What I do with some is spread the word of information I find on the internet as I scope around looking for new research. When I saw the information in this link… I thought “why not” blog Dr. Linda White for the purpose in a blog that’s credible for building up immunity?
12 Strategies to Strengthen Your Immune System
Also, Modern medicine can help if you get sick, but for the most part it’s up to you whether you maintain good health.
If you want good health, here are tips to strengthen your immune system naturally.
There are Many Ways to Prevent Cancer???
By Linda B. White, M.D.
Infections are as inevitable as death and taxes. You spend your first years catching colds, influenza and strep throat. You sniffle, scratch, cough, vomit, ache, sweat and shiver. Your immune system remembers the microbes it has encountered and protects you the next go around. At the other end of life, your immune system wearies from the years of fighting. In that great expanse of active, productive life in between, you still get colds and flus and “stomach bugs.”
You may wonder why you are sick more or less often than your partner, co-workers and neighbors. You may wonder why one person hacking on the airplane successfully sickens the passenger to his right but not the one to his left. The answer is that not all immune systems function alike. A number of factors affect immune system health.
Some you can’t control: The very young and the very old are vulnerable.
Surgery and wounds give microbes a chance to sneak also into the inner sanctum. Other risks include chronic, living with lots of other people (dormitories, low-income housing), and drinking tap water (with its local microbes) in many foreign countries. Fortunately, there are many ways you can strengthen your immune system.
1: Eat Like Peter Rabbit.
Malnutrition impairs immune function. French fries, soft drinks and bourbon don’t build strong white blood cells either. No, it’s those virtuous, self-righteous diets high in fruits, vegetables and nuts promoting immune health, presumably because they’re rich in nutrients the immune system requires. Adequate protein intake is also important; the source can be plant or animal.
Medicinal mushrooms such as shiitake, maitake and reishi contain beta-glucans (complex carbohydrates) that enhance immune activity against infections and cancer and reduce allergies (cases of inappropriate immune system activity). While studies have focused on purified mushroom extracts, fresh shiitake and maitake (also called “hen of the woods”) mushrooms are delicious sautéed in a little olive oil.
One substance to avoid is simple sugar. Brigitte Mars, master herbalist and author of The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicines, notes that sugary foods and juices impair immune function; research bears her out.
If you’re a new mother, breast milk provides essential nutrients and immune system components to your developing child. Compared with formula-fed babies, those that are nourished at the breast have fewer serious infections.
Dr Richard Becker Shiitake Mushroom – Search (bing.com)
Medicinal Mushroom | Cancer Quick Facts (solitarius.org)
2: Stress Less.
When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands churn out epinephrine (aka, adrenaline) and cortisol. While acute stress pumps up the immune system, grinding long-term duress taxes it. For instance, psychological stress raises the risk for the common cold and other viruses. Less often, chronic stress can promote a hyper-reactive immune system and aggravate conditions such as allergies, asthma and autoimmune disease.
While most of us can’t move into a spa, we can learn to save our stress responses for true emergencies and not fire them up over stalled traffic, bad hair days and aphids on the begonias. Stress-reducing activities such as meditation produce positive changes in the immune system. Massage has also shown to improve immune function in studies of Dominican children with HIV. Quiet music can aid recovery from everyday hassles and may therefore buttress immune function.
3: Move Your Body.
Moderate exercise discharges tension and also stress and enhances immune function. In a 2006 study, researchers took 115 obese, sedentary, postmenopausal women and assigned half of them to stretching exercises once a week and the other half to at least 45 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise 5 days a week. At the end of the year-long study, the stretchers had three times the rate of colds as the moderate-exercise group.
4: Sleep Soundly.
Sleep is a time when growth-promoting and reparative hormones knit up the unraveled sleeve of daily life. Sleep deprivation also activates the stress response, depresses immune function and elevates inflammatory chemicals (which cause you to feel ill).
Chronic sleep deprivation raises the risk of the common cold. Mothers whose small children interrupt their sleep have more respiratory infections, particularly if those wee ones go to day care. In one study, after researchers inoculated volunteers’ noses with cold viruses (a reward was involved), men and women who habitually slept less than seven hours a night were almost three times more likely to develop a cold than those who slept eight hours or more.
5: Socialize More.
People with richer social lives enjoy better health and longevity than loners do. You may think that the more people you interact with, the more chances you have for picking something up. Not so. Again, researchers blew cold viruses up people’s noses and sent them into the world. Compared with the lone wolves, the social butterflies were less susceptible to developing common, if they did get sick, they had fewer symptoms for a shorter period of time.
Many of us count furred and feathered companions as friends, and it turns out they do us a world of good. Animals such as dogs and horses get us outside exercising. Stroking an animal stirs feelings of well — being, lowers blood pressure and, according to recent research, boosts the immune system. Researchers assigned college students to pet either a stuffed dog or a live dog. Those who petted a real dog had a significant increase in levels of salivary IgG, an antibody (immune protein) that fights infection. Those who petted the stuffed dog just felt silly.
6: Make more love.
While having lots of friends is healthy, science also shows that intimate, sexual relationships have immune system perks. Michael Castleman, renowned health writer and publisher of Great Sex After 40, writes, “A 2004 study shows that the close contact of lovemaking reduces the risk of colds.” Specifically, this study found that college students who had sex …once or twice a week… had 30 percent more salivary IgA antibody than those who had sex infrequently.
7: Shun Tobacco Smoke.
Tobacco smoke — triggers inflammation, increases respiratory mucus, and inhibits the hairlike projections inside your nose (cilia) from clearing that mucus. Children and adults exposed to tobacco smoke are more at risk for respiratory infections, including colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis and also middle ear infections.
8: Consume Friendly Bacteria.
Beneficial microorganisms colonize our intestinal, lower urinary and upper respiratory tracts. They outcompete bad “bugs” and enhance immune function. You can consume such bacteria in the form of live-cultured products such as yogurt, sauerkraut and kimchi. Probiotic supplements, available at natural food stores, may reduce the risk of antibiotic-induced diarrhea, viral diarrhea, vaginitis and respiratory infections.
9: Expose Yourself.
Vitamin D plays a number of important roles in promoting normal immune function. Vitamin D deficiency correlates with asthma, cancer, several autoimmune diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis), and susceptibility to infection (including viral respiratory infections). One study linked deficiency to a greater likelihood of carrying MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in the nose.
Unfortunately, nearly one-third of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient. Because few foods contain much vitamin D, your best bet is to regularly spend short periods of time in the sun (without sunscreen), and to take supplements in northern climes during the colder months. Guidelines for the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D, currently set at 400 IU/day, are being revised. Experts predict that the new RDA will be about 1,000 IU/day (25 ug/day).
10: Choose Vitamin and Mineral Supplements Wisely.
Studies link deficiencies of zinc, selenium, folic acid, and vitamins A, B6, C, D and E to reduced immune function. But scientists have yet to pinpoint …. exact levels of these nutrients for optimal immune function, much less whether dietary supplementation really helps the average, well-fed American. For instance, research on vitamin C for the prevention and treatment of the common cold has been inconclusive. Some micronutrients, notably vitamin A, can be toxic in overdose. Excessive levels of zinc paradoxically suppress immune function. A varied, plant-based diet and a good multivitamin supplement should meet your needs.
11: Immunize Yourself.
Routine vaccinations have a huge impact on reducing, and in many cases nearly eradicating, a number of infectious diseases. Most immunizations occur during childhood. Vaccinations for adults to consider include …. yearly influenza vaccines, tetanus boosters, also the shingles vaccine for people 60 and up, and also the pneumococcal vaccine for people over the age of 65. For more information, check with the Centers for Disease Control.
Please Note: I disagree with Dr. White on #11 and believe it should read as follows.
11. Immunize Yourself:
“Systematic diseases such as children’s diseases, fevers and all infectious processes exhaust the reserves of vitamin C and often rapid degeneration of the dental structures follow… The slow convalescence from fevers, pneumonia, etc. Is mainly due to increased requirement (of vitamin C) which is inadequately supplied at this time in the great majority of cases.
If the requirement happens to be greater than the intake for any reason, the patient declines into some fatal outcome such as heart involvement or a new infection is made possible by the low resistance. It is a tragic fact that no patient is known to die until his reserves of vitamin C are completely exhausted. No vitamin C can be found in any of the tissues of a victim of an infectious disease. Also remember adequate levels of vitamin D and Selenium is vitally important for a strong immune system. That is why pneumonia so often recurs several times in one winter in the same patient. Vitamin D and the shadow test – Search (bing.com)
12: Familiarize Yourself with Immune-Enhancing Herbs.
A long list of medicinal plants contains chemicals that enhance immune system activity, including echinacea, eleuthero (also called Siberian ginseng), ginseng (Asian and American), astragalus, garlic, and shiitake, reishi and maitake mushrooms.
Garlic is the favorite choice of many. In addition to boosting the immune system, it’s anticancer and antimicrobial against a variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Key ingredients don’t survive cooking, add a clove or two of raw, minced garlic to meals just before serving.
When someone in my family sniffles, and I make an immune soup based on a recipe Brigitte Mars shared years ago: Pretend you’re making chicken soup. Sauté onions, shiitake mushrooms and chicken, adding just enough water to keep the chicken from drying out.
Remove the chicken when it’s cooked and set aside. Add fresh vegetables such as carrots and celery. Cover with plenty of water. Toss in three or four astragalus roots (the pressed roots, also available in natural foods stores or from online herb retailers such as Mountain Rose Herbs and Pacific Botanicals). Toward the end of the cooking, add Italian seasonings (thyme, rosemary, oregano), which are tasty and antimicrobial, and the chopped, cooked chicken. Before serving, add fresh, pressed garlic (one to two cloves per person) removing the astragalus roots.
12 Simple, Natural Ways to Boost Your Immune System – Natural Baby Mama
Protect Yourself – 5 Natural Ways to Boost Immunity TODAY! – YouTube
11 of the world’s most dangerous hiking trails
Joe Minihane.
Hiking is often derided by adrenaline addicts as somehow lesser than more hardcore mountain experiences like climbing or skiing.
But as these challenging trails show, putting one foot in front of the other isn’t always the easy option.
To undertake these famous hikes, you’ll need more than just a hefty dose of gumption.
These routes are dangerous and for experienced hikers only. That means those with the right gear, the ability to get themselves out of tricky situations and a willingness to plan for the worst and pack accordingly.
Whether you want to try out a vertiginous English Lake District classic or tackle the “most dangerous hike in the world” in rural China, this list has got you covered.
Striding Edge, Lake District, England – Search (bing.com)
The Lake District’s famously changeable weather can make even the most bucolic of strolls a challenge.
But Striding Edge – a sharp arête leading to the summit of Helvellyn, the third highest peak in Lake District National Park – stands apart in this corner of England.
Hikers can choose to follow the paths that run along the side of the ridge, but for those keen on thrills, the ridge itself is where it’s at.
On a clear day, the views are sensational, stretching all the way to Scotland.
This is not for novices or the faint of heart: walkers will need to be prepared to scramble, have decent climbing skills for the final push to the top and know how to properly navigate if the clouds roll in.
Ice and snow make it lethal in winter, so preparation and a willingness to turn back are a must.
The National Park Service cuts right to the chase when it comes to the Maze.
The Maze, Canyonlands, Utah, United States – Bing video
It calls hiking here “very challenging,” warning of slick rocks and steep drops.
It’s the most remote part of Canyonlands, with visitors needing to negotiate long drives on dirt roads before setting out into the deep gullies, where rockfalls and flash floods are not uncommon and water from the area’s few springs is hard to come by (packing enough fluid for a multi-day trip is a must).
Park rangers demand all visitors share their itineraries and stay in touch as often as practicable. Those that do come will be treated to landscapes that feel utterly timeless and will be unlikely to encounter other people on their adventures, either.
HuaShan, China – Bing video
© Provided by CNN11 of the world’s most dangerous hiking trailsOn this trail, hikers must follow planks of wood bolted into the rock face. – Maciej Bledowski/iStock Editorial/Getty Images
This epic trail to the South Peak of HuaShan, one of China’s Five Great Mountains, is often billed as the most dangerous hike in the world, and for good reason.
To reach the summit, which stands at 7,070 feet, hikers need to scale uneven steps and a series of ladders before hooking themselves onto a chain using a harness and carabiners to traverse its renowned “plank walk.”
This is as basic as it sounds – planks of wood bolted into the rock face which you follow both up and down the mountain.
While many tourists come in just sneakers and T-shirts, this is not a place to arrive unprepared.
Proper hiking boots, plenty of food and water and a decent level of fitness are essential.
The Dolomites are home to a series of stomach-churning via ferrata (literally, ways of iron) – paths of metal rungs hammered into the rock during World War I, when Italian and Austrian troops fought fierce battles across the region’s limestone peaks.
Climbing Giro del Sorapiss, Italy – Search
Today, hikers looking for the thrill of climbing without the fear of long falls flock here during the spring and summer months.
The Giro del Sorapiss offers the biggest challenge of them all, starting from Rifugio Vandelli before heading high into the mountains along sheer rock faces and taking in three separate via ferrata.
Related video: GLOBALink | Stunning view of Lake Namtso in China’s Tibet
Related video: GLOBALink | Stunning view of Lake Namtso in China’s Tibet – Search (bing.com)
Hikers will need harnesses for clipping into the lines, as well as a helmet and ideally a guide who can provide the requisite equipment and show the way.
Multi-day hikes offer intrepid walkers the chance to test their skills to the limit, with changing weather and the need to carry ample supplies creating a real challenge.
Drakensberg Grand Traverse, South Africa and Lesotho – Bing video
The Drakensberg Grand Traverse certainly represents one. An epic, 230 kilometer (143 miles) journey that can take up to two weeks to complete, it kicks off with a climb up a set of chain ladders to the Drakensberg Escarpment, before heading over the border with Lesotho and eventually heading back into South Africa.
This long distance monster can be attempted alone, but hikers should be aware that the trail itself is more of a concept than a visible path, meaning anyone planning to head here will need all of the KZN Wildlife Drakensberg hiking maps, a GPS and enough food and water to last for the entire trip.
Spring or fall visits are recommended, avoiding the lush, hard-to-walk-on grass of summer and the bitter days of winter.
Cascade Saddle, New Zealand – Bing video
© Provided by CNN11 of the world’s most dangerous hiking trailsThe reward? Endless vistas of snow-capped peaks. – Ondrej/Adobe Stock
In the heart of Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand’s South Island, Cascade Saddle offers some of the finest mountain views in the world.
But having seen a number of deaths earlier this century due to slippery rocks and treacherous conditions, the country’s conservation department is keen to emphasize that this is a route “only for people with navigation and high level backcountry skills and experience,” warning those who do come to be prepared to turn back if things get hairy.
Completed over two days, with the option to camp or bunk up in mountain huts along the way, the route includes wild scrambles, rocky outcrops and hikes over ankle-cracking tussocky grass.
The reward is endless vistas of snow-capped peaks, including the stunning Mount Aspiring, also known by its Maori name of Tititea.
Kalalau Trail, Hawaii – Bing video
A 22-mile “out and back” along the Na Pali Coast of Kauai, the Kalalau Trail isn’t just Hawaii’s most dangerous hike: It’s one of the most lethal in the entire United States.
The jungle trail cleaves to the coastline, with the Pacific raging below.
You’ll need a permit to go beyond Hanakapiai Beach to Hanakoa Valley in order to camp either in the valley or at Kalalau beach.
While it sounds idyllic, the trio of stream crossings here can be brutal in the wake of heavy rain, when the water swells to extremely high levels.
Throw in a vertiginous path along Crawler’s Ledge and it’s a recipe for disaster for the inexperienced. Only those with proper outdoor smarts need apply.
Anyone who has seen a picture of Peru’s wildly popular Machu Picchu will have caught a glimpse of Huayna Picchu. It’s the towering peak which sits behind the Incas’ famous lost city, seen in countless Instagram posts and on postcards sent home from South America.
Huayna Picchu, Peru – Bing video
Getting to the top, however, requires scaling the unsubtly titled ‘“stairs of death,” a section of 500-year-old steps with sheer drops down to the valley below.
Throw in ladder sections that leave even the most hardened hikers feeling queasy and this is a route that isn’t to be underestimated. While plenty come unprepared, hiking boots and the help of a local guide are highly advisable. It may seem daunting, but the view of the citadel below is worth the three-hour effort.
Kokoda Track, Papua New Guinea – Bing video
© Provided by CNN11 of the world’s most dangerous hiking trailsThe Kokoda Track takes up to two weeks to complete. – Andrew Peacock/Stone RF/Getty Images
At 96 kilometers (around 60 miles), the Kokoda Track charts a route from just outside of the Papuan capital of Port Moresby to the village of Kokoda, crossing the Owen Stanley Range.
This is isolated terrain, with a trek taking up to two weeks to complete thanks to afternoon deluges, raging torrents and conditions that can become treacherously slippery thanks to ankle deep mud and tree roots growing slippery in the tropical heat.
Following the death of 13 Australians heading to the track in a light aircraft in 2009, authorities have moved to make access to the path safer.
Permits are required and all visitors must walk with a licensed operator, in a bid to help local communities benefit from tourism. To prepare for the sweaty days and bitter nights in this remote corner of the world, organizers recommend training for up to a year.
When trekking this verdant and wild route, it pays to remember it was the scene of vicious battles between Japanese and Allied Australian and Papuan forces during World War II.
Daikiretto Traverse, Japan – Bing video
Japan’s Northern Alps serve up arguably the best and certainly the most challenging hiking in the country. And the Daikiretto Traverse is unquestionably the route to try for hikers looking for a proper adventure – one that’s as close as they’ll get to a technical climb without the need for ropes.
The traverse itself covers less than two miles but can take hours to complete and is best undertaken as part of a longer guided trek through this beautiful range.
The path over the traverse makes use of chains and ladders, following a knife-edge ridge with drops of over a hundred meters on either side.
A high level of fitness and a head for heights are musts. A helmet and gloves will make passage easier, and it should be noted that attempting it alone, especially in winter, is ill-advised.
Mount Washington is known for being home to the “world’s worst weather” (at least according to the Mount Washington Observatory).
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, United States – Search (bing.com)
In January 2004, temperatures at the summit plunged to a bitter -47º F (-44º C), while it also set a record for the fastest wind recorded on land, a barely believable 231 mph (372 kph) in 1934, only surpassed in 1996 on Barrow Island, Australia.
All that’s to say that hiking here requires serious preparation. Conditions can flip at any minute, meaning you’ll need to pack winter gear even in the height of summer.
The ascent is no joke, with hikers needing to be in great shape to achieve it. Yes, it’s possible to drive or take the iconic cog train to the summit, but anyone who’s well-prepared and keen on a challenge should pull on their boots, fill their backpacks and do so on foot.
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