5 Ways You May be Damaging Your Immune System

Sometimes there are really obvious signs you may be doing your body more damage than good. Other times you may not even know that your habitual activity could be posing a real, potential, future health challenge. Take a moment to peruse these 5 ways you may be damaging your immune system to hopefully grab it by the tail before it gets away.

The White Dark Prince

You’ve heard it a thousand times, “You know? Sugar is bad for you.” Most people laugh it off or tell themselves they deserve a treat or create excuses that they need a “sugar fix” and on and on. However, in reality, eating processed sugar (white crystalline sugar refined from cane or beet juice that has stripped away all vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber) is practically synonymous to slowly delivering a toxic drug into your system that could eventually take its toll.

Processed sugar consumption has been shown to “…reduce the germ-killing ability of white blood cells by 40 percent. After consuming sugar, its negative effects start suppressing the immune system in less than 30 minutes and can last up to five hours.”

Sugar also taxes the immune system by causing the pancreas to produce high amounts of insulin which stays in the system once the sugar is broken down. One side effect of excess insulin is its negative affect on hormone production.

A study conducted by Dr. C. Keith Connors of the Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, stated that, “…a ‘deadly’ link was established between the consumption of sugar with carbohydrates (such as breakfast cereal, cake, and biscuits) and violent behavior, hypertension, and learning impediments.” (HPS)

Lay off the processed sugar for good. In due time your taste buds will readjust and these foods will become too sweet to consume. Instead, stick to fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables instead (not jarred or canned).

Drink Up

Yes, it seems simple enough, but if you’re not drinking enough water you could be holding on to toxins that are taxing your immune system. Drinking eight glasses of water a day has been discredited due to an assumption made by a doctor rather than scientific evidence.

However, if your skin is dry, your muscles ache, you’re fatigued, you have bags under your eyes, and your hair is brittle these are potential telltale signs that your system may be lacking hydration.

Eight ounces or more of room temperature water, four to eight times per day, may help. Cold water is okay but room temperature is much easier to rapidly assimilate. Try some extra hydration and see if there’s an improvement in your overall well being.

Lay Off the Lard

C’mon, you know better than to eat simple, fattening, processed foods. Don’t fall into the same sugar excuses here. Eating pizza, fries, white bread, cookies, cake, and the like are surefire ways to poke your immune system in the eye. As your body attempts to utilize these empty calories it can result in weight gain, headaches, joint pain and even diabetes, to name a few.

“A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy revealed that fatty food inhibits the body’s ability to fight bacteria. In the study, mice fed a lard-based diet over an extended period became worse at fighting bacteria in the blood.”

Stick to healthy, complex fats that your body can actually use rather than confuse. Healthy fats include avocados, nuts, salmon and whole grains.

Make a Micro Deposit

A major portion of your immune system can be found in your gut. This area is abound with good and bad bacteria living in symbiotic harmony that enables the body to keep the immune system furnace burning. Once too much bad bacteria forms or a majority of all bacteria is killed off due to diet or antibiotic use, the immune system can go sort of haywire.

Keep your good bacteria in check by taking a probiotic supplement on an empty stomach each day. Talk to your doctor about the best protocol depending on your health history or current pharmaceutical protocol.

Shut it Down

If you’re getting four to six hours of sleep per night you are almost certainly on a path to poor health or at least a subpar quality of life. Sleep is one of the easiest health elixirs but many take it for granted and refuse to shut it down early enough to clock in a full seven to nine hours per night.

“University of Chicago researchers found that men who slept only four hours a night for one week produced half the amount of flu-fighting antibodies in their blood (jump-started by a flu shot) compared with those who slept 7½ to 8½ hours.”

Get more sleep and feel better. It’s as simple as that.

These 5 ways you may be damaging your immune system are a simple look at some easy opportunities you can target and fix what may pertain to you. Don’t wait until your body is forced to play “catch up” with good health but instead keep your immune system firing on all cylinders, at all times.