How to boost your immune system and fight infection

Jan 27, 2021

In March 2020 just as the country was about to go into lockdown for the first time, I produced this video to help people focus on the proactive steps they can take to boost their immune system and fight infection.

This video is still as relevant now in January 2021 as it was then. Perhaps in fact more so as we continue to wait for effective vaccines to be developed for all strains of the virus.

Have you ever suffered from a common cold or flu and you've really struggled to get over it in a time manner similar to your friends or your family have done and it takes you a lot longer?

Or perhaps you're much more susceptible to common colds or flus, or infections?

This used to be me. Back in 2016 I used to commonly have sinusitis infections, constantly going to the doctor to get antibiotics as I wasn't able to fight those infections myself.

It was really wearing.

I'd go on holiday breaking from work, I'd get floored, my immune system would crash and I'd end up sleeping for a really long time. If this is you I hope this will help you.

What I learnt when I took back control of my brain and whole body health is that when you've got your wellbeing and energy levels in check, everything else improves.

So here I really want to talk about how can you boost your immune system and fight an infection.

Why is it important?

Because we are now in an epidemic of a coronavirus, which is spreading around the world and there's four phases that we can talk about and I want to talk about today.

There are four phases that we can talk about with regards to dealing with an infection:

  • Phase 1 - Prevent
  • Phase 2 - Resist
  • Phase 3 - Treat
  • Phase 4 - Recover.

With regards to coronavirus, the at risk groups as identified by the UK government are:

  1. Those with a lowered immune system
  2. Older people
  3. People with long term health conditions, including diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease.

If you know anybody that is at risk, please share this blog if you think this could help them. This series is intended to be educational. Please talk to your healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.

There's five aspects to focus on to help you boost your immune system and fight an infection. These are conveniently remembered by the mnemonic VIRUS:

  • V - Vagus Nerve
  • I - Inflammation
  • R - Resilience
  • U - Understanding
  • S - Sleep.

V is for vagus nerve

What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas when we are talking about the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve connects your brain to your heart to your gut and other parts of your body.

It's the reason why we get butterflies when we are nervous and that sick feeling in our gut when we are anxious. So we call the gut the second brain. It's so important when we look after our gut health it looks after our whole body and our brain health.

When the gut works right, you work right.

Our gut is our fist line of defence to fighting infections, so that's where we start. If we look at the gut lining, it's a single cell thick called the mucosal cell, and when it's working well, we've got lots of good bacteria in our gut, not so many bad bugs.

They say the relationship should be 85% good bugs to 15% bad bugs, and when that's working well we've got nice tight junctions that stops infection entering our blood stream.

When it's not working well the gut lining starts to break down, we've got an imbalance of good bugs to bad bugs - too many bad bugs, and it makes it easier for the viruses and bacteria to pass through our intestine and into our bloodstream. This is typically called leaky gut.

Focus on the steps you can take to feed the good bugs and avoid feeding the bad bugs in your gut to build a healthy microbiome. To learn more click here.

I is for Inflammation

Focus on consuming food and drink that reduces, rather than fuels inflammation. Manage your stress levels. To learn more click here.

R is for Resilience

Here we look at the four circles of the Wellbeing Warrior framework - your emotional, physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing - how you feel, what you do (including work and habits), how you think, and how you connect with yourself and others.

Check in with your feelings - focus on the positive, do healthy daily habits such as exercise to strengthen your immune system, don't believe every crazy thought you have, and connect with people that support you strengthening your immune system.

To learn more click here.

U is Understanding

Understand what habits are helping and hurting your immune system. Understand your why - why do you exist, why do you care about boosting your immune system, why is your wellbeing important to you? To learn more click here.

S is Sleep

Crucial in helping you resist and recover from infection. Your brain washes itself each night of toxins, so it's important that get a quality night's sleep. Avoid things that steal your sleep and set up sleep-healthy habits.

To go into more detail on each aspect visit the following blogs:

To summarise what was discussed over this five part series:

  • V - Vagus Nerve: Focus on eating the foods and doing the appropriate activities that boost the good bugs and don't feed the bad bugs
  • I - Inflammation: Eat foods that decrease inflammation and avoid food and lifestyle choices that boost inflammation
  • R - Resilience: Looking at your emotional, physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing, using the mnemonic FACTS™️ - how you Feel, Act, Connect, Think and Sense your surroundings
  • U - Understanding: What is helping and hurting you and why you care - why it's important
  • S - Sleep: Adopting sleep healthy habits and avoiding activities that can steal your sleep.

To learn more about how I can help you can boost your brain health and performance register for a FREE Unleashed Strategy Call at: https://calendly.com/ruthmaryallan/1-on-1-free-unleashed-strategy-call.

If your business is seeking support on how to build the resilience of your workforce during these testing times, to schedule a FREE 30min business consultation, please visit: https://calendly.com/ruthmaryallan/business-enquiry.

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