
Improving immunity can go a long way in making sure that when the time comes, you are ready to combat colds, fevers, coughs all the way up to more serious illnesses, like COVID -19. It’s not as if just eating healthy foods is enough to improve immunity, it is about a combination of the effort of exercising, water intake, and an array of other factors that can contribute to your immunity.
To understand it better, let’s look at the different types of immunity to understand what you can do to improve each one. Immunity can be classified into 3 types.
1. Natural Immunity
Human beings are born with some degree of natural immunity to counteract any external antigen. It includes the external barriers of the human body, like skin and mucous membranes, the types that are found in your nose, throat and gastrointestinal tract. If, for some reason, this line of defense is broken, like a cut or a deep bruise, then the cells in the skin start immediately to heal themselves and they do this by attacking the germs that have entered the body through this cut.
2. Adaptive and Artificial Immunity
This type of immunity changes and adapts throughout the course of human life. It means immunity that you’re not born with, but immunity that you’ve cultivated. Simply put, this happens because every time a body gets sick, it learns to cure. Vaccination is a type of artificial immunity.
3. Passive Immunity
This type of immunity is the most short lived type of immunity because it comes from ‘borrowed’ sources. For example, a mother’s milk has antibodies which helps the infant develop immunity on the strength of the mother’s nutrients, because she has already been exposed to diseases and her body has already made the antibodies needed for protection, which she then passes onto the infant.
Now that we’ve established why immunity is so important, let’s move on to how to improve it. We live in uncertain times right now and it is prudent to do everything possible to ensure that our bodies are given a fighting chance. With COVID 19 still very much active in our communities, increasing your body’s defense is a sure-fire way to remain healthy.
As mentioned earlier, it’s not a particular intake of a particular set of vitamins that is enough to increase your immunity. Here’s a look at what you can do to ensure that your body’s defense line is strong and ready to face the world.
1. Exercise
Exercise isn’t just good for burning off calories, it keeps your body agile and active. This exertion helps in growing your stamina, which in turn helps to keep your body in fighting shape. Going to the gym is quite a commitment, but an excellent choice for exercise is Yoga. You can practice it at home and there is truly no other exercise that works both on a physical AND mental level.
2. Drink Water
Drinking plenty of water flushes out the toxins from your body and helps with everything from weight control to amazing skin. Water intake also contributes to ensuring that the body is staying clean while it gets stronger from the right diet and plenty of exercise.
3. A proper sleep schedule
Getting the right kind of sleep rejuvenates the body and getting enough sleep ensures that the body indeed has the energy to function the next day. It’s simple, sleep is an essential factor because all defenses need their rest too.
4. Healthy and Balanced Diet
Incorporating fruits and vegetables in your diet will improve your immunity because citrus fruits like oranges, mosambi are high in Vitamin C and roughage like Spinach and Lettuce are rich in fibre, iron and Vitamin A and B. An iron deficiency can lead to you lower immunity in Anemic people, which is why it is essential to eat foods that are rich in nutrients that your body needs.
Another excellent way is to use fortified oil, which is just cooking oil that has been made with vitamins and nutrients added to it, so you can be sure that you’re getting the daily intake you need. Emami’s new Smart Balance Oil is a refined and fortified oil that is easily accessible and India’s first such product to be made with immunity boosters. This product is a blended edible oil made up of 75% Refined Soyabean oil and 25% Refined Rice bran oil. This oil is fortified with Vitamin A, C, D and E which boost the immunity, as well as Omega 3 which improves cardiovascular health. Making the switch to Smart Balance Oil is a smart choice that can improve your immunity on a daily basis without too much change in your diet.