Have you recently had the flu?
Your nose runs, you had a sore throat, headaches, and body pains. You felt hot all the time. Your appetite disappeared and you probably took a sick day off and stayed in bed. It felt horrible, didn’t it? If your immune system let you down and the bug may have knocked you down and out.
Did you know if you have a poor or weak immune system, you may suddenly become sickly, have severe symptoms, slow healing, and recovery? You may also have frequent, unusual, repeated bouts of contagious or opportunistic infections including coughs, colds, flu, sore throat, sinus, bronchitis, pneumonia, meningitis, stomach flu (gastroenteritis), diarrhoea, nose, ear or lungs infections, thrush, sepsis, or abscesses.
What is poor immunity?1
Poor immunity is when your immune system is under pressure and not performing the way it should. This can lead to infections and can pose a serious health risk. If you have poor immunity, you may frequently feel fatigued, sick, weak, feeling unwell, rundown or under the weather, stressed, moody or irritable and experience skin outbreaks or tummy troubles.
Your immune system affects every part of your body because it is a complex network of cells and organs including your white blood cells, skin, gut, proteins, and chemicals which work together as a first and second line of the body’s defence for your protection against various infections, diseases, free radicals, and microscopic germs or pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa, parasites, and foreign bodies. Research suggests that a low immune system can bring on or worsen certain symptoms as will be experienced in your body, mind, emotions, relationships, performance, and behaviour.
What contributes to a poor immune system?
Your immune system may be weakened or put under pressure by stress, antioxidant deficiency, poor nutritional intake, smoking, alcohol, poor sleep, and unhealthy hygiene habits among other possibilities. Seasonal or weather changes, genetics, age, gender, obesity, hormonal imbalance, medical history, health status, life-stage, and environmental exposure can affect immune health and function.
The immune system can also be weakened either because of receiving immunosuppressive medications or treatment or because of an underlying medical condition such as HIV or AIDS, cancer, diabetes, autoimmune illnesses, liver or kidney disease, obesity, nutritional deficiencies, and alcoholism.
Why do we respond differently to infections, vaccines, diseases, or allergies?5,6
Our genetic makeup, age, gender, infection track record, medical history, health status, lifestyle, life-stage, and environmental exposure can affect our immune system function and immune response.
The good news is you can maintain a healthy immune system and support its functions with these easy self-care tips & Nativa Complex® Immune Health range.
References:
InformedHealth.org [Internet]. Cologne, Germany: Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG); 2006-. How does the immune system work? [Updated 23 Apr 2022]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279364/
Bhupesh Panchal (14 September 2021) Weak Immune System | What is immunodeficiency?. Accessed 25 November 2023 Available from: https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/the-health-hub/conditions/immunity/guide-to-low-immune-systems/
Sharon Brown (12 January 2021). Bonafide Provisions: Why it’s Good to Get Sick (and You Should…at Least Once a Year)! Accessed 25 November 2023. Available from: https://www.bonafideprovisions.com/blogs/blog/why-its-healthy-to-get-sick
BBC Science (19 April 2021). How does the body fight off a virus? Accessed 25 November 2023. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20140324060410/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/22028517
Marco A. Sotomayor (23 July 2022). Let’s Talk Science: The Surprising Reason You Feel Awful When You’re Sick. Accessed 25 November 2023 Available from: https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/stem-explained/surprising-reason-you-feel-awful-when-youre-sick
THE INSTITUT PASTEUR (28 February 2021) The Research Journal: The factors that most affect our immune system. Accessed 25 November 2023 Available from: https://www.pasteur.fr/en/research-journal/news/factors-most-affect-our-immune-system
