Your immune system is one of the greatest defenses God has given your body. When it’s strong, it protects you from illness, inflammation, and disease. When it’s weak, your body becomes more vulnerable to attack.
We live in a world filled with pathogens, viruses, and bacteria — which we can’t see or predict. The good news is, you have more control than you might realize. You can equip and arm yourself with the natural defenses your body needs to stay strong, healthy, and resilient.
You might ask yourself, what are some simple things I can do to be better prepared?
Below you will find 9 simple, but effective ways to build your immune system to help you stand strong and live in lasting health:
1. Consume Cayenne
Cayenne Pepper is an anti-inflammatory spice. Cayenne is a hot, red chili pepper that contains the chemical capsaicin, which gives this spicy fruit its anti-inflammatory properties. Cayenne has been praised for its health benefits and is known to reduce plaque that has accumulated in the blood vessels by helping to break down and dissolve fatty deposits that restrict circulation. This cleansing effect supports healthy blood flow and aids in maintaining clear, flexible arteries. It is also a vasodilator, which means that it dilates or opens the veins — allowing oxygen and nutrients to flow more freely throughout the body, strengthening the cardiovascular system and supporting a healthy immune response.
Cayenne helps increase circulation, reduce inflammation, and strengthen your immune system.
2. Decrease Sugar Consumption & Increase Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which helps to destroy the free radicals that damage the body and can lead to sickness and disease. Vitamin C also helps the body produce more white blood cells, which are key to fighting infections and are vital to healthy immune function.
An interesting fact about Vitamin C is that it has a similar molecular structure to sugar, and sugar competes for space in the cells of the body where vitamin C is needed. If you eat sugar with vitamin C, the sugar will overpower and interfere with the absorption of the vitamin C.
In one meal, eating high amounts of sugar can knock your immune system out for up to five hours because of sugar’s relationship to vitamin C and the cells of the body.
3. Make Sure You Have Your Daily Dose of Vitamin D
Research shows vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk for viral infections, including respiratory tract infections, by reducing the production of proinflammatory compounds in the body.
Vitamin D helps boost your body’s natural defense against viruses and bacteria. It also helps prevent excessive inflammation, which has been shown to contribute to severe illness and slower recovery. Maintaining healthy levels of vitamin D helps your immune system function properly and strengthens your overall health.
4. Eat Foods High in Zinc
Zinc is considered an essential nutrient, which means the body can’t produce it and the body can’t store it. Because of this, we must get a constant supply of this mineral through what we eat.
Zinc boosts our immune system by increasing white blood cells, and the white blood cells defend against invaders. Lower zinc levels correlate with higher inflammation. Good levels of zinc help to ensure a healthy immune system. You can obtain the necessary levels of zinc from eating foods like chicken, beans, and nuts, or through supplementation.
5. Reduce Stress to Enhance Your Immune System
All stress causes a release of cortisol. The cortisol release causes excessive inflammation in the body, and inflammation creates a continual environment for disease and sickness.
Excessive inflammation lowers killer B and T cells, decreasing the body’s ability to fight viruses, infection, and disease. Stress is inflammatory, and it makes you more vulnerable to getting sick.
If you are struggling with stress, here are a few stress reducers: exercise, breathe slowly, take a time out, meditate, and pray.
6. Increase the Amount and Quality of Sleep You Get
Sleep is essential to every bodily function including recovery and developing a strong immune system.
There are a couple of primary sleep issues that could increase the likelihood of illness and increase the severity of the symptoms:
- Sleeping less than 7–9 hours daily does not allow the body to produce cytokines, which are a type of protein in our immune system that target infections. Cytokines are produced and released during sleep. Your body needs sleep to fight off infectious diseases and to help you build your immune system.
- Disrupted circadian rhythm affects eating, digestion, immune response, and sleep. Our circadian rhythm is our internal body clock that responds to light and dark signals — helping us to sleep at night and stay awake during the day. When this natural rhythm is off, it can create a state of inflammation and hinder immune function.
Some tips to help you get the necessary sleep to maximize the health of your immune system: exercise daily, turn screens off early, limit caffeine, go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, and meditate or pray before bed.
7. Manage Your Weight
Excess body fat is one of the most common conditions linked to weakened immune function. Carrying too much fat increases inflammation, decreases lung capacity, and puts more stress on the organs of the body.
By losing excess body fat, you strengthen your body’s ability to fight disease. It’s important to start a good nutrition and vitamin regimen with a moderate exercise program — this will help you decrease excess body fat and build your immune system.
8. Pray and Meditate
Prayer and meditation are powerful tools for health and healing.
The connection established through prayer and meditation is powerful — especially when you’re feeling isolated, afraid, or uncertain. When we pray, we get the opportunity to rewire our old negative thought processes and pathways, replacing fears and doubts with faith.
Prayer and meditation relieve stress and bring calmness, even when faced with adversity. They elicit a relaxation response that offsets fear and anxiety. The stress reduction associated with prayer boosts your health and allows your immune system to function in better harmony.
Prayer may also help you feel less isolated and less alone. It does not have to be complicated — simply ask God for strength, guidance, and peace.
9. Follow a Healthy Exercise Regimen
It is well established that exercise improves immune function and aids in reducing inflammation. When working out, the body heats up, creating an environment where germs cannot survive. This heat in the body has similar effects to when the body has a fever — without experiencing sickness. It helps the body resist bacteria, germs, and viruses.
It’s important to add both cardio and resistance training to your daily regimen. They help to heat up your body, reduce stress, and build physical toughness and resilience, so that there is a wall between you and sickness. Cardio exercise adds quantity to your life — helping you live longer. Whereas, resistance training adds quality to your life by strengthening muscles, joints, and bones. Keeping yourself strong and fit not only supports longevity but also serves as protection against illness, allowing you to live each day with greater strength, freedom, and vitality.
Final Thoughts
By following these 9 simple ways to build your immune system, you will strengthen your defenses and empower your body to do what it was created to do — heal, recover, and thrive.
Having an effective plan brings peace and comfort, which promotes better sleep, lower stress, and greater overall health.
Remember, God designed your body with the ability to heal itself — your job is to give it the tools it needs to do what He created it to do.
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