Immune Boosting Behaviors

Filed in archive Latina Health on May 19, 2008

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I think we can probably skip right over the obvious-eat right, exercise, back of the booze, no party drugs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's not on your doctor's list that will get your immune system kicking butt?

Contemplate the meaning of life. Seriously. Doing this may actually give you "higher levels of activity among... "natural killer" immune cells". The killer immune cells (actually called this) are the body's armed forces. They are white blood cells that kill anything that looks remotely like an invader.

Get a massage. Read this: "The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine says it has carried out more than 100 studies into touch and found evidence of significant effects, including faster growth in premature babies, reduced pain, decreased autoimmune disease symptoms, lowered glucose levels in children with diabetes, and improved immune systems in people with cancer."

Have sex. It elevates your IGA levels. IGA are antigens, which prompt the production of antibodies.

Listen to music. This gets your IGA levels up, even after you turn the tunes off.

Take a nap. Sleep deprivation causes stress... and high stress over extended periods weakens our immune system.

There's a reason why all these things sound delicious and indulging. They're good for us.