By Dr. Stacie Stephenson
Whether you’re still basking in summer sunshine, or already in back-to-school mode, flu season may be the furthest thing from your mind. However, late summer to early fall is officially pre-flu season, and that means you have a unique opportunity to shore up your immune reserves before you really need them.
How do you do that?
The immune system consists of a complex network of reactions within and all through the body, especially in the gastrointestinal tract. It normally works quite well to fend off viruses, bacterial infections and even cancer cells, while also healing injuries and resolving illnesses. That is, as long as we don’t interfere with its functioning, which, unfortunately, many people do.
Common lifestyle habits can negatively impact immunity: Smoking may be among the worst, but also imbibing more than one or two alcoholic drinks in a day, eating a nutrient-poor diet, not getting enough sleep and maybe most significantly, chronic stress.
The good news is that you have the agency to get your immune system ready to take on fall and winter viruses simply by changing a few aspects of your everyday life. Here’s how to take the reins and give your immune system the support and nutrients it needs to function the way nature intended.
Drink less alcohol.
A glass of wine with dinner isn’t going to bring on the flu, but overindulging can make you more susceptible, especially over time. Excessive alcohol intake—which for women starts at just two or three drinks in one day—has long been associated with poorer immune function, including in the respiratory system. Scientists think this is largely due to alcohol’s effects on the digestive tract, including its impact on the composition of gut bacteria, which is significantly involved in immune function. Alcohol causes inflammation in the GI tract and also compromises the friendly microbes that help establish and direct immune function, weakening immune defenses. If you really want to be ready for flu season, I advise limiting your alcohol intake to one drink, and not every day. If you save alcohol for special occasions only, all the better.
Eat an immune-friendly diet.
Food is your primary interface with your GI tract, and therefore, with important aspects of your immune system. Food can provide—or not—supportive nutrients, inflammation-quelling antioxidants or inflammation-promoting elements, and many other influences that can either support or interfere with an appropriate immune response. With every meal and snack, you get to decide how you want to treat your immune system. One of the worst things you can do for your immune system is to eat a lot of processed foods and refined sugar, which minimize nutrition and promote inflammation. Even a short period of poor eating, such as extra sugar and less fiber and nutrients over the holidays, can have a negative effect on immunity. Sugar in particular can be damaging. Specifically, a high-sugar diet can result in high blood sugar, which can cause systemic inflammation that weakens the immune system, making it hard to fight off infections.
One of the best things you can do is to eat a lot of high-fiber foods, which feed the friendly microbes in your microbiome. Antioxidant-rich foods, especially ones containing vitamin C, reduce inflammation and promote immune health. That means lots of foods with bright colors, like berries, dark leafy greens and citrus fruits, as well as dark chocolate (hooray!), salmon, olive oil, and nuts and seeds. Foods with probiotics—like yogurt, kombucha, kimchi and miso—also benefit microbiome and immune health. Probiotic and vitamin C supplements can provide an insurance policy and build an even firmer foundation for strong immunity.
Prioritize sleep.
We spend a third of our lives sleeping—or, we ought to. For many of us, however, sleep often feels elusive. Yet, it’s incredibly important. Sleep has a profound effect on immunity, chronic disease, healing and inflammation. In other words, you don’t want to go into flu season
sleep-deprived.
To help with sleep, I suggest improving your sleep hygiene by creating a calming evening routine, turning off screens and overhead lights at least an hour before going to bed, keeping the bedroom clean, cool and dark, and refraining from stressful activities in the evenings. Plan your next day so you can let go of worry, and if you can, watch the sunset. As the season progresses and the sunset gets earlier and earlier, you may find you get more sleep naturally, as your circadian rhythm gets into sync with natural light.
De-Stress.
The most disruptive element of lifestyle and health may be chronic stress. Stress is a part of life, and many people don’t see it as something they can do something about. It’s true that you can’t ever eliminate stress. However, if you never get a break from it, stress can begin to wear down your immune system reserves. Our bodies know how to respond to stress, but also require recovery time for optimal physical, mental and immune health.
You can build that recovery time into your day by taking time each morning and evening for short sessions of deep breathing, meditating, praying, just relaxing, decompressing, planning, dreaming, thinking, or just doing nothing at all. This was the subject of my recent book, Glow, which helps readers establish a twice-daily mental health break of just 15 minutes or so, to give the nervous system time to wind down and switch from sympathetic (fight or flight) mode into parasympathetic (rest and digest) mode. This recovery time is critical. Research shows that chronic stress directly disrupts the immune system, which can lead in some cases to an overactive immune response —the basis of autoimmune disease—or decreased ability to fight off viral infections such as influenza. Just imagine: A few minutes to relax and de-stress each morning and evening could actually help you avoid the flu. That’s good medicine!
Quit smoking and vaping.
Everybody knows smoking is bad for your health. Not only does smoking suppress the action of the cells that kill pathogens, but it can sap the body of vitamin C and alter the development of immune cells such as B cell and T cell lymphocytes. It also impairs the immune system’s ability to remember pathogens it has encountered before. However, if you vape, know that recent research suggests vaping also significantly impairs immune response, especially in the airways, which is exactly where you need it when you encounter a respiratory virus. In fact, inhaling anything, whether it’s smoke or vapor containing nicotine, THC or anything else, can damage the lungs and DNA, and make you more susceptible to respiratory infections such as influenza and pneumonia. For optimal immune function, the only thing you should be inhaling is clean air.
A few more key things to remember: Wash your hands frequently, especially before you eat. Get out of the habit of touching your face. And if you do catch a bug, try not to expose others.
Beyond commonsense strategies, some of these lifestyle changes may sound challenging, especially for those who are in the habit of drinking alcohol every day, eating processed food, staying up too late and living with chronic stress. However, my mission is to empower people to recognize that they really do hold much of their health destiny in their own hands. I hope that simply knowing better habits will prevent illness, missing work and being stuck at home multiple times. Do what’s good for all aspects of your health. Protect your immune system! drstaciestephenson.com