Our immune defenses are always active and carry out an important job in supporting the well-being of our organism: if in optimal conditions they are able to cope with external attacks on their own, however, stressful situations for our organism often put them to the test test, with important repercussions on our quality of life. Among the factors that most influence the well-being of the immune defenses we remember stress (which is certainly not lacking in the modern lifestyle), the change of season (which as we have seen puts the immune system to the test and affects our biorhythms), but also the use of antibiotics, alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, excessive weight and so on.
Let us remember that the immune system - which, as everyone knows, fights attacks coming from the outside (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) - also has an important function from an internal point of view: it is in fact committed daily to intercepting and eliminating " crazy cells" which, if left free in our body, can form, for example, tumor masses. In short: a series of good reasons why it is in our interest to ensure that the immune system is always in the best conditions to protect us and fully carry out its task.
The well-being of the immune defenses depends both on natural biorhythms and on the lifestyle we lead, net of personal predispositions. To help our defenses, we can first of all lead a healthy life, taking care of ourselves day after day: when we need it most, nature comes to our aid with a series of precious active ingredients.
Elements that reduce the well-being of the immune defenses
The change of season is always a delicate period for our immune defenses: the human body follows precise biorhythms linked to nature and during the change of season (particularly when we move towards winter) the body is subjected to significant stress. In this period, skin-related problems such as dermatitis worsen, depressive pathologies can have a resurgence, changes in hormone levels can make us feel more tired and nervous and so on.Stress , often a chronic state linked to the lifestyle one leads, is an important factor in the well-being of the immune defenses: it is a natural response to extreme, dangerous situations (stressful, in fact), which require an immediate response from of the organism. This is a very important reaction, as it allows animals, for example, to react immediately to situations in which the speed of response can mean survival. Modern lifestyles, however, tend to distort this natural response, making it chronic on the one hand, and unsuitable for external stimuli on the other. In this situation the immune system is subjected to an extra workload: if prolonged over time, stress therefore makes our immune defenses less efficient (to make a comparison with our lives, we can think of when we have too many tasks to perform and on the one hand we are unable to complete them in the best possible way, on the other we probably end up leaving some behind).
Antibiotics : we might think that these medicines help our defenses, and in fact on a general level they are. The problem is that antibiotics can damage the intestinal bacterial flora, which is of fundamental importance in the well-being of our immune system. Indeed, simplifying we could say that it is precisely here that a large part of our immune defenses is born. If the intestinal bacterial flora is no longer able to perform its task as best as possible, our defenses will also be affected. This is one of the reasons (not the only one) why antibiotics are a precious help, but they must be used consciously and only when they are really needed (also paying attention to what we eat).
Other elements that have a negative impact on our immune system are, for example, a poor diet (both because it can impoverish the intestinal bacterial flora, as seen above, and because proteins have an important function in the formation of the immune system), a sedentary lifestyle and - but there is little we can do about this point - advancing age , as white blood cells become less effective as the years pass.
We therefore have a series of factors that we can actively combat with our lifestyle : taking care of ourselves is always the first step towards our well-being. When we need it most, nature comes to us with a series of active ingredients that can be of great help: Vitamin D, uncaria, Vitamin C, papaya, echinacea and other supplements can constitute an important support for the well-being of our immune defenses .
