With the pace of life only getting faster by the day, it is natural that our health and immune system are threatened by a number of lifestyle factors.
Lifestyle factors such as stress, urgency, lack of sleep, and a poor diet can all weaken immunity, as evident from many researchers and calls for paying attention to some of the most prominent lifestyle factors having a negative impact on our immune system.
The first is obesity which is associated with adipose tissue inflammation and increased risk of infection. Obese people have high leptin (white blood cell supporter) but their immune cells and phagocytes become unresponsive.
The next is sleep in which the immune system is affected by sleep and rest; sleep deprivation is detrimental to the immune system. Complex feedback loops involving cytokines and tumor necrosis factors influence and are influenced by sleep. Better sleep improves B cell function and inflammation, by itself can reduce sleep.
Smoking is detrimental to the immune system which damages your lungs and negatively affects the immune system function.
Stress causes inflammation, hence negatively impacting the immune system, and raises cortisol levels which weakens the immune system. This can also damage the body’s own cells trigger immune system responses and make you more prone to infections.
Processed foods increase inflammation and oxidative stress, hence harming the immune system. This also increases rates of cancer and allergic and auto-inflammatory disease.
Role of a healthy gut: The most important structures are the barriers between the inside of the body and the outside which keep unwanted organisms and molecules away from your body. Skin is an important barrier but only one part of the defensive barrier. The gastrointestinal tract is the largest barrier between you and the outside world.
Along with being a driver for a lot of lifestyle diseases, sugar affects the body’s ability to fight bacteria, viruses, and infections. When you consume too much sugar:
White blood cells are not able to perform their job in its presence. It affects the infection-fighting mechanism of the body. It also increases the production of inflammatory proteins, thus negatively affecting the immune system. It may inhibit the response of phagocytes and neutrophils and increase the chances of autoimmune diseases. Sugar can activate an enzyme that causes dysfunction of neutrophils (which destroy the invading microorganisms)
SUGAR PARALYSES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Also depresses the immune system by encouraging the overgrowth of a yeast organism namely Candida albicans, naturally present in small amounts in the gut.
But sugar intake increases the growth of candida causing bloating, gas, depression, low energy levels, and a host of many other problems.
Sugar is also associated with the inability of the immune cells to tag and identify harmful pathogens and destroy them.
The first line of defence is to adopt a healthy lifestyle as following good-health guidelines is the easiest and simplest step you can take toward naturally keeping your immune system working at its best.
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