6 Unexpected Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your Immunity

Edited by LaLa Lamm @livin.with.lala

Think back to the last time you were sick. How was your brain operating? Were you feeling fatigued, overwhelmed, irritable and just out of tune with your highest self?

This is the epitome of Feel Like Crap syndrome, otherwise known as FLC, which is quite common in today’s modern industrial jungle. Our environment is laden in mold and mycotoxins, heavy metals, chemicals, viruses, infectious diseases, and immune-manipulating media.

A copious amount of these toxins contaminate our water, land, or air, destroying the environment and our health.

Although we sometimes don't have complete control over what’s in our environment such as the worrisome spread of the Coronavirus, we can always upgrade our body and brain from within. Using a broad range of whole foods, movements, supplements, and other simple DIY biohacks ... you can tap into one resilient human being.

Many of us today walk around with background sniffles, coughs, potty troubles, headaches, joint pain, lack of energy, acne, and mood swings. A lot of times we love to say, “it's just allergies” — but it's much more than that. Allergies travel with the seasons. They don’t camp out year-round.

What makes these aches and pains the norm of our society? Why do we seek out powerful pharmaceuticals or pop over-the-counter drugs when these symptoms come to light?

Our society has normalized these abnormal discomforts. Rather than coming into the body and discovering what is needing more attention and love, we cover our pain with an array of pills until we are numb to our internal connection.

People seek instant relief. We seek gratification from our manifestation.

The problem starts with the rain barrel effect, coined by a well-spoken naturopathic doctor, Stephen Cabral. Your rain barrel fills with junk droplets for weeks, months, and years on end. Poor sleep, low quality food, stressful relationships, sedentary behavior, and the constant dance with toxins dwelling in the environment.

Then one unexpected day it all begins to pour out and the signs and symptoms smack you square in the face. It's a tsunami wave crashing down on you and we never see the day coming. This is why preventative, functional care is the future of medicine.

Unfortunately, instant healing is only occurring in the Wolverine Marvel movies. I haven’t seen it happen on earth...yet. It’s highly unlikely to reboot your immune function to top-notch shape (and remain that way) after swallowing a potent pill or potion. The body requires time to recycle, revamp, and revitalize each one of your cells in order to become that orb of energy you greatly desire.

Your biological framework has to pick up the pieces that don’t belong and toss them out. They take up valuable space for minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, polyphenols, proteins, and a whole bucket of other biomolecules within each and every one of your cells.

Now let’s go back to reflecting. Ponder all the things that bring you life; all the hobbies that spark creativity, imagination and ignite that blissful flow-state within minutes. Or perhaps contemplate the energizing events and scenes that empower your personality, such as euphoric concerts and festivals, delicious dinners with family, or the great outdoorsy trips with your closest friends.

These invigorating dimensions of life will be written in your novel. How?

With a wired and ready immune system.

For some reason the younger generations think they’re invincible because of their high metabolism, vibrant energy, and able-bodiedness. Most teenagers don’t think twice about their health and its importance until we’re crippled, falling apart old-timers.

Oddly enough, our society views aging with a shadow of catabolism and gloom. We correlate it with extra imbalances, pains, aches, and diseases. But I think we can flip the script. Let’s take this topic into logical light.

Aging can be graceful and uplifting. As Lynsay Sands quotes, “Your face is marked with lines of life, put there by love and laughter, suffering and tears. It's beautiful.”

Aging is far more attractive as we begin to think preventively and not wait till all hell breaks loose. The only way you’re going to live to be a 100+ year old champ that's able to play ground level with your great grandchildren, skydive, hike with your dog, play tennis, travel, and explore the world and it’s amazing people is with a resilient immune system. An immune system that has been taken care of and given the love it deserves for years on end.

Keep in mind that Mother Nature plays no games — she’s a real attacker. But she’s also very giving. She supplies some of the best tools, gadgets, and opportunities for us humans to thrive and live strong.

Regardless of Corona, your immune health should be your uppermost priority all the time. It's what keeps you alive at this very moment. Basic things like washing hands, putting down that cancer stick, and not touching your face are obvious ways to remain healthy and balanced.

Then there comes things we should always avoid to keep a mighty microscopic military.

The 6 Unexpected Ways You May Be Sabotaging Your Immunity

1. Sitting

Now that we are told to limit large groups and practice “social distancing” (oh geez), we are that much more inclined to sit and lounge around. The average American sits for 6-8 hours a day, over a third of the sunshine taken up on our toosh. This prevents efficient lymph and blood flow from the tightly bound joints. Our bodies are Made to Move and the only way to flush out the external crap that compromises our body is with mobility. It doesn’t just wreck your metabolism, amplify weight gain, and promote poor posture — it's been shown to be more harmful to your wellness than smoking.

What You Can Do!

- At a laptop or computer? Every 30 minutes get up and perform 30-50 body squats or lunges

- Take periodic walks outside

- Practice some flow yoga, nothing intense

2. Social Isolation & Loneliness

Social distancing is here to stay much longer than a few weeks. When it comes to this flu-like spread, we should be spending time with close friends and family that build our personality, mood, and vigor. Just because we are told to remain in a quarantine-like state and steer clear from massive groups, we all need to soak up valuable time with others. Conversation, jokes, and empowerment is the icing on the cake when it comes to a robust immune system (and it works mutually!)

What You Can Do!

- FaceTime your connections

- Have a dinner night with friends (avoid alcohol: rough on immune system)

- Hike with loved ones

3. Negativity & Fear

We are bombarded by a tremendous amount of negativity and fear mongering all over the media. Fear kicks your sympathetic nervous system into gear. This is your fight-or-flight response to danger which jeopardizes your immune function; therefore putting you at risk for illness. Don’t let this crap rub off on you.

Avoiding the news and negativity will not only make you healthier, but smarter. The news amps up your dopamine receptors giving you a lowkey “feel-good” vibe. I mean just look at the bottom of most media outlets like CNN or FOX — there’s a constant scroll of bold words craving your attention.

News stories bend your reality, whether it's on Instagram or TV. One article said it perfectly, “Most news stories are fundamentally opposed to what we actually experience on a day-to-day basis. Our perspective on the world is being skewed unconsciously and we make bad interpretations because of it.”

Having a pessimistic ego is also a solid way to disrupt your immunity. Gratitude is a great way to boost those white blood cells. Goes to show the mind-body connection.

Fear leads to weakness. Love brings strength.

What You Can Do!

- Watch happy and inspiring shows, YouTube videos, and movies instead of news programs (some of my favorites are by Joe Rogan, Thomas DeLauer, Ben Greenfield, and Aaron Alexander)

- Practice gratitude: a journal is a great way to start

- Expect the unexpected

- Breathwork and meditation

4. Overtraining

Although exercise is a hormetic stress (a good stress that strengthens your DNA), it can sometimes be overdone without a big red flag waving in your face. Some signs of overtraining include:

- Irritability

- Trouble sleeping

- Brain Fog and fatigue

- Delayed onset muscle soreness

- Decreased performance

- Metabolic fluctuations (i.e. fat gain)

All of these signs interject the immune system and cause a depletion in repair and recovery. Yes, sitting long bouts of time can impair immune function, but so can too much movement. Now that the gyms are being closed, you can take some time off the weights and incorporate new exercises without that overbearing tax on the nervous and immune system.

What You Can Do!

- Use downtime to go on walks outside or hike

- Avoid daily brutally long runs

- Eat plenty of nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich foods for recovery

- Aim for quality protein sources (i.e. fatty cold water fish)

5. Being Overweight

Carrying around extra weight can drastically shift your health and lifespan. Obesity weakens your immune function and drastically reduces the power to fight off infections. Having a healthier body composition gives your immune system a break from the extra energy load around the waistline.

Why is that though? When you get sick (bacterial, viral, etc.) your body shifts into an inflammatory state and your innate defense system goes on overdrive. White blood cells shuttle to the area of concern. They send out these specialized inflammatory troops called cytokines. Cytokines increase inflammation. But this isn’t necessarily bad — your body is doing its job to ward off the infectors. However, white blood cells aren’t the only guys to create these cytokines.

So can fat cells.

The more fat cells you have, the more inflammatory you can make your body; thus more susceptible to sickness. It's a state of “low-grade, chronic inflammation.” Unfortunately, ⅔ of America is overweight and obese, but this doesn’t have to be the case...

What You Can Do!

- Eat a variety of fibrous fruits and veggies

- Cut out inflammatory oils (PUFAs) such as soybean, canola, sunflower, and grapeseed

- Reset your gut with pre- and probiotics along with digestive enzymes

- Exercise (i.e. weight-lift 3x a week)

- Slow down and practice mindful eating

6. Dehydration

¾ of Americans walking around the streets are chronically dehydrated. Dehydration reduces the overall volume of blood and lymph therefore preventing a healthy flow of nutrients, excretion of waste products and can cause a severe impairment in the immune response.

Water is life. It is a critical resource for energy and survival. Just think about it… we are over 60% water. A human can go long bouts of time without food (some guy struck 382 days straight!) but most won’t surpass 7 days without precious H2O.

Once you begin to see the clear-yellowish stream 5-10x per day, then you’ll know if you are properly hydrating. You’ll be ready to combat anything and everything in your environment trying to take your system down.

What You Can Do!

- Consume more fruits and vegetables (they contain “gel water” which is a replenishing form of cellular H2O. Soaked chia seeds is a prime example of this liquid gold).

- Drink mineral-rich spring water, 8-14 cups/day (i.e. Mountain Valley or S. Pellegrino)

- Make it easy on yourself and buy a large water bottle. Play around with how many full bottles you consume to reach a point when you feel clear-headed and vibrant.