Long-term plan to improve immunity

The core of a truly practical and long-term immunity-boosting program is never to follow the trend of taking health supplements or rushing to exercise, but to establish a low-stress daily rhythm that suits your personal physique. There is no unified template, and it does not require you to make drastic changes in your life. A few small habits that you can stick to are more useful than any perfect clock-in schedule.

I was a standard "student with poor immunity" in the past few years. I would catch a cold every time the seasons changed. When my colleagues got the flu, I was the first to catch it. In order to replenish my immunity, I went through many pitfalls and walked around the community: I stocked up on thousands of imported effervescent tablets, and I didn't catch a cold less often after drinking it until my teeth became sour.； I followed the trend and bought oral immunoglobulin, but later I learned that most of the active ingredients are inactivated after passing through gastric acid. To put it bluntly, I paid an IQ tax.

Let’s talk about eating first. I used to be superstitious about “superfoods”. I ate broccoli and fried salmon every day. I would feel nauseous when I saw them. I kept insisting for two months whether I was allergic or not. Later, after chatting with friends in the nutrition department, I learned that there are actually two mainstream directions in the academic world regarding the relationship between diet and immunity: One school emphasizes "whole food diversity", and the core is to eat more than 25 different kinds of ingredients every week, without deliberately chasing expensive imported ingredients. The seasonal radish and cabbage in your vegetable market downstairs, and the imported blueberries that cost dozens of yuan per box, as long as they are fresh, their contribution to immunity is not much different. ； The other group pays more attention to "intestinal homeostasis". After all, 70% of the body's immune cells are concentrated on the intestinal mucosa. Instead of buying hundreds of yuan of probiotics, it is better to eat fermented food two or three times a week. I now occasionally have a small plate of molded tofu from my hometown in the morning, or drink half a cup of sugar-free fermented glutinous rice, which is much more effective than taking probiotics before. I once had a colleague who took probiotic powder from a certain Internet celebrity every day, and the result was more constipation. When I checked, I found that the strain he chose did not match my intestinal environment at all. This is why I never recommend that everyone buy supplements following the trend. Individual differences are really too big.

Don't believe the nonsense about "10,000 steps a day to improve your immunity." Last year, I walked every day just to make up for the steps. My knees hurt for half a month, and I stayed up for two nights straight with a fever of 38 degrees Celsius. The controversy about exercise and immunity is actually even greater: one group supports "regular moderate-intensity exercise," such as brisk walking and yoga for 30 minutes three times a week, which can steadily increase the activity of immune cells. ； The other group specifically reminds everyone to pay attention to the "immunosuppressive effects of excessive exercise" - if you don't exercise at all and suddenly run a half-marathon, or practice until your body is sore every day, the next 72 hours will be what is commonly known as the "immune window period", and your immunity will fall to the bottom and you will be more susceptible to viruses. I don’t clock in at all now. When I feel good, I dance with Pamela for 20 minutes. When I’m tired, I go downstairs for a 10-minute walk to pet stray cats. I didn’t catch a cold the whole last year.

Oh, by the way, something I never took seriously before actually has a greater impact than food and exercise - your mood and sleep state. There is no unified conclusion in the current discussion about sleep duration: one group insists that adults must sleep for 7-8 hours, otherwise their immunity will be lost. ； The other school of thought believes that as long as you wake up feeling refreshed, it’s absolutely fine even if you only sleep for 6 hours a day. On the contrary, the sleep anxiety caused by forcing you to go to bed early just to make up for the time will do more damage to your immunity. In the past, in order to get eight hours of sleep, I would lie in bed and toss and turn from 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Instead, I felt groggy the next day. Now I go to bed when I feel sleepy and wake up when I wake up. Even if I occasionally stay up late to catch up on a drama, I won't blame myself the next day, but I won't get tired so easily. The impact of emotions is much greater than everyone thinks. The cortisol level of people with long-term anxiety continues to rise, and the activity of immune cells will be directly inhibited. My best friend was preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination last year. She cried every day while memorizing papers. She caught four colds in three months. After the examination, all her problems disappeared. This is the most intuitive example.

Finally, let’s talk about the issue of health supplements that everyone is most concerned about. Now the two schools of thought are quarreling fiercely: one school believes that proper supplementation of vitamin C, zinc, and vitamin D can improve immunity, while the other school has produced a large sample of clinical data to prove that as long as you eat normally and have no confirmed nutrient deficiencies, additional supplementation of these will not increase your immunity at all. Only when you have cold symptoms, proper supplementation of vitamin C can shorten the course of the disease by 1-2 days. As for those "immune enhancers" and "immunoglobulin oral solutions" that cost hundreds of dollars, unless you are a person with an immune deficiency diagnosed by a doctor, there is really no need for ordinary people to spend such wasteful money.

To put it bluntly, immunity is actually like a pot of green radish you keep on the windowsill. You don't need to pour nutrient solution every day, nor do you need to expose it to the sun. As long as you water it regularly and don't mess with it, it will grow well on its own. There is no perfect plan that is universally applicable. A small habit that suits you and can be easily adhered to for three to five years is more useful than a strict clock-in schedule. Oh, by the way, here’s a final tip that I personally tested to be effective: get a flu shot every year, and if you’re over 50, get a shingles vaccine. This is the most reliable way to boost immunity that has been clinically proven around the world, so don’t take it too much trouble.