If you balance work, family, and personal hobbies like me, then you understand how easy it is to forget about your health when busy. After all, there is always something else waiting for your attention, right? But you have probably started noticing that constant stress takes a toll on your body in ways that are harder to ignore, such as frequent colds, fatigue, or even more serious problems.
I understand because I have been there. I would crank up my hours at work, stressing over urgent deadlines reliant on caffeine and junk food, just to get things done. I also got hit with what felt like a never-ending wearing down of my energy reserves. Only once I found myself battling constant exhaustion did I realize that I was getting sick far more often than I should. Stress, lack of rest, poor eating habits, and emotional burnout were at play. The main problem my immune system was too overwhelmed to protect me properly.
This is the story of how I fortified my immunity while juggling work and how you too can.
Key Takeaways
Stress puts your immune system on constant alert, causing you to fall ill far more easily.
Prioritize sleep-it is while your body repairs and heals, automatically boosting immunity.
Instead of turning to highly processed snacks, choose to eat foods that are nutrient-rich in order to better strengthen your immune system.
Engage in physical activity frequently, whether that includes going for a short walk or exercising in some other way — this is important for stress reduction and immunity enhancement.
Take self-care breaks and disconnect from work to maintain a work-life balance and reduce the risk of burnout while also maintaining a healthy immune system.
The Impact of Stress on Your Immune System
Prior to listing the best ways to boost your immunity, let’s first delve into the ways stress impacts the body. Stress, particularly long-term stress, is a stealthy adversary. Many of us face in one way or another, due to work, finances, or personal issues. However, stress that persists over a long period tends to manifest physically.
Stress elicits a response in the body’s adrenal glands, resulting in the secretion of cortisol, the ‘stress hormone.’ Cortisol is well known for its role in managing metabolism, blood sugar levels (glucose), and immune response. Too much of it and your blood pressure and blood sugar levels won’t damage your body as much as they would rein in and throttle your immune system’s efficiency in battling infections and inflammation.
Explaining why we become more susceptible to colds during stressful periods or take longer to recover from them, is because stress puts undue burden on the immune system. It is not just that stress increases one’s vulnerability to falling sick, but rather that one body’s ability to combat illness is severely hindered.
The positive aspect, however, is that the immune system is robust. A few adjustments to one’s daily routine can greatly aid the body in improving its self-defense mechanisms, even when life gets difficult.
Sleep: The Foundation of a Strong Immune System
Adjusting my sleeping habits is where I made my first change. Initially, I believed that I could function efficiently in my daily life on just a few hours of sleep, catching up on emails or working late into the night. I was sorely mistaken. Sleep isn’t merely resting; it entails recuperation. A plethora of body functions is performed while sleeping like healing and cell repair, infection fighting, and immune system regulation.
Your body needs more sleep to recover itself when you’re under stress. Missing sleep decreases the amount of immune cells in the body which increases vulnerability to infections.
How much sleep should you get? Between seven to nine hours of sleep is the recommended amount for adults. When very stressed, aim for the higher end of this range. Increased amounts of sleep further fortifies the immune system in addition to restoring energy, enhancing concentration, and decreasing stress.
Nutrition: Fueling Your Immune System
I used to think that as long as I were busy, I could eat whatever I wanted. However, when I began paying attention to how my body felt, I realized that things like poor eating habits were contributing to my frequent illnesses.
The food we consume has a significant effect on our immune system. Some key nutrients needed for maintaining a strong immune defense include vitamin A, C, and D fortified with zinc and probiotics. It can be observed that a lot of people consume processed food high in sugar and unhealthy fat. This undoubtedly weakens our immune system over time since we are essentially fueling our bodies with the wrong fuel.
Also, eating nutrient dense food can help strengthen your immune system. I focused on including more whole foods into my diet. Fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains are an example. Such whole foods are known to contain a number of vital nutrients that not only aid immune function but also inflammation reduction and cortisol management.
Guided by my experience, below are some important immunity-boosting foods to consider:
Oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are an example of citrus fruits high with vitamin C which is extremely useful for supporting immune cell functions.
Spinach and kale provide greens rich in vitamin A which helps regulate immune responses.
Nuts like almonds and seeds such as sunflower and pumpkin seeds contain the mineral zinc which assists with the repair of cells and helps the body’s immune system function.
The previously mentioned probiotic foods eat yogurt, kefir, and kimchi help support a healthy gut microbiome. This is crucial because a significant proportion of your immune system is situated in the gut.
In my case, I made a note of consuming these foods with each meal and eventually came to witness great improvement in my energy and wellbeing within a short period of time.
Gut Health: Why It’s Key to a Strong Immune System
My understanding of the immune system and gut-immune synergy deepened over time, but not once did I think my gut health also impacted my immune health. Did you know that around 70% of your immune system is located in your gut? That’s correct. A robust response from the immune system depends on the gut being in good health.
When your gut is unbalanced, your immune system is weakened and becomes incapable of fighting infections effectively. Studies show that an imbalance of gut bacteria may cause inflammation which becomes chronic over time leading to a higher risk of illnesses. A healthy balance of gut bacteria can be achieved by reducing the intake of processed food high in sugar and carbs and consuming a diet rich in fiber, healthy fats, and probiotics.
I took several measures to achieve that such as consuming more fiber from beans, whole grains, and vegetables. I also ate probiotic-rich yogurt and sauerkraut which helped maintain the balance of my gut flora and consequently helped strengthen my immune system.
Exercise: Boosting Immunity with Movement
I had no idea that my gut health was directly connected to my immune system until I started learning more about the gut-immune relationship. Did you know that about 70% of your immune system is housed in your gut? That’s right — a healthy gut is essential for a strong immune response.
When your gut is out of balance, your immune system becomes less efficient at fighting off infections. In fact, an imbalance in gut bacteria can lead to chronic inflammation and increased susceptibility to illness. This is why it’s crucial to support gut health by eating a balanced diet full of fiber, healthy fats, and probiotics.
I made it a point to eat more fiber-rich foods like beans, whole grains, and vegetables, while also adding more probiotic-rich foods like yogurt and sauerkraut. These helped to keep my gut flora balanced, which in turn supported my immune system.
Setting Boundaries: Protecting Your Health
When dealing with high levels of stress at work, a person can easily overwork themselves which will lead to feeling drained. Stress alone can reduce one’s immune response significantly if boundaries are not managed properly. In the case of a working individual, it is important to know when to say no to additional work, stop monitoring emails, and when to initiate self-care instructions.
As a consequence of my previous lifestyle of accepting every offer that was presented to me, I had to cope with extreme burnout, and increased illness rates. To cope with my issues, I’ve made a point of maintaining a strict balance between work and personal activities. Outside of work hours, I prioritize guarding my evenings spending them without screens, ensure that I relax, and take breaks when needed.
By making self-care measures such as these, one can avoid complete mental collapse as well as balance their immune responses which can suffer due to neglected self-care.
Hydration: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle
Added onto the list of nutritional and immunity self-care techniques is hydration. I found that neglecting hydration led to feeling light-headed, losing energy, or worse, get dry skin. Without adequate hydration, you might feel mentally and physically drained, irritable, and more susceptible to illness. Based on personal research, I have come to the conclusion that water is essential for all bodily functions also being the solution to combat negative feelings. Neglecting it only makes matters more dire when it comes to overpowering stress or feelings of fatigue.
I started keeping a refillable water bottle handy so I could sip water at regular intervals, and this practice ensured my body remained hydrated. In turn, this positively impacted my energy levels and enhanced my immune system’s functioning.
My Opinion| How to Stay Healthy While Juggling Work and Life
Immunity building while undergoing stress does not require any radical changes. It is all about making slight but persistent efforts to integrate important activities seamlessly into your routine. You don’t have to quit your job or become an exercise fanatic overnight. However, if you actively manage your sleep, food intake, physical activity, and stress levels, you will be able to truly assist your immune system.
Setting small goals is more effective. Getting a little more sleep, i.e. 30 minutes, tonight will help. Adding a healthy snack to your meals or stretching during or after periods of heightened stress are all productive changes. Eventually, these actions lead toward greater outcomes. Your immune system’s capabilities are more impressive than you realize, but it requires assistance to operate at optimal levels.
You’ve got this!