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Why Immune Health Affects All Health

The immune system has a vital function: It safeguards your body from damaging chemicals, bacteria, and cell modifications that could make you sick. It consists of various cells, proteins, and organs.

You do not think twice as long as your immune system is running efficiently. However, if it stops working properly due to it being weak or facing aggressive germs, you get ill. Germs that your body has never encountered previously are also likely to make you ill. Some germs will just make you ill when you come in contact with them for the first time. These include youth illnesses like chickenpox.

Without a body immune system, we would have no chance to combat hazardous things that enter our body from the outdoors or harmful changes that occur inside our body. The main jobs of the body’s body immune system are

  • to fight disease-causing bacteria (pathogens) like bacteria, infections, parasites, or fungi and to eliminate them from the body,
  • to recognize and reduce the effects of hazardous substances from the environment, and
  • to eliminate disease-causing changes in the body, such as cancer cells.

Frequently asked questions

The immune system can be triggered by a lot of different things that the body does not acknowledge as its own. These are called antigens. Examples of antigens include the proteins on the surfaces of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. When these antigens connect to unique receptors on the immune cells (body immune system cells), an entire series of procedures are activated in the body. When the body has entered contact with a disease-causing bacterium for the first time, it normally stores information about the germ and how to eliminate it. Then, if it enters contact with the germ once again, it recognizes the bacterium immediately and can start battling it much faster.

The body’s own cells have proteins on their surface, too. But those proteins don’t normally trigger the body’s immune system to fight the cells. In some cases, the body’s immune system incorrectly believes that the body’s own cells are foreign cells. It then attacks healthy, safe cells in the body. This is called an autoimmune response.

Tips to boost immunity include:

  • Eat Well.
  • Be Physically Active.
  • Keep a Healthy Weight
  • Get Enough Sleep.
  • Quit Smoking 

Foods that can help build better immune health include:

  • Probiotic foods consist of kefir, yogurt with live active cultures, fermented veggies, sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha tea, kimchi, and miso.
  • Prebiotic foods include garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, dandelion greens, bananas, and seaweed.

Your body’s immune system can likewise be damaged by cigarette smoking, alcohol, and poor nutrition. AIDS. HIV, which causes AIDS, is an obtained viral infection that ruins crucial leukocytes and weakens the body’s immune system. Individuals with HIV/AIDS end up being seriously ill with infections that many people can combat.

Key Terms

White blood cells are a crtical part of the immune system, and these cells help the body fight infections and many other diseases. Types of white blood cells are monocytes, granulocytes, and lymphocytes (T cells and B cells). A low white blood cell count can increase your risk of infections as your body is not producing enough white blood cells.

An antibody is a protein your body's immune system generates when it detects harmful germs or substances, called antigens. Antigens include microorganisms (fungi, viruses, parasites, bacteria) and chemicals. Antibodies may also be produced incorrectly when the immune system considers healthy tissue a harmful substance by mistake, and this is called an autoimmune disorder. Each antibody is unique and defends the body against one specific type of harmful substance or antigen.

This type of immunity is developed by an individual through his lifetime. The immune response exhibited by the immune system is highly specific against foreign infection. The response time of this immune system is rather slow and may take up to weeks but is highly effective against the foreign invasion. Following exposure to an external infection, there is an initial effector response that eliminates or neutralizes a pathogen. Later re-exposure to the same foreign organism induces a memory response with a more rapid immune reaction that eliminates the pathogen and prevents disease. Hence, it provides long-lasting immunity to the individual. Vaccination, which is provided to infants in their early days, helps them develop acquired immunity against various harmful infections and disease-causing bacteria and viruses. It helps them protect themselves from any future encounter with the bacteria or virus.

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