23 Facts About the Immune System and 14 Ways to Strengthen It

September 13 2012 | Body System Health | Immune Health | Respiratory Health

The immune defense system is the most diverse and fascinating of all the body systems. It's extremely complex and intricate. To help support your immune system, it's important to understand first how it works and the natural ways your body fights off disease and foreign invaders.

The Immune System Basic Function

The immune system gathers information on pathogens and disease, and then produces ammunition to isolate, neutralize and destroy invaders. The tonsils, thymus, spleen, bone marrow, and lymph nodes work as a team to protect the body.
Tonsils
The tonsils are masses of lymphatic tissue and produce lymphocytes that trap and kill bacteria entering the mouth and throat to gaurd the respiratory and digestive systems.
Thymus A lymphatic mass functioning in the programming of lymphocytes. It Produces and converts the B-cells into T-cells which are specialized to meet a particular enemy. The thymus produces a hormone called thymosin and acts as an incubator for the maturation of T lymphocytes. Stress shrinks the thymus.
Bone Marrow
Resides in the skull, ribs, shoulder blades, vertebrae, breastbone, and hip bones. It generates stem cells crucial to our immunity. Various stem cell types assist in regeneration and repair throughout our bodies.
Lymph Fluid
Lymph is a colorless blood serum derived from plasma that has leaked from the bloodstream into the tissue spaces and is recovered by a network of tiny vessels that separate it from the bloodstream. This fluid brings with it tissue toxins, excess fluid, dead cells, and microbes, removing them from the body.
Lymph Vessels
Tiny, thin-walled vessels made up of one-way valves that pump lymph fluid along by the contraction of nearby muscles during activity. Since muscle contractions serve to pump the plasma, we must exercise if we want to maintain the lymphatic highway or our immune system.

Our Immune Defense Fortress

Our defense system is set up like an army: protective barriers, specialised soldiers, manufacturing stations, transportation systems, storage areas and clean-up crews. The immune system's job is to defend the body. It's activated by invading organisms. Most respiratory symptoms are caused by the immune system. These symptoms are helpful, even essential, in overcoming an illness.
Protective BarriersOur skin is the outer wall of the fortress. The eyes, nose, and mouth are protected by mucous that captures harmful attackers. In the Nose are cilia, which are tiny hairs that trap particles. In the stomach, intruders pass through stomach acid that will destroy most of them.
Helpful Immune System Defense
Coughing is a natural reflex that expels disease-causing germs from the lower respiratory tract. It clears the lungs and bronchi of excess mucus, helping prevent pneumonia.
SneezingSneezing is a convulsive explosion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth. It is a protective reflex that clears the upper airway of germs, irritants, and mucus.
FeverFever kills invading organisms and “pasteurizes” the blood. It speeds metabolism and enhances delivery of oxygen and nutrients to sites of infection. It hastens removal of cellular debris and toxins.

Cause of Poor Immunity

Stress and the immune system
According to the CDC, as much as 90% of all illness can be directly tied to stress, because it breaks down the defenses of the immune system and opens the doorway to a host of injurious invaders.

• Chemicals 
• Cleaning agents
• Mold
• Pollutants
• Pesticides 

Toxic Exposure
It is estimated that 85% of all debilitating diseases are closely related to toxin-related pollution present in the environment. Some include:

Free Radical Damage

These toxins cause free radical damage. Free radicals steal an electron from a cell which disrupts and destabilizes it, which causes a chain reaction that moves from cell to cell. Free radicals knock out communications pathways between the cells of the immune system - according to Dr Jesse Stoff, MD. Free radicals suppress the body's immune cells, damage DNA and promote aging.

[Antioxidants are enzymes or other organic substances that quench or neutralise the effects of excess free radicals.

To appreciate the vital role that antioxidants play in health, you first have to understand free radicals, the substances that antioxidants combat.

• Free radicals are unstable organic molecules. They want to reach a stable form, but to do so they steal electrons from other substances. Unfortunately, by stealing electrons, they create new free radicals, causing a chain reaction throughout the body that can potentially damage healthy tissue and cells.

• We live in a world of free radicals - they’re all around us. In fact, many life-promoting functions actually create free radicals inside us. 
  

To combat free radicals the body turns to antioxidants.
Antioxidants are organic compounds that have extra electrons. Antioxidants are stable with or without their additional electrons, so they freely give them away to neutralize the harmful chain reaction of free radical stabilization and creation.
ANTIOXIDANT VITAMINS
A great deal of attention has been directed at the antioxidants vitamins A,C and E because of their function in protecting the cells from damage caused by natural body processes, lifestyles, and environmental and chemical pollutants.

These vitamins, along with the trace mineral selenium, help prevent important molecules and structures within the cell from reacting with oxygen, which often injures the cell structure. This process is called oxidation.]

Nutrient Lacking Foods

"There's no question the immune system is influenced by overall health -- and a balanced diet is key.  Not only are essential nutrients critical for the production and maintenance of key germ-fighting cells in the immune system, but a balanced diet also has a strong effect on vascular function, and the immune system is dependent on blood flow," said David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Yale Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut.

Lack of Sleep

The National Sleep Foundation states that 68% of Americans report suffering from sleep deprivation. Studies have shown that adults need an average of 8 hours of sleep each night. When sleep is interrupted the immune system cannot complete its defense cycle.

Sedentary Lifestyles

The lymphatic fluid is only active when our bodies are active. If you do not move, then your lymph system will become stagnant and toxic. This increases vulnerability to illness.

Antibiotic Resistance

Even though there has been a decline of infectious diseases over the last 60 years, bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to existing drugs. Many antibiotics are no longer effective at combating common diseases, and a  lack of research into new drugs means there is a dire shortage of alternatives.

The Roles of Antibiotics

Life-saving in some cases, but definitely overused in the U.S. Overuse produces antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” and is a world-wide public health problem. It's effective only for bacterial infections—not viral or fungal infections. Antibiotics kill bad bacteria and good bacteria, including friendly bacteria, probiotics in the gut.
Concern: No New Antibiotic Development“Research and development of new antibiotics isn't keeping up with development of resistance. If we don't do something about it we'll end up with a situation where all the old drugs have resistance and we don't have any new ones,“ said Dr. Kathleen Hollow
ay of the World Health Organization. In some parts of the world there is already antibiotic resistance to TB, Dysentery and Pneumonia.
Concern: Challenging Viruses
There is an increased concern about viral invaders, and it seems we are frequently being warned of a new ominous virus. Although new vaccines are being developed; they  only target several strains of viruses and side effects are a concern.
[Probiotic Eleven is a high potency, multi strain probiotic supplement which provides almost 12 billion bacteria per serving. The eleven strains of bacteria in Probiotic Eleven ensure you replenish your gut with a variety of beneficial flora, and each capsule contains a built-in prebiotic to nourish and spread the bacteria throughout the gut.]

Viruses

Viruses need a host cell
because they do not reproduce on their own. They seize control of a cell, and often the cell is destroyed during this process. Viruses include:
The Common Cold
One of the most common illnesses worldwide and caused by one of more than hundreds of types of viruses.
Symptoms of the cold include sore throat, low-grade fever, stuffy or runny nose, body aches, coughing, sneezing.

Respiratory System Diseases

There are numerous problems and diseases. They can include colds, bronchitis, croup, sinusitis, pneumonia and influenza.

Bronchitis Symptoms
Short-lived inflammation of trachea and large and small bronchi. Caused by viral or bacterial infection. Often follows cold or flu. Coughing is persisitent in its attempt to clear the mucus. Other symptoms include hoarseness, fever, wheezing and dull chest pain. 

Croup Symptoms

Viral infection causing swelling of vocal cords. It's most common in children younger than 6 years of age. Symptoms include barking cough and trouble breathing, and narrowing of airways may necessitate emergency intervention.

Sinusitis Symptoms

Infection or inflammation of sinuses caused by bacteria, viruses, or fungi. Symptoms include headaches, sinus pain and pressure, swollen nasal passages, fever, cough, post nasal drip, bad breath, cough, fever, and nasal congestion will often be present.

Pneumonia Symptoms

Inflammation of the lung or lungs caused by infection from bacteria or viruses. Symptoms include fever, chest tightness and discomfort, difficulty breathing, coughing, and wheezing. Over 3 million people develop pneumonia annually in the United States. It is the 8th leading cause of death in the United States. Most people who develop pneumonia initially have an upper respiratory infection.

  

Influenza or Flu Sympoms

Caused by a number of viruses. Symptoms similar to those of common cold but typically have sudden onset and are more severe. Can be life-threatening in the ill, the elderly, and the very young. It enters the body by breathing the air of someone with the flu who coughed or sneezed. The virus has an enzyme which enables it to penetrate the mucus lining in the respiratory tract and make a home there. The infection nests in cells lining the air passage and spreads to other cells.  

Nature's Sunshine Supplements that Support Immunity

Echinacea Blend Extract

Combines the synergistic benefits of the three most popular echinacea species for maintaining a healthy immune system.

Garlic - High Potency

Nature’s Sunshine offers you the finest and most potent garlic on the market with a special coating that helps control the garlic’s odour. When broken open, these tablets have a strong garlic odour unlike ‘odourless’ garlic products. Trade-secret processing and careful preparation of each tablet give Nature’s Sunshine’s High-Potency Garlic a special locked-in freshness coating. It contains chlorophyll, which controls odour while assuring a long, effective shelf-life. Because the tablet does not break down for absorption until it reaches the small intestine, you receive the full nutritional value of garlic without the undesirable taste. Moreover, comparing total allicin potential (TAP) with other leading brands shows that Nature’s Sunshine leads the industry. Nature’s Sunshine’s High-Potency Garlic is valued above all others for its great potency and superb quality. One 400mg tablet equals 1,200mg of fresh garlic, roughly equal to one clove.

Respiratory System Pack

Fenugreek & Fennel Combination is unique KEY SYSTEM Product.

• This formula contains only the finest quality herbs available, including: 
• boneset herb, horseradish root, mullein leaves, fennel seeds and fenugreek seeds.
• It is a traditional formula used by nutritionists for the respiratory system and provides specific nutrients that nourish the lungs.

MulleinKnown by many names, including ‘donkey’s ears’, ‘bunny’s ears’ and ‘velvet plant’. Its high mucilage content and mild saponins help to maintain a healthy respiratory system. Mucilage absorbs water and becomes slippery.

Silver Shield and Immunity

Silver Shield is a colloidal silver product that supports the immune system. Provides 90 mcg silver per serving. Does not harm the beneficial probiotic population in the gut. Silver Shield Gel is made with food-grade ingredients, contains no alcohol, is safe for children and acts as a skin moisturizer.

Building Your Immune Defense

Life style changes cost you nothing and can yield a large return! Identify the lifestyle habits you want to improve, such as:

1. Drink plenty of pure water
2. Exercise regularly
3. Sleep 8 Hours per night
4. Relax daily
5. Stop negative thought patterns
6. Lighten your toxic burden
7. Eat nutrient-dense foods