Fitness: Overview of immune boosters in health and fitness.  What boosts your immune system: Stress relief, attitudes, beliefs, love, intimacy, and proper exercise.

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Fitness and Health

Fitness Can Be Boosted by Achieving a Powerful Immune System

By Rob McLean

Fitness: Intimacy and relationships, beliefs and attitudes, and stress relief all boost your immune system.

The role of fitness in health: 

More components of a powerful immune system

5. Stress reduction:

Dean Ornish, MD, and many other experts recommend the reduction of stress in our daily lives. Find ways in your life to reduce stress because a variety of immune functions seem to be compromised by stress. Easy to say, and hard to do.

There is probably no better stress reducing mechanism than meditation. In meditation, you still your mind. As you progress, you can still your mind for longer and longer periods.

Want proof?

If you have a blood pressure cuff, try this: take your blood pressure; meditate for as few as ten minutes; take your blood pressure again. Amazing!

6. Beliefs and attitudes:

Researchers have discovered there is a definite biochemical link that exists between your emotions and immunity. Optimism and/or feeling you are in control of a situation can boost your immune system.

7. Intimacy and relationships:

The abundant medical literature linking immune response to supportive relationships would convince the most ardent doubting Thomas to gather good friends and a significant other. We need both intimacy and community to boost our immune systems. In other words, a good marriage is an immune booster!

8. Exercise:

Exercise is essential to a vibrant immune system. However, we may not need as much exercise as we have thought in the immediate past. More and more experts are recommending 20 to 25 minutes of exercise per day but now are saying the effective of exercise is accumulative. In other words, you can climb the steps to the fifth floor, walk a few blocks, and vacuum the floor at home to make up your 20 to 25 minutes daily.

Exercise can be overdone, of course, but all the current research I could find implied that only excessive exercise is immunosuppressive. As you would expect, some correlation, seems to exist between the degree of exertion relative to the individual's level of conditioning. It makes sense to start slow and build up to a higher level of exertion as you are in better condition.

More information about health and fitness issues

This is an overview. Maybe we'll be back for a closer look at each component of a healthy immune system. In the meantime, remember that balance, and keep looking for a significant other if you need one!

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