Immune System Busters
Top Ten Immune Busters
Courtesy of Prevention
8. Stop Smoking
Smoking, and breathing in secondhand smoke, are terrible for your entire body. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds. Of these, at least 43 are known carcinogens.
Here are just some of the ways it wreaks havoc: Smoking causes heart disease, lung and esophageal cancer, and chronic lung disease. It contributes to cancer of the bladder, pancreas, and kidneys. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to have problems, including babies with low birth weights, which is a leading cause of infant death.
In fact, smoking kills more than two times as many people as AIDS, alcohol abuse, motor vehicle accidents, homicides, drugs, and suicide combined. One out of every five deaths in America is smoking-related. On average, smokers die nearly 7 years earlier than nonsmokers!
Secondhand smoke is almost as deadly. Each year, because of exposure to tobacco smoke, an estimated 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer and 300,000 children suffer from lower respiratory tract infections. Secondhand smoke can trigger an asthma attack and aggravate symptoms in people with allergies. In addition, tobacco smoke has been shown to make asthma worse in preschool children and may even cause it.
9. Arm Yourself Against Too Many Antibiotics
The cost of antibiotic resistance is high, both literally and from a health perspective. Literally, while it costs only $12,000 to treat a patient who has tuberculosis that responds to antibiotics, the cost soars to $180,000 for a patient with a multidrug-resistant strain.
From a health perspective, the cost of antibiotic resistance is an increase in the seriousness of disease. For example, treating a person with tuberculosis caused by a strain that is killed by antibiotics is highly effective. In contrast, between 40 and 60% of people who get antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis die.
The cost of misuse of antibiotics can be a weakened immune system. Researchers found that certain patients taking antibiotics had reduced levels of cytokines, the hormone messengers of the immune system. When your immune system is suppressed, you're more likely to develop resistant bacteria or to become sick in the future.
Here are steps to take to use antibiotics properly:
• Take antibiotics only for bacterial infections.
• Take antibiotics the right way. If you are prescribed an antibiotic, it's crucial
that you take the entire course.
• Don't use antibiotics to try to prevent infection.
• Don't save or share antibiotics.
• Avoid antibacterial hand soaps and lotions.
10. Use Laughter to Beat Stress• Take antibiotics the right way. If you are prescribed an antibiotic, it's crucial
that you take the entire course.
• Don't use antibiotics to try to prevent infection.
• Don't save or share antibiotics.
• Avoid antibacterial hand soaps and lotions.
Researchers have found that the positive emotions associated with laughter decrease stress hormones and increase certain immune cells while activating others. In one study conducted at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California, 10 healthy men who watched a funny video for an hour had significant increases in one particular hormone of the immune system that activates other components of the immune system.
So how can you add a little humor to your life? Simply find reasons to laugh. Rent a funny video; read a book of jokes. Have lunch with a friend known for her sense of humor. Lightening up can really light up your immune system.
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