8 Things That Damage Your Immune System
Your immune system and your health are directly related. So, the stronger your immune system is, the more protection you will have against viruses and other illnesses that attack your body. You are more likely to get colds and viruses when you have a weak immune system. In fact, most of your daily habits directly impact your immune system, especially as you age. That’s why it is really important to live out a healthy lifestyle if you want to feel good. To help you do this, we are going to share with you some of the habits and things that damage your immune system.
Things that damage your immune system: too much sugar
The first of our things that damage your immune system is sugar. Eating too much sugar can reduce the immune system’s capacity to fight germs by 40%. Studies have found that sugar affects the body 5 minutes after it is eaten and its effects last for 5 hours.
You need to have a good source of Vitamin C if you want the immune system to work properly. When you eat too much sugar, it begins to eat away at the Vitamin C in your body. As a result, it starts t destroys the cell structure of your immune system.
Read more: Health Benefits of Consuming Less Sugar
Drinking alcoholic beverages
Alcoholic drinks have a lot of negative health effects. Alcohol doesn’t let your body absorb essential nutrients, and this which leads to a deficiency. When a person drinks too much alcohol, it keeps their white blood cells from multiplying.
As a result, cells take in strange particles like the proteins known as Tumor Necrosis Factors (TNF). You can develop a weak immune system when your body doesn’t produce enough cells.
Allergens
The immune system perceives harmless things such as dust, pollen, smoke, and other particles to be a threat. This causes it to go into alert mode. Consequently, it creates an allergic reaction that destroys the cell wall that keeps harmful substances out. As a result of this, your immune system is left in a vulnerable position.
Not sleeping enough
Insomnia is one of the most common disorders today. Having more than one job, stress, and depression, among other things, keeps you from getting the sleep and rest you need.
The University of Chicago carried out research on people’s sleep patterns. They concluded that people who sleep 4 hours or less a day only produce half the amount of antibodies to fight colds than people who sleep 8 hours or more a day.
Stress
Experts have also shown another one of the things that damage your immune system is stress. It negatively affects both your physical and your mental health. A person’s immune system begins to weaken when he or she is constantly dealing with stressful situations.
They begin to lose the ability to fight infections, viruses, and germs. The number of white blood cells decrease as a result of this and the immune system weakens. The same thing happens to people who are dealing with a traumatic event or depression.
Using other people’s things
People often transmit germs and viruses by sharing things that are for personal use only. Unfortunately, people don’t stop and think about what these things may have been used for.
They use them without taking any sort of precautions. you shouldn’t however go to the other extreme and get obsessed about germs. But it is good to know where these objects have been in order to try to contagious germs or infections.
Abusing antibiotics
Antibiotics are made to fight and treat serious infections. They can be really effective, but if you take them too often your body can build up a resistance against these antibiotics.
As a result of this you will become more prone to infections and diseases. Studies have shown that people who constantly take antibiotics have a weaker immune system and get sick more often.
Being sedentary
Not getting enough physical activity has become one of the biggest health problems in our society. Many people suffer from obesity, cardiovascular diseases, weakened immune systems, and other conditions.
When a person doesn’t get enough exercise, has a poor diet, and isn’t very active throughout the day, more toxins and stress can build up, which makes him more likely to get sick. We recommend you exercise at least 30 minutes a day, eat a healthy diet, drink water, and do things that make you happy in order to avoid stress.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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