18 Ways You Can Ruin Your Immune System

Human immune system is indeed amazing! Think of that the immune system is a brilliant troop consisting of millions of microscopic soldiers with each ready to fight against invading germs, pathogens, or any disease-causing agents, and thus preventing disease from occurring in your body at the first place. Thymus, lymphocytes and thymus are some of the organs that work together to help your body fight off infections. In fact, this immune system is actually an intricate complex of interrelated cellular, molecular and genetic components that functions together to provide your body the best defending mechanism or immune response against foreign substance and infections in order to protect you from developing any ailments. However, because of some factors stated herein, your immune system doesn’t operate at its peak efficiency, and that’s why, you get sick more often.

Note: This is a continual piece of my previous articles: How to boost your immune system and ways to optimize your body’s immune system

Too Much Sugar

Each 100g (equivalent to 20 teaspoons) intake of sugar can reduce up to 40% of the ability of white blood cells to kill germs. The ingestion of simple sugars, including table sugar, fructose, glucose, honey and sugar laden snack bars, pastries, and other sweetened foods can knock the immune system down for hours. That means after ingestion, the noticeable immune-suppressing effect of sugar starts to decrease the immunity function in as short as 30 minutes and its effects can last up to 5 hours. In contrast to that, the ingestion of complex carbohydrates (starches) doesn’t show interference on both immunity response and the ability of white blood cells to engulf bacteria.

In a nutshell, too much sugar is not good for your health. Overconsumption of sugar can eventually lead you ending up with a hormonal and chemical imbalance. The excess intake of sugar has known to cause disruption towards body’s ability to absorb the required nutrients, especially vitamin C which is always considered good to boost immune system up. Males are encouraged to keep sugar intake to less than 150 calories (or 37g), while females should keep the intake to no more than 100 calories (or 25g) per day from all food sources to help prevent immune system impairment or suppression against infectious diseases.

Too Much Protein

Protein is an essential nutrient for a human growth, while enhancing the functionality of immune system. When there is too much protein in your body, the unused protein will be converted into fat and it’s kept deposit beneath the layer of skin, which undoubtedly, will bring many problems to immune system.

Illegal Drugs or Overdose of Drugs

Most illegal drugs such as Marijuana, cocaine and Ketamin have shown significant effects on the immune system by inhibiting the absorption of essential nutrients into the blood stream, while impairing the immune system making one more susceptible to infectious disease or illness. In particular, Marijuana is a type of immunosuppressant, whose effect had shown clinically to weaken natural immune mechanisms (such as T-cells and macrophages). A person who smokes marijuana every day has been shown to have about 39% white-blood-cell count lower than usual. Similarly, overdose of prescribed or over the counter drugs have also caused obvious negative effects on the immune system. The improper use of antibiotics, cold and fever fighting medications and other non-prescription drugs may impair your immune system. In fact, certain drugs can result in a serious damage to immune system.

Read more details on illegal drugs from my previous article entitled dangerous drugs you need to know

Lack of Water

Water is important to enhance your immune system as it helps flush out toxins, which means your immune system doesn’t need to work so hard. Insufficient water intake can’t keep your immune system working optimally. Instead, due to dehydration, you start experiencing health problems such as fatigue, arthritis, allergies, bodily pain, asthma, constipation, headache and dry skin, other medical issues and a decreased bodily function causing accumulation of waste material and toxins in your body. This condition can in turn causing your body to become too acidic and eventually adding stress to your immune system. When accumulated toxins can’t be flushed out from your body, the acidic environment can cause a tremendous growth of cancerous cells and can also lead other illness to flourish. In a long run, on the cause of extreme dehydration all your vital organs will wear off and finally end in death. Alkaline ionized water is always a great booster to immune system instead of drinking soda, energy drinks or any other unhealthy beverages.

Lack of Nutrition

When your body lacks essential nutrition, your body can’t function to its optimum level. This may also include your immune system. Since your body can’t produce nutrients, a nutritious food (not the processed one) plays a crucial role in keeping your cells as well as your immune system healthy.

Improper Dealing with Stress and Anxiety

Do you know that chronic or long-term stress and anxiety can kill your health? Not only that, they can also suppress your immune system. When you’re experiencing stress or when you’re anxious, your body is unable to respond to hormonal signals. So, be sure to manage your stress or anxiety through deep breathing exercises, doing meditation or by reciting the name of God to help you stay relaxed. In Matt.4:1-11, it was written that Jesus Christ dealt with stressful situation with the Truth of God’s word.

Inadequate Sleep

Very often, you may sacrifice your sleeping hour just to get your task finished. Thus, you stay up too late until your body cells are unable to regenerate. When your body suffers from improper rest, your immune system will gain less strength. Over the time, your immune system will definitely collapse. In short, a quality good sleep is essential to help restore energy and also to help re-strengthen the white blood cells which build up essential part of your immune system.

Too Much Alcohol

Excessive alcohol intake can significantly reduce the ability of the essential part of the immune system- white blood cells to fight off diseases or germs. Apart from that, high doses of alcohol have clinically proven to deprive the body of valuable immune-boosting nutrients that help boost the immune system. Five drinks or more (with each equivalent to 5 ounces of wine, 1 ounce of strong liquor, or about 12 ounces of beer) appear to harm immune system by suppressing the ability of white blood cells to multiply, reducing the ability of macrophages to make tumor necrosis factors, while inhibiting the ability of killer white cells to fight against cancerous cells and germs.

Poor Personal Hygiene Care

Inadequate personal hygiene care is always the reason why you fall sick. Apparently, poor hygiene can expose your body to more germs, causing your body under stress, and thereby weakening your immune system. In this matter, the most effective way to keep your immune system strong and to avoid infection is by washing your hands whenever appropriate, bathing yourself regularly and taking other measures to ensure your body clean. Nevertheless, excessive personal hygiene care can harm your immune system as well.

Diets High in Fats

As like sugar, high amount of fats (saturated fats, unsaturated and Trans fats) can throw your immune system out of whack as well. Modern people diet is always high in fats but low in fiber, which has been associated with diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, high lipid, heart attack and so forth. When excessive intake of animal fast- from high-fat dairy products (butter, cheese, and etc.) or red meats for example- are taken regularly, your immune system will be suppressed and thus increasing infection rates. When your immune system is profoundly weakened, white blood cells will never have the ability to produce antibody, multiply, prevent inflammation and even to fight against diseases. Additionally, a high-fat diet can trigger unstable molecules of free radicals that are seen to harm immune cells.

Lack of Probiotics

Probiotics are beneficial or “friendly” bacteria that help boost your immune system by keeping bad bacteria (such as Salmonella, H.Pylori), yeasts and fungi (such as Candida) in check. Lack of probiotics, undeniably, can cause you more prone to infection and leave you fall in sick. Yogurt is a good source to obtain probiotics.

Lack of Exercise

Lack of moderate and regular exercise appears to weaken your immune system. This is because inactivity can slow down your body to cleanse waste substances and toxins. By doing a regular and moderate exercise, firstly, it helps increase blood flow in circulating white blood cells along with antibodies and thus giving you a strong immune system to ward off potentially damaging germs more quickly; secondly, this physical activity increases the body temperature which may aid in inhibiting the growth of bacteria and thereby allowing your body to fight off infection more effectively. In contrast to that, intense or extreme exercise may overwhelm your immune system.

Prolonged Exposure to UV Rays

Prolonged exposure or excessive exposure to ultra violet (UV) rays can result in structural damage to human skin while lowering an individual’s overall immunological response. A small amount of sunlight actually helps with vitamin D production in your body; however, any excessive exposure to UV rays possibly suppressing the immune system leading to a greater risk of infectious diseases.

Smoking

Smoking can pose a greater risk of health since it has claimed over millions of deaths from cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and emphysema each year. The 4,000 chemical compounds in the cigarette are known to cause negative impact to health while interfering with the normal functioning of immune system in human beings. The reason is that smoking impairs the ability of white blood cells to resist invading pathogens or germs, causing your body less able to fight against those invading organisms. In conclusion, smoking can cause substantial and destructive damage to your immune system, making you more susceptible to bronchitis, flu, colds and other respiratory-related ailments.

Improper Dieting

The habit of yo-yo dieting can lead you to an improper nutrition which eventually adds in negative effect to your body and immune system as well. The control dieting which is aimed for a desired body shape and for losing weight quickly can finally wreak havoc your immune system. In addition, poor nutrition of protein, various minerals and vitamins (particularly B vitamins, zinc, and iron) can also lead you to a weaker immune system.

Read more details on which foods is good for your immune system from my previous article entitled 10 extraordinary foods that boost your body and immune system: the first four and 10 extraordinary foods that boost your body and immune system: the last six.

Aging

As your body ages, the master gland of your immune system called thymus (a pink, flat and two-lobed gland located under the sternum, weighing about 1.5 ounces when you’re at the age of 11) will experience shrinkage due to the decline in the production of hormones which are essential to organize and direct both T-cells and B-cells. When you turn 40, your thymus’s size is about 10-15% of the size when it was at 11years old. When your thymus deteriorates over the age, it becomes less efficient in converting immature white blood cells into fully working T-cells, meaning that they’re less effective in transmitting and receiving commands. Furthermore, the entire T-cells become unable to carry out their task and B-cells and T-cells are no longer fully coordinated in their actions to eliminate invading pathogens. Hence, your immune system begins to go downhill. Following this deterioration, you become more susceptible to infections, influenza, tuberculosis, cancer, pneumonia and other ailments.

Impurities in the Air

Either you’re at home or outdoors, you may be exposure to millions of dust, bacteria, pollutants and other airborne particles in the air that you breathe in every day. With constant exposure to dirty air or to the airborne contaminants, your immune system will become weaker and you can actually develop respiratory-related diseases that you’ve never had before.

Other Health Issues

When you’re undergoing treatment for certain ailments like HIV/AIDS, cancer and other terminal (or chronic) disease treatments as like you’re undergoing chemotherapy, you may have a weaken immune system.

If you’re experiencing medical conditions such as food allergy, lactose intolerant, or Celiac disease, you may end up with a weaken immune system. In a condition that you constantly have seasonal allergies, you may have a profoundly weakened immune system, since allergies may trigger your body response in fighting pathogens. The recurring allergies trigger may also throw your immune system out of whack as well.

Regular infections or sickness can add stress to your immune system, and thus reducing its ability to fight off pathogens more effectively. In a similar fashion, injuries or recurring injuries can also result in stress to your immune system, and hence leading you to a weaker immune system. 

Nowadays, more and more people are experiencing a psychological stress which is commonly known as depression. Not only does depression affect your feeling, but also it may harm your immune system due to the increase in hormones.

Now, you can gain more health knowledge by visiting my health blog entitled HealthAssist. More upcoming updates and latest health information are right on the way!