Can you boost your immune system?

With the arrival of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, every quack, snake-oil company and family member started shouting about concoctions that “boost your immunity” to protect you from COVID-19. India’s very own Ministry of AYUSH has been harping on about it from day 1, while peddling prophylactic use of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddh, Homoeopathy and Naturopathy to boost your immune system.

That begs the question, can you boost your immune system? In a way, yes, but not in the way the promoters of alternative medicine want you to think. But there are ways to keep your immune system healthy and functioning optimally. Let’s dig a little deeper into how the immune system works, how to keep it healthy and whether or not it can protect you from infections like COVID-19.

What is your immune system, and how does it work?

Your immune system is a complex interplay of specialised cells, tissues, proteins and enzymes that protect your body from damage from external, or even internal threats.

I don’t want to go too nerdy on this, even though I did want to be an immunologist when I was a kid. But let me explain it in brief.

The immune system has 2 primary aspects to it:

The innate immune system that we are born with. This includes not only your already active immune system, but also your skin that’s a physical barrier to the outside world and your endothelium that lines your blood vessels. This layer helps blood clotting and the proper passage of immune cells through it to get to deeper tissues.
The adaptive or acquired immune system that we develop as we grow. The innate immune system works with the acquired system to detect new infections and fight them.

Here’s a super simplified story of how it works:

The Scout

When you get infected with a disease, a type of white blood cell (leukocyte) called phagocytes (some of which are called Macrophages), which circulate throughout the body, find the infection’s antigens, use it to find the germs and then eat it. The phagocyte then sends out a signal to the rest of the body that it’s found an infection. This triggers other parts of our immune system to kick in.

The Battle

A type of T lymphocyte, also known by its cooler name, Killer T Cell, promptly goes in search of infected cells in our body to assassinate them. Then, B lymphocytes, or B Cells, along with Helper T Cells release antibodies when an infection is detected.

Going in for the Kill

These antibodies spread out across the body and cover the invading bacteria or virus and mark it for killing as soon as they find it. These antibodies, along with memory cells of the immune system also “remember” each new infection through their antigens so that if they reencounter it, they do quick work of getting rid of it. This is a part of your acquired immune system since it keeps learning and developing as you go through life.

Meanwhile, the Battle Ground is taking a beating.

While this is going on, your body is helping the immune system fight the infection. In the case of, say, the flu or COVID-19, we get a fever. This happens because the hypothalamus raises body temperature, which slows down the replication of the virus but also gives you a headache because of the dilated blood vessels in your head.

Runny noses are a sign of the body draining mucus from the body to wash away dead cells and germs. The sore throat happens because the virus is probably multiplying there and the immune system is fighting it, so there’s bound to be inflammation and discomfort.

Aches and pains happen as the immune system isolates and wipes out infections in other parts of your body.

All in all, it’s your immune system that makes you feel so crappy when you’re sick, but then you know it’s working. It’s best now to take a few days off, stay in bed, stay hydrated and as well-fed as you can be while your body fights the battle. Of course, call your doctor while you’re at it.

How to boost your immunity

Now that we know what your immune system does, how do we boost it? Is it even possible? Does that mean we will have more immune cells or that our immune system becomes extra aggressive? We don’t know because the term “boost” is too vague to really mean anything. Having an overactive immune system can also be a bad thing.

Overactive or dysfunctional immune systems can sometimes attack your body’s own tissues as if it’s a disease. This could lead to autoimmune diseases like Type 1 Diabetes, Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis and Lupus or even allergies, where your body attacks otherwise safe foreign materials like peanuts, seafood, pollen or skin lotions.

First, a bit of a tangent: The Hygiene Hypothesis

One way that this can happen is through what is called the Hygiene Hypothesis, which was developed in the 1980s by David P Strachan, professor of epidemiology for the British Medical Journal, a well-respected scientific publication. It claims that the body needs exposure to germs and allergens to develop a robust immune system which understands the differences between the friendly occupants of the body or food and disease-causing bacteria or viruses.

If you’ve watched the horribly misinformative clip from the Plandemic documentary and seen the two owners of a Bakersfield acute care clinic, Drs. Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi, claiming the exact opposite of the Hygiene Hypothesis — that staying inside during the lockdown weakens the immune system. Not to go off on too much of a tangent, but there are two things wrong here:

Our homes and family members are usually filled with massive amounts of germs that keep our immune systems healthy without any trouble at all. Don’t freak out! This is all usual, everyday stuff that our bodies deal with.
If you are an absolute clean freak, who sanitises our whole homes and don’t let our kids play in the dirt, then you are probably not going to have a weakened immune system but rather one that starts attacking your own tissues because it has nothing else to fight.

Besides, staying inside for a couple of months is probably not going to have a profound effect on your immune system anyway.

On the long run, when there isn’t a planetary pandemic going around, it’s a good idea to not get too obsessed with cleanliness and let your kids play in the dirt. It may be helpful to maintain a healthy immune system.

Vaccines

If you consider the building your immune system’s ability to fight infections, then we can “boost” your immune system by using vaccines. A vaccine, as I mentioned earlier, can arm the immune system to fight a specific disease without making us sick. This is probably the only way we have to reliably prepare the immune system and make it more efficient, as much as the anti-vaxxers want to deny it.

However, there are some ways we can ensure our immune system is healthy above and beyond getting vaccinated (including the flu shot. Get it. I’m not kidding.)

Herd Immunity

This a very important aspect of immunity, but it isn’t inside your body. Many people can’t get vaccinated due to some disorders or allergies or have compromised or weakened immune system because of an organ transplant, some other ailment like AIDS or just age. To protect these people, everyone else around them should be vaccinated so they don’t pass on the disease to them. So vaccines don’t just protect us. They protect those whose immune systems aren’t strong enough to fight infections.

Nutrition

As I’ve mentioned in another article, one of the more essential factors of maintaining a healthy immune system is getting the right nutrition. It’s not just about Vitamin C or Vitamin D. It’s about all the vitamins and minerals that you can get from your diet, which are in animal proteins as well as fruits and vegetables. Maintaining a healthy diet over the long term will ensure that your body and its immune system have all the nutrition they need to function correctly.

Staying well hydrated is also something one should keep in mind. This isn’t something that may directly influence the immune system but hydration has a profound effect on how your body functions. Don’t drink too much water or anything. Just don’t ignore your thirst and you should be fine.

Sleep

Losing sleep is bad, m’kay. It’s ironic that I’m writing this at 4 am, which means I really should be heading to bed soon and getting my 7–8 hours of sleep.

Moving on, the fact remains that losing sleep affects almost every aspect of your life. Mental acuity, energy levels, sex drive, body weight, cardiac diseases, diabetes and many other things can be profoundly affected by sleep deprivation and none of them in a good way. Your immune system is also one of these aspects. Getting enough sleep every night consistently is essential for a healthy body that can fight off infections.

How much sleep is enough?

Just think about how many hours usually lead to you waking up naturally and feeling good throughout the day. For me, it’s around 7 ½ hours. For you, it could be 6 or 10. Most health organisations recommend 8–9 hours. You need to figure that out for yourself. There are tons of apps that track your sleep that could help you with that.

Stress

Stress is a far more complex aspect of our lives. It’s that fight or flight response that prepares us for extreme situations. Some of us thrive on it, and some of us can’t function under it. But it’s essential to our lives, especially with hectic jobs.

Physical and mental stress can push our minds and bodies to achieve things we didn’t think we could before. Short bursts of high-stress activities like studying for a test, preparing for a presentation, or even training for a marathon or some other competition, can help you tremendously. And science says short bursts of stress can be useful for your immune system too.

However, as it is with everything, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Continuous levels of high stress can have a detrimental effect on your whole body and mind, along with your immune system.

How to manage stress

Indulging in fun activities like watching movies, reading, catching up with friends on video chat or playing with your family members, pets or friends who are at home with you. Also, try not to binge too much on social media as that may not chill you out. Catching up on your reading or learning a new skill or developing a new hobby can all be fun, productive things that lower stress. You could also meditate. Oh, and working out helps too.

Woman wearing a surgical mask looking up into a light

Exercise

Nobody is sending WhatsApp messages telling you to work out to build your immunity, are they? Maybe you can start the trend.

Exercise is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves. If there ever was an elixir of life, a magic potion that wards away illness, fight stress, lower the symptoms of depression and other mental illnesses, get better sleep and maintain a healthy weight, this is it. It’s probably the only panacea I know.

This is because exercise puts the body through a healthy amount of stress. Impacts due to running and jumping and resistance training strengthen your bones and muscles, warding off arthritis and symptoms of old age. The cardiovascular system gets stronger, and your circulation improves to get your blood to deeper tissues. Your lungs increase in capacity and function more efficiently. Almost every organ in your body benefits from working out. It also helps you lose weight and keep it off.

As it is with everything, too much exertion can have a temporary negative effect on your immunity. Still, short term regular exercise like maybe 30–40 minutes every day — like going for a walk, doing other cardio exercises or working out with weights — can have improved circulation and lead to a more resilient, responsive immune system. Especially when at home, getting regular exercise will definitely lower your stress levels and improve your sleep. I’ll add a few links for home workout regimes at the end.

All this said, exercise’s impact on your immunity is relatively minimal and still not clearly understood. A lot of the studies I’ve cited are relatively prelimary. Work out to stay healthy. The immune system will probably follow.

Supplements and alternative medicine to boost your immunity

This is where it all started. Fitness influencers, alternative medicine practitioners, the Indian Government’s Ministry of AYUSH and your uncle’s WhatsApp forward are all screaming about boosting your immunity to save yourself from the coronavirus. This has also been happening from the time snake oil was “invented”.

As I’ve mentioned before, no one thing can “boost your immunity”. The immune system is a wildly complex interplay of cells, proteins, enzymes and multiple other components. Each one is maintained by many nutrients and other factors like sleep, stress and body fat content along with environmental factors.

So no matter what people are saying you should eat, drink, breathe in or inject to boost your immunity, it’s probably not going to make much of a difference, if any. Many of these things are also untested for effects and side effects so we don’t know what they’ll do, what unintended side-effects they could have on your system or how they’ll interact with your medication.

About Vitamin D

First, a disclaimer, Vitamin D isn’t a magic potion and it won’t make you immune to COVID-19. However, Vitamin D may have an important role to play in immunity since a lot of its cells have receptors for the nutrient but their role is still not completely understood. A lot more study needs to be done to know for sure.

That said, this is a vitamin a lot of us are deficient in and is good for overall health, so it’ll be wise to make sure you’ve got enough of it, especially since we aren’t going out much these days. Typically, 1,000 to 4,000 IU per day should be sufficient for most people. Or you can take a 60,000 IU capsule once or twice a month. Just please, pretty please, check with your doctor first. Overdosing on it can be dangerous so be careful.

The Bottom Line

Let’s be perfectly clear about this. No one is immune to COVID-19. No magic potions, pills or supplements can change that. Why? Because this is a virus, no human has encountered before. Our immune systems don’t know how to deal with it. Once we get a shot of the vaccine, our immune system will learn how to fight it. And that will protect you from the coronavirus, unless it mutates, of course.

Until then, physical distancing, washing your hands frequently and wearing a mask when you go out are the only things we can do to protect ourselves from this coronavirus.

And to give your body the best fighting chance, make sure you do these things:

Eat plenty of fruits and veggies and a well-balanced diet on the whole.
Get some exercise in to simulate a healthy stress response and burn some fat while you’re at it. A healthy body, after all, means a healthy immune system.
Manage your chronic stress
Get enough sleep
Don’t smoke
Don’t drink too much. Just the occasional relaxing drink should be fine but avoid binge drinking. That will also put your body at a disadvantage.
Cook your food thoroughly
Stay home
Stay safe

Hopefully, with these boxes staying checked, you should give your body and your immune system the best chance it has to fight off any infection, whether it’s COVID-19 or anything else. Just don’t believe the random huxters, charlatans and social media forwards for your health advice. Only accept scientifically accurate sources and reliable organisations like the WHO and the CDC.

Have you received any dubious messages about boosting your immunity? What do you think of the Indian government promoting such ideas? Let me know, comment below.

Until next time, stay safe, stay home and be rationable.