Stress is unavoidable and plays a big role in your life. Some stress can be good—motivating you to accomplish your goals and complete necessary tasks. But a lot of stress is bad, leaving you feeling overwhelmed, even sick. That’s because the negative effects of stress on immune function are significant.
Think about your life. Feeling good and being stressed don’t usually happen at the same time, right? That’s because stress on your body and mind can weaken your immune system. Why is that? Your body goes into overdrive so you can perform at maximum power to tackle your stressors, meaning the strength of your immunity can suffer.
Even though that’s very simplified, it’s a good start to a deeper conversation about how stress impacts immune function. First, you’ll want to understand the way your body responds to stressors so you can see how stress and immunity are connected. Then you’ll learn ways to improve your reaction to stress to help keep you feeling healthy through difficult times.
The Language of Stress
Learning some of the terminology used to talk about stress will give you a better grasp of your body’s natural responses. Here are the basics:
Stressor: Any stimulus that causes stress. There are two kinds of stressors: physical and psychological. Physical stressors are stress on the body. Psychological stressors are stress on the mind.
Hypothalamus: An important command center in the brain. This region is about the size of a penny and sits in the middle of the brain. It controls the activity of the pituitary gland and regulates hunger, thirst, sleep, body temperature, and many emotions.
Pituitary Gland: The master gland responsible for releasing most of the hormones in your body.
Adrenal Glands: Triangular glands that rest above the kidneys that are responsible for releasing cortisol.
Cortisol: The primary hormone released into the blood in response to stress.
How Your Body Handles Stress
Your body has a built-in response protocol that springs into action every time you experience stress. It begins when a stressor comes along and puts pressure on your mind or your body.
The part of your brain that recognizes stress is called the hypothalamus. As soon as the hypothalamus recognizes a stressor, it sends a message via neurons to a neighboring region of the brain called the pituitary gland. This gland registers signals from the hypothalamus and tells the adrenal glands (above your kidneys) to increase the amount of stress hormones circulating in the blood.
That’s the basics of your body’s natural stress response. To understand it further and connect the dots between stress and immune function, let’s explore your primary stress hormone—cortisol.
This important hormone works by providing an energy boost during periods of stress. But the effects of cortisol are temporary. Once the stress wears off, so does the energy assistance.
Another way cortisol helps your body manage stress is by powering down any non-essential operations in the body. Unfortunately, some of your immune functions are put on pause thanks to cortisol. It does this in an effort to conserve energy while under stress, but this makes stressful periods the perfect time for germs to settle in.
How Stress Impacts Your Immune Function
Cortisol works temporarily when the stressor you experience is short-lived, like running late for an appointment or competing in a triathlon. That makes the impact on your immunity minimal. But when stress lasts longer, like days or weeks, increased cortisol levels can start to have more negative effects.
Elevated cortisol suppresses your immune system by reducing production of white blood cells. Without white blood cells on the hunt for germs, your response to an infection is much slower. So, long periods of cortisol elevation can leave you susceptible to illnesses you otherwise wouldn’t succumb to. That’s why it’s common to come down with a cold after a period of high stress.
College students preparing for final exams provide a good example. Many students find they develop a cold in the days following the end of a college term. But why?
The stressor (final exams) initiates their bodies’ stress response. Cortisol levels rise and stay elevated for a longer period while they study—maybe even for a few weeks. During this stressful time, their immune systems are suppressed so their brains can harness as much available energy as possible to tackle the stress in the form of final exams.
Running at this low capacity provides germs an easy opening to infect healthy tissue and bring on illnesses like the common cold. And the symptoms, which are partly felt as part of your immune response, come on once those stressful tests have passed.
College tests aren’t the only kind of long-term stress, of course. You may notice a similar pattern in your own life. Moving to a new city, having a baby, changing jobs, and other life challenges are all common long-term stressors. And since any prolonged stress elevates cortisol levels and suppresses immunity, germs can exploit your weakened immune system in these times of intense pressure.
Alleviate Stress for Immunity’s Sake
Learning to manage the stress in your life can help keep cortisol levels down and protect your immune system. There are many activities you can try that bust through stress and are good for your overall health, too.
Meditation is one of the most effective stress-management strategies. Just a few minutes concentrated meditation daily can significantly reduce blood cortisol levels and help you feel peaceful and serene. It can help support your immunity, too.
In one study, researchers found people who meditated every day developed more antibodies to a flu virus than those who didn’t. So, spend a few minutes every day disconnecting from the busy world and especially turn to meditation when you feel stressed.
If none of the lifestyle remedies work, a conversation with a mental-health professional should be your next step. Talking with a counselor or social worker in a therapy setting can help you confront the stressors in your life and find effective methods for managing them.
No matter your choice of stress-management technique, it’s time to better equip yourself to protect your body—and immune health—from the effects of stress.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/AdobeStock_204827523.jpg501835Sydney SprouseSydney Sprouse2020-07-06 09:00:312022-07-19 14:32:59Learn How Stress Impacts Your Immune Function
Editor’s Note: The following story is focused on viruses, in general. Though a few common viruses are used as examples, this is not meant to be a deep exploration of specific strains or a tool for diagnosis or treatment of any specific virus.
Viruses are little germs that can have big impacts on your health. Informing yourself about how viruses work helps you understand part of what your immune system deals with daily.
Start with some answers to common virus questions to boost your knowledge about what they do, how they work, and the way they can possibly be harmful. You’ll find out the basics about viruses, how your body responds to them, and the way herd immunity to viruses works.
Question: How are viruses and bacteria different?
Answer: The two kinds of microbes that most frequently make you sick are viruses and bacteria. Both are microscopic and trigger an immune system response. But viruses and bacteria could not be more different.
Let’s start with bacteria. These single-celled living organisms have a cellular membrane. They thrive in a wide temperature range, meaning you can find them almost everywhere. Bacteria have circular DNA that they use to reproduce. They feed on organic and inorganic matter, decaying plant and animal cells, even the food you eat. Some bacteria can even photosynthesize just like plants do.
Bacteria aren’t always bad. They can be beneficial to your body, too. In fact, the majority of bacteria aren’t harmful at all. Your skin and gut are teaming with bacteria, which you might know better as your microbiome. The microbes that live on your skin help clear away dirt and dead skin cells. In your intestines, bacteria help digest your food.
Some bacteria can be harmful, especially when they grow in places they shouldn’t. That’s why, generally, bacterial infections affect localized areas of the body. This can irritate or damage healthy tissue. Examples of common bacterial infections are strep throat, food poisoning, and ulcers.
To help battle bacterial infections, your doctor might recommend antibiotics. This kind of medicine kills the bacteria making you sick and disrupts its reproduction so it can’t spread.
Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and are not considered living organisms. They are infectious agents with only a protein shell and a strand of RNA or DNA, depending on the type of virus. They do not reproduce on their own—like bacteria do. Instead, viruses need a host cell to do the reproducing for them (you’ll learn more about that below.)
While bacteria can be either harmful or beneficial, most viruses only make you sick. Some common viruses are rhinovirus (common cold), varicella (chicken pox), and herpes (cold sore). Viral infections cause symptoms throughout the entire body, like congestion, aches, cough, and fatigue.
Antibiotics do not work against viruses. Instead, you must rely on your immune system. Over time, your immune system will develop antibodies to recognize the virus and prevent it from infecting healthy cells. This is why it pays to practice healthy habits on a consistent basis to help maintain your immune health.
Some viruses can be prevented through vaccination. Vaccines can help your body create antibodies before you’re ever exposed to the virus in your daily life. This way your body will be ready to fight off the specific virus if it ever comes along.
Question: How do viruses work in your body?
Answer: Since viruses are not alive, they rely on host cells to complete their lifecycle. They act like parasites—infecting healthy cells, using them to reproduce, and destroy them when they are done.
Viruses are tiny packages of DNA or RNA (genetic material) that travel in a protein shell. They are masters of disguise, so the protein coat of a virus is often mistaken by the cells in your body as a nutrient. Healthy cells are fooled into attaching to viruses with their receptor proteins. Then the virus enters the cell.
Once inside the host cell, the virus can release its genetic information. Viruses need to make copies of genetic material to reproduce. So, they hijack the cell’s own reproduction system. Now the host cell is making copies of the virus DNA or RNA, instead of the cell’s own genetic material.
After the virus reproduces in the cell, it breaks free, destroying the host cell in the process. The virus uses the membrane of the host cell to travel through the body undetected by the immune system. This is why it is difficult to treat viruses. They are hard for the immune system to identify and target.
Your body eventually learns to tell the difference between viruses and healthy cells. When it does, your immune system creates antibodies. These little proteins mark the virus. Antibodies lead immune-system agents like white blood cells to the virus so your defense team can wipe them out—along with the affected cells.
Question: What are symptoms?
Answer: Symptoms are the physical signals your body creates to tell you something is wrong. They alert you to possible infection by a bacteria or virus. Symptoms improve over time as your immune system eliminates the infection from your body.
Most symptoms are triggered by germs that irritate healthy cells. They can cause a sore throat, stimulate mucus production, and raise your body temperature. But the symptoms you experience when you’re sick can actually help your body fight the infection. See how your immune system works with symptoms to protect you from germs.
Fever: Infections trigger an increase in body temperature. A fever is uncomfortable, but it’s a strategy your immune system uses to kill viruses. Some germs have a hard time living in high temperatures, so a fever makes your body a difficult place for a virus to survive.
Runny nose: When the mucous membranes lining your nasal passages are injured by a virus, you experience a runny nose. That’s because your body produces a lot of mucous to trap the germs and flush them out. A runny nose is a sign your immune system is working hard to push back against an infection.
Coughing: Your respiratory system has a reflex that expels germs from your body. If the cells in your airway detect an invader, they can trigger a cough. Forcibly coughing removes dust, bacteria, and viruses from your throat and lungs. Coughing also helps you remove excess mucous from your nose and throat.
Sneezing: Just like coughing, sneezing is a reflex. It’s a powerful immune response that kicks germs out of your nose—fast.
Question: Why do different people experience different symptoms?
Answer: The symptoms that follow an infection aren’t the same for everybody. Genetics has a lot to do with how your body handles sickness. And since no two people have the same genes, everyone responds to germs differently.
Your genes influence how your immune system fights viruses and bacteria. Immunity begins in the womb with antibodies to germs inherited from your mother (called passive immunity which is temporary for a newborn). Information from every illness you get is stored in your genes so your immune system can adapt. That way you can produce antibodies to mark infections in the future.
So, when you experience symptoms from an infection, your genes likely haven’t encountered the germ before. If someone else has already developed an immune response to that infection, they may never manifest symptoms.
Lifestyle is another factor that can affect how different people experience symptoms—especially smoking. When it comes to colds, most people’s symptoms recede fairly quickly. Non-smokers will experience minor coughing and congestion that resolves over time.
But smokers can have a different experience. Smoking damages the cells lining the nose, throat, and lungs. And it significantly weakens the body’s immune response. The damaged tissue takes longer to repair, which make symptoms like coughing and congestion last longer. That’s why it can be very difficult to overcome a cold if you’re a smoker.
Question: Can treating the symptoms of an illness prolong the infection?
Answer: The jury is still out on this one. In most cases, there isn’t much evidence to suggest that treating the symptoms of an illness make it last any longer.
Some more serious viral infections (like the flu) can take a while to clear up. That doesn’t have to do with the medications you use to treat them. Unfortunately, it takes even the best immune systems time to kick the flu.
Symptoms like congestion and a cough grow old quickly. So, it’s reasonable to seek relief. You can feel better quickly with decongestants that help clear your nose and throat or a cough suppressant. These kinds of treatments don’t directly interfere with your immune response.
Some infections require more potent medication. Bacterial infections like strep throat need antibiotics to kill the bacteria making you sick. These medicines shorten the life of the infection, and help you feel better, too. They target the source of the infection (the bacteria) and eliminate it from your body.
In the case of steroid medications, you might notice an increase in the time you spend sick. Steroids treat inflammation, which can sometimes be caused by an infection in the body. This represents a temporarily suppression of your normal immune response, which can make the infection causing the inflammation to last a little while longer. They are used on a case-by-case basis, depending on the infection.
Question: When is it necessary to treat a fever?
Answer: If you’re sick with a fever, you might be better off letting it run its course. Using fever-reducing medicine might make sense short term. But in the long run, you hinder your body’s natural reaction to infection.
Fevers happen when your body temperature increases to slow the spread of a virus or bacteria. Germs thrive at normal body temperature. So, cranking up the heat is a good way to force them out. Reducing your fever makes your body a more hospitable environment for the pathogens that make you sick.
The general recommendation is that if your fever is low-grade (under 101° F/38.3° C for children, and below 103° F/39.4° C for adults) try to hold off on the fever reducers. Let your body do its thing to fight off an infection. Should your fever climb higher, contact your doctor. They will instruct you on which fever-reducing medications to use.
If your feverish child stops drinking fluids, appears listless and won’t make eye contact with you, contact your doctor immediately.
Question: Can you catch the same virus more than once?
Answer: Yes and no. Viruses are prolific and have many subtypes and species. While you can have the same type of virus multiple times, you may only feel sick when you encounter a new strain or subtype.
Rhinovirus, the kind of virus that causes common colds, has hundreds of unique subtypes and strains. Every time you come down with a cold, your immune system is fighting the specific strain that made you sick. And at the same time, you’re developing antibodies to mark that subtype of the rhinovirus.
Should you come in contact with the same strain of cold virus again, antibodies will tell your immune system to tackle the virus. However, if it’s a new version of the virus, then you could be out of luck.
Viruses are constantly mutating as a means of survival. Like parasites, their goal is to take over host cells and use the host DNA to reproduce. As soon as your immune system learns to block a virus, another version can pop up that may go undetected. This ability means you could get sick with the same kind of virus again.
Question: How does the immune system communicate to coordinate responses to viruses?
Let’s start with the basics of immune system communication and its two main forms—direct receptor contact and messenger proteins.
Direct Receptor Contact
Like most cellular communication, your immune system’s ability to talk relies on receptors. These special sites on the outside of a cell make it possible to receive chemical signals and messenger proteins. They also allow cell-to-cell connection where transfer of information is possible.
Your immune cells have different receptors. T cells (an immune cell that matures inside the thymus) use their special receptors—aptly named T cell receptors—to gather information from infected cells. This is what allows other immune defenders to identify a potential pathogen.
Receptors are so critical to T-cell function that they’re classified by the receptors presented. T cells with a CD4 receptor are helpers, used to marshal your immune forces. CD8 receptors are a hallmark of the cytotoxic T cells doing the work of neutralizing infected cells.
These different T cells seek out and connect to specific receptors on infected cells. Depending on the type of major histocompatibility complex (a receptor on an infected cell), a helper or cytotoxic T cell links up. So, the receptor type and the resulting connection drives an important element of immune system communication.
Messenger Proteins
Direct contact isn’t always necessary or possible for a coordinated immune response, though. That’s why your immune system also talks amongst itself using special proteins called cytokines.
Immune messenger proteins can travel long or short distances, but signal different actions. Some cytokines act as a green light for a variety of immune-system responses. Others—called chemokines—are flashing beacons to recruit and guide more immune cells to a situation.
Interferons are immune-system-communication molecules sent out by a variety of cells involved in an infection. Infected cells—both immune and regular bodily cells—sent out unique versions of these proteins. The immune cells rushing to respond do, too. While specific in form and function, interferons generally boost the number of T-cell-binding receptors to help flag infected cells and guide your immune response.
This is, by no means, a comprehensive guide to your immune system’s complex language. But it’s a start. And it better helps you understand how these forms of communication combine to coordinate the flurry of immune activity when your body senses an invasion. That’s important for an effective, efficient response.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AdobeStock_333090694.jpg501835staffstaff2020-06-19 10:00:442022-07-19 14:37:52Answers to Common Questions About How Viruses Work
Your body is a complex, hardworking machine. It works best when all systems and internal mechanisms operate in concert to keep your body running at its peak—from your skin and skeletal structure to your cardiovascular and central nervous systems. But, like any machine, your body’s natural aging process will begin to affect many of these systems.
As your body’s natural defense, there is no one system that affects your entire body through natural decline more than an aging immune system. Over time, your immune system naturally deteriorates through a process called immunosenescence. While defined as the impact of age on immune function, it is a process that, like your immune system, is brought about by the workings—or lack thereof—of many smaller parts.
To make sense of what happens to immune health as you age, it might be important to have a quick summary of your immune system.
Innate vs Adaptive Immunity
Your immune system is made up of white blood cells, tissues, and organs that combine forces to defend the body against internal and external stressors. General immune system response is often broken down into two parts: innate and adaptive immunity.
The innate immune system (or non-specific immune system) is exactly what you’d think it is based on the name—this is what you are born with. Your innate immunity is developed with the help of your parents and genetically passed along to your offspring. It is made of physical and chemical immunity barriers, like your cough reflex, skin, mucous membranes, and stomach acid.
Your innate immune system is not as powerful as other parts of your overall system, but it is your first line of defense and rapidly attacks any and all foreign substances, called antigens. Any antigens that break through these defenses then go against your adaptive immunity.
Your adaptive immunity is individual to you and continually changing. As you are exposed to various antigens throughout your life, your immune system builds and catalogs a defense against those particular antigens. When your body is bombarded, B and T lymphocytes (B and T cells) are released from your thymus gland. B Cells produce antibodies and T cells directly attack the antigens. Together, these white blood cells work toward protecting your body from harm, including threats from viruses and infections, and remembers how to fight what you’ve already been exposed to.
Immunity and Age
As you naturally age, there are a few things that happen in your body as immunosenescence takes place. Your thymus—which is biggest in size throughout puberty—shrinks, limiting T-cell production. The number of T cells you have does not decrease as you age, but their function does. Because these cells are part of the team tasked with directly attacking antigens, the risk of becoming ill increases. They still remember how to fight what they’ve seen in the past, but you need new ones to fight new exposures—or even mutated types your body has already adapted to, like a new strain of influenza.
Not only are there fewer new cells created, but they are also slower to react to new threats. As a result, it takes longer for your body to figure out a plan of attack to deal with threats once they are detected. This is why infections and illnesses are more frequent and severe as you age than they were when you—and your immune system—were young.
But it isn’t just the adaptive immunity that slows down. Similarly, the innate system is slower to respond and react to internal and external frontline issues. Take, for example, a surface-level cut. When you’re young, white blood cells are quickly deployed to clot, scab, and remodel the skin. But, as you age, this process naturally slows, leaving some prone to inflammation and infections—two of the main factors in a weakened immune system.
Support an Aging Immune System
Although a slowed immune system is a natural part of aging, it doesn’t mean deterioration is inevitable. In fact, depending on certain factors, your body may be biologically younger than your calendar age.
While your chronological age is measured by counting the years since birth, biological age—or how you age—is a measure of your overall health when factors like lifestyle, diet, genetic risk of developing age-related ailments, and more, are all taken into account. This is why two people born on the same day may appear to age differently.
There are certain aspects you can’t control about how aging may naturally affect your immune system due to genetic factors, but you can add (or take away) some key lifestyle habits to support to your entire body system.
Eat a Well-Balanced Diet
A diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean meats can help your immune system keep running strong. A variety of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains also provide necessary dietary fiber to support a healthy gastrointestinal tract. This is especially important in establishing a strong immune response to outside stressors. That’s because it’s directly impacted by pathogens and anything foodborne. Many of the foods most closely associated with the Mediterranean diet have been shown to help maintain your immune system.
Being consistently active is one of the best ways to help your overall health. It is recommended adults complete about 150 combined minutes of moderate exercise each week. This is enough to aid blood flow and help immune cells migrate throughout your body.
Practice Good Hygiene
One of the easiest ways you can help your body fight against external stressors is to practice proper hygiene habits. Proper handwashing and other cleanliness habits help limit exposure to germs that could test your immunity.
Smoking kills antibodies and antioxidants in your blood. It inflames your lungs, causing cells to divert from other uses.
Drink Alcohol in Moderation
Excessive drinking lowers your white blood cells’ ability to kill antigens and fight infection.
The bottom line is a healthy immune system and an overall healthy lifestyle go hand-in-hand. Preparing for the impact of age on immune function is a whole-body effort, and maintaining it takes a holistic approach.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AdobeStock_129837831.jpg501835staffstaff2020-06-08 10:00:382022-07-19 14:40:49The Impact of Age on Your Immune Function
Feeling sick isn’t fun. That’s why it’s so important to protect your immune health. There are behaviors to do every day to support your immune system—you can find examples in this helpful story. But there are also immunity don’ts you should avoid.
Knowing what NOT to do is important. It can help you set boundaries and shape habits. So, check out these 12 immunity don’ts to see what you can do to help support your immunity.
It’s hard to run an effective defense against germs with water in short supply. Water is necessary for the movement of mucus and phlegm, two barriers to viruses and bacteria. That’s because mucus and phlegm are sticky traps for microbes. This keeps germs from spreading to healthy cells.
Keep your body hydrated and happy by drinking at least eight glasses of water a day. Lots of water keeps mucus flowing. Your immune system needs that mucus to grab ahold of germs and help fight infection. Don’t forget to give your body enough water to do a good job.
Don’t: Blow Past Bedtime
As the proverb states, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” While an early bedtime might not guarantee financial success, it can keep you healthy.
So, don’t miss bedtime to help ensure you get adequate sleep. Also make the hour before bed as restful and peaceful as possible. Dim lights, turn off the television, and put down your phone. Relax and meditate to help yourself fall asleep faster.
Quality sleep is non-negotiable. If you need extra motivation to avoid staying up late, think of all the support a good night’s sleep gives your immune system.
Don’t: Touch Your Face
Your eyes, nose, and mouth are germs’ favorite ways to enter your body. If you want to give your immune system a hand, don’t touch your face.
While it might seem harmless, touching your face transports microbes from your hands to your body. Not all face-touching is sticking your fingers in your mouth. Rubbing your eyes, scratching your nose, biting your fingernails, all of these pesky habits introduce germs to your body.
It won’t be easy, but if you struggle with touching your face, you can break the habit. Try to hold yourself accountable for the sake of your immunity. Paint your fingernails to avoid biting them, and keep your hands occupied to resist rubbing your eyes. Reward yourself when you succeed. Find a family member or friend to remind you when you slip up. And if you have to touch your face, wash your hands first.
Don’t: Smoke
There’s no sugar-coating it—smoking is a dangerous habit that affects your whole body, immune system included.
Smoke from cigarettes destroys the lining of protective epithelial cells lining the inside of your mouth, nose, and throat. You need this layer of cells to safeguard your airway from germs. Smoking also injures lung tissue, which is particularly vulnerable to infection from viruses and bacteria.
Quit smoking as soon as possible to protect your lungs and overall immunity.
Don’t: Drink too Much Alcohol
Binge drinking harms your immune system in similar ways to smoking. Chronic binge drinking damages the cells lining your mouth and throat. It also limits the function of white blood cells—your immune system’s attack force against pathogens.
The proof? Heavy drinking is correlated with being sick more often. So, too much alcohol seems to weaken your immune system and increase your susceptibility to illness.
Cut down on excess drinking to support your immunity. Your body can tolerate moderate, responsible drinking—one drink per day for women, and two per day for men. Just be careful of overdoing it.
Don’t: Forget to Wash Your Hands
Handwashing is the single most effective way to protect yourself from potential pathogens. And it’s an easy habit to adopt. Remember to wash your hands before eating, after using the restroom, and after you visit public places.
Sanitizing, disinfecting, and overall cleanliness will help limit your exposure to germs. Don’t go overboard, though. The products you use to kill germs can also be bad for you if you don’t use them properly.
Never use cleaners, disinfectants, or sanitizers made for surfaces, glass, fabric, or your bathroom on your skin or inside your body. These products range from irritating to toxic. Wear proper protective equipment (like gloves or goggles) while disinfecting areas of your house.
It may seem obvious, but absolutely don’t drink any of these cleaners, use disinfectant sprays on yourself, expose yourself to ultra-harmful UVC sanitizing lights. Ingesting or injecting these into your body could result in a call to poison control or an emergency-room visit.
Hand sanitizer is the exception. They’re designed for use on your skin—and only on your skin. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers (both sprays and rubs) work great for hand hygiene in a pinch. But you should only use them as directed by manufacturer’s instruction. Also make sure to supervise children using hand sanitizers, so they use them properly and effectively.
Don’t: Skip Your Workout
When you choose the couch over exercise, your fitness isn’t the only thing that suffers. Moderate workouts can help maintain a healthy immune system.
Regular exercise is linked to better immune function and fewer bouts with sickness each year. That’s because physical activity improves circulation of blood and the lymphatic fluid that make up your immune system. Aerobic exercise also helps strengthen your lungs, making them more efficient at getting oxygen to your body.
Maintaining consistent workouts helps you build up healthy muscles and joints, while enjoying the added bonus of protecting yourself from sickness.
Don’t: Limit Your Fruits and Veggies
Diet plays a big part in supporting your body’s immune response. Fill your plate with foods that help maintain a healthy immune system. And fruits and vegetable are a great place to start.
Try to eat a fruit or vegetable in every meal. That’s because antioxidants and vitamins are densely packed in tasty fruits like oranges, apples, bananas, and berries. Your body needs antioxidants to help destroy the structures of viruses and bacteria before they can harm healthy cells.
Veggies supply your blood with minerals—like iron and magnesium—and your body with beta-carotene and B vitamins. Each are important nutrients that support immune function. They keep cells healthy so your immune system can focus on hunting down invaders.
Don’t: Miss a Daily Dose of Vitamins
Supplements are a great for supporting your body with vitamins and minerals that help support your immune health. So, make sure you keep taking your multivitamins.
Look for supplements with a good amount of vitamins C, B6, and E. These antioxidants support your immunity and help maintain the health of your tissues and cells from damaging microorganisms. Vitamin C also supports your body’s normal production of white blood cells. They’re the immune cells that find and destroy potential pathogens.
A supplement is a reliable source of quality nutrition your immune system can depend on. Use nutritional supplements in conjunction with a healthy diet to properly support your immunity.
Don’t: Go to Work When You’re Sick
If you have the option to stay home from work when you’re under the weather, take it. This practice doesn’t put others at risk and gives you time to recover.
Think about all the shared spaces and objects you touch in the office. A sneeze or cough leaves droplets with germs behind. Those germs can linger for hours or days on just about any surface. This makes it easy for whatever bug made you sick to spread to a coworker.
Consider the people you work with when you want to tough out a cold and go into work. They will be thankful you stayed home and rested instead of testing their immune systems. You might even find that you recover faster when you take time off to recuperate at home.
Don’t: Let Stress Overwhelm You
It’s best for you and your immunity to slow down and minimize stress. That’s easier said than done. Stress can creep in from work, school, and family responsibilities. And it takes a serious toll on your immune system if not properly managed.
Stress suppresses just about every bodily function, immunity included. When life’s daily tasks pile up, your immune system has to slow down to accommodate. Cortisol (a stress hormone) floods your bloodstream and impacts your immune responses. White-blood-cell production drops off, making you an easier target for a cold or flu virus.
Managing stress is an artform that takes years of practice. But you can start to minimize stress by taking an inventory of your daily responsibilities. Try to remove unnecessary activities that take up time and energy. Learn to say no to assignments you can’t manage. Ask for help when you’re overwhelmed.
Learning to cope with stress will protect your immunity and overall health. Sleep, exercise, meditation, and counseling are other great ways to handle stress. Put your wellbeing ahead of the tasks you have to do so you can reduce stress for a happier, healthier life.
Now Review What to Do for Immune Health
Armed with a list of what NOT to do, now you can focus on building habits that can help support your immune system.
Set a goal to be vigilant about drinking water and washing your hands. Be courteous and stay home from work when you feel ill. Show your body respect by fueling it with whole fruits and veggies, while saying no to smoking and drinking in excess.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AdobeStock_331218212.jpg501835staffstaff2020-06-03 08:00:032022-07-19 14:43:27Protect Your Immune Health by Avoiding These Immunity Don’ts
You share the world with all kinds of viruses and microbes (collectively called germs). This includes some that are pathogenic—meaning they can produce disease. And once on your hands, these germs can easily spread to other areas on your body or transfer to other people or surfaces. That’s why healthcare professionals strongly recommend washing your hands frequently. And this isn’t a task to be taken lightly, done halfheartedly, or without proper handwashing technique.
That’s because doing a good job washing with soap and water neutralizes microbes lingering on your hands just waiting for an opportunity to enter your body. (Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is also another option to kill germs—more about that later.) Handwashing is a quick, easy, and effective way to prevent the spread of germs. Unfortunately, many people don’t wash their hands often enough or do it correctly.
A study in the Journal of Environmental Health looked at the handwashing techniques of 3,749 people using public restrooms. The shocking results found that while 67 percent washed with soap and water, only five percent did it long enough to remove germs lurking on their hands. Twenty-three percent rinsed their hands, but did not use soap. And 10 percent did not wash their hands at all after using the toilet.
The Early History of Handwashing
The importance of hygiene was recognized in the early 19th century. Several prominent scientists made important discoveries in microscopy, microbiology, and disease prevention during this time. But Ignaz Semmelweis, a noteworthy Hungarian doctor, was the one who discovered the importance of handwashing in the healthcare setting.
Dr. Semmelweis found that requiring his medical staff to clean their hands and instruments with soap and a chlorine solution between performing autopsies and caring for maternity patients, decreased the rate of illness and death dramatically in the women and their newborns. Because of this discovery, some consider Dr. Semmelweis the father of hand hygiene.
During a speech in 1850 at the Vienna Medical Society’s lecture hall, Dr. Semmelweis shared his discoveries. He strongly advised colleagues to wash their hands to prevent the spread of disease. Unfortunately, the medical community at large didn’t heed this advice for several decades—after countless lives were needlessly lost.
Highlighting the Importance of Hand Hygiene
Germs live in you, on you, and everywhere in the environment—especially frequently touched surfaces. Throughout the day, it’s common to pick up all kinds of germs from the air you breathe, objects you touch, and people you meet. And while your skin can provide a protective barrier against these microbes, the protection only goes so far. Absentmindedly touching your eyes, nose, and mouth—a habit everyone is guilty of, and that’s difficult to break—occurs approximately every two and a half minutes.
This number isn’t a guess. It comes from a study in medical students published in the American Journal of Infection Control. The study found students touched their faces an average of 23 times per hour. And almost half of these hourly touches involved contact with a mucous membrane (eyes, nose, or mouth).
Ask yourself: how many times a day are you touching your face?
It’s an important question. Hands are a portal for bad germs to sneak inside you and potentially make you sick. It’s been estimated that 80 percent of infectious diseases are spread by touch. And since it’s not realistic to wear a hazmat suit every day, it’s important to frequently use proper handwashing technique (thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand rub).
Why? Effective hand hygiene neutralizes germs that may lurk on your hands. Soap and water are actually the best option, but alcohol-based sanitizer is a good backup when handwashing isn’t possible. While not dangerous, children under the age of six should have adult supervision when using a hand sanitizer. It’s also important to follow the directions for use listed on a sanitizer’s Drug Facts panel.
The Power of Proper Handwashing Technique
Quickly rubbing and moving your hands under running water may feel like proper handwashing technique, but it’s not sufficient to achieve adequate clean. It’s best to take a few extra seconds to properly wash with soap and water. And doing it correctly could make the difference between staying healthy and becoming ill with a preventable infection.
Experts recommend scrubbing hands (to create friction) for at least 20 seconds or as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. The type of soap isn’t as important as the handwashing technique, meaning the regular stuff works just as well as antibacterial soap as long as you follow the handwashing steps below.
This approach is effective because soap is made up of pin-shaped molecules that have a hydrophilic head (water attracting), and hydrophobic tail (water repelling). Soap molecules can act as a bridge connecting the hydrophilic head to a water molecule and the hydrophobic tail to lipids and germs that may lounge on your hands.
When you wash your hands with soap and water, you surround the germs with soap molecules. The soap’s hydrophobic tails, in an attempt to avoid water, attach themselves to germs, and this effectively neutralizes them. While viruses aren’t technically alive, soap molecules compete with the lipids on and within the virus membrane to help pry it apart, rendering it harmless.
Finally, rinsing off the soap with water washes the vast majority of these germs down the drain.
Handwashing Steps with Soap
Now that you know why it’s important to practice proper handwashing techniques, let’s talk about the steps to complete this important task.
Start by wetting your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), and then apply soap.
Create a lather in your hands by rubbing them together with the soap to create friction. Rub the lather on your palms and the backs of your hands. Make sure to go around and between all of your fingers and both thumbs. Move down your fingers to include the tips and nail bed. And even clean under the tips of your nails, as applicable.
Continue this scrubbing and rubbing motion for at least 20 seconds. A good timer for completing this task is singing or humming the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice. You can also sing or hum the song of your choice, set your phone timer, or count. Just make sure to scrub until you at least hit the important 20-second mark.
The next important step is to thoroughly rinse your hands under clean, running water.
And finally, dry your hands using a clean towel (or paper towel). You can also allow them to air dry. But don’t dry them on your clothes.
Hand sanitizer (foam or gel) is the next best solution to clean hands when you can’t wash with soap and water. It’s important to ensure any dirt or grime on your hands is removed before using hand sanitizer.
Apply about a dime-sized amount of waterless hand sanitizer (with an alcohol content of at least 60 percent) to the palm of one hand.
Rub hands together to create friction, covering all hand surfaces, and focusing in particular on the palms, thumbs, fingertips and fingernails, until dry. The amount used should take at least 15 seconds to dry completely.
Now that you know how to correctly perform this health-maintenance activity, remember to do it often. The scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports proper handwashing technique as the simplest and most important way to help reduce the risk of infection. Adopting this important habit can play an important role in protecting your overall health, and the health of your family and friends.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AdobeStock_338686658.jpg501835Toni McKinnonToni McKinnon2020-05-18 10:00:502022-07-19 14:44:38Protect Yourself with Proper Handwashing Technique
Laughter is a universal language. You learn to laugh at around 17 days of age—and continue to guffaw, chuckle, and giggle throughout your lifetime. And that’s a good thing because laughing as medicine may be more than a fun adage.
While it’s no substitute for modern medicine, evidence proves laughter is good for you. It also helps to share a laugh. It’s a great way to connect with others. Laughter can ease tense situations, help form friendships, and ultimately, just make you feel good.
Laughter vs. Humor
What’s funny and how you respond to it are two different things. Humor is anything that evokes a response to a story or an observation that shifts your normal expectations.
For example, the idea of a duck walking into a bar to order a drink is funny because you know ducks prefer ponds over pubs—and they don’t drink alcohol. The joke teller is trying to share a silly story to test your imagination and elicit a response.
Humor ranges from droll, deadpan, morbid, farcical, highbrow, sophomoric, silly, and ironic. Regardless of classification, your physical response to humor is laughter. It manifests verbally and through traditional gestures—like smiling, shoulder shrugging, and knee slapping.
The Mechanisms of Laughing
Let’s say you just heard a really funny joke. Instantly, the corners of your mouth go up to form a smile. You emit a series of “ha-ho-ha-hos” while slapping your knee. Your chest might hurt from laughing. It’s even possible you have tears running down your cheeks. And if it was a really, really good joke, you might even start to blackout.
Your body reacts the moment your brain processes something as funny. The zygomaticus major—the strong muscle that stretches across your cheek—contracts your mouth into a smile. The rest of your 20 facial muscles are stimulated into action, causing your eyes to shut and your cheeks to involuntarily move back and forth. Tear ducts are activated.
The sound of laughter comes from your respiratory system going into distress. The epiglottis—a leaf-shaped flap that prevents food from entering the windpipe—flutters, causing a partial closure of the larynx. And while you’re laughing, your lungs are not receiving enough oxygen. This can cause your face to flush, or in extreme circumstances, cause you to blackout.
It’s commonly believed the other physical indicators of laughter, like slapping your leg, titling your head back, or shaking your hands, are etiquette laughs. This behavior is a way to connect with a group by exaggerating your approval of the joke.
Laughing as Medicine—The Physical Benefits
It’s no joke that laughing can be good for your health. For starters, your immune system benefits from ample laughs in a day. People who laugh have an increase in T cells and natural killer cells (NK cells). These powerful members of the immune system help fight off invaders and keep you healthy. Laughter can also reduce stress and improve NK cell activity, thereby helping support your immunity.
Laughter is also good for your heart. Has your body ever felt sore after a good laugh? Researchers have discovered that intense laughter gives your body a short burst of aerobic exercise. A hard laugh can increase your heart rate, respiratory level, and oxygen consumption. While laughing isn’t a good substitute for regular exercise, a hearty chuckle does provide physical perks.
The benefits of laughter can extend to help your entire cardiovascular system. Blood vessels, like the arteries and veins that are primary to the circulatory system, are responsible for transporting blood throughout your body. They circulate blood to and from your heart. All blood vessels have an inner lining—the endothelium—allowing them to relax and expand, increasing blood flow.
Evidence exists that laughter helps your blood vessels function more effectively by engaging the endothelium. When you’re stressed or unhappy, your body may release adrenaline and noradrenalin—hormones that cause blood vessels to constrict. Laughter or happiness can limit the release of these hormones, lessening stress on your blood vessels and improving their structure.
And funny enough, laughing gas—nitric oxide—can be released into your bloodstream while you’re having a chuckle. Nitric oxide is produced throughout the human body. It’s a vasodilator, meaning it relaxes the endothelium, helping to widen the blood vessel. A good belly laugh releases beta-endorphins into your bloodstream. Because you’re feeling good from the endorphins, cells are triggered to release additional nitric oxide into your bloodstream, relaxing your blood pressure.
The physical benefits of laughter don’t end there. When it comes to pain tolerance, laughing as medicine is no joke. As you laugh, endorphins may be released into your bloodstream, giving you a calming feeling. Laughing also requires your body to take deeper breaths, which can help relax your muscles.
Laughing is also key to memory. Teachers who incorporate humor into their lectures create a less stressful learning environment. Students were more likely to remember key points from a lecture where the teacher interjected jokes about relevant topics. The findings suggest contextual humor can help you retain information.
As you age, if you associate humor with information, you’re more likely to transfer short-term memories into long-term memories. Seniors who engage in fun, light-hearted activities are more likely to remember what they’ve done.
Unstress and Build Connection with a Good Laugh
When something tickles your funny bone, your body rewards you with a rush of hormones: cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine. Laughter can even naturally produce endorphins, feel-good hormones that help with pain.
Individuals who laugh 15 or more times a day can increase the number of antibodies in their system. A daily dose of giggles and smiles can help support your immune system while limiting the physical effects of stress.
Although anger, guilt, and grief aren’t usually associated with laughter, it’s quite effective when dealing with intense emotions. Even a small chuckle can help put situations into perspective and give you the opportunity to reshape your view of events. That’s because laughter provides a distraction from negative emotions. Psychologists believe humor is even valuable to lessen the effects of threatening situations.
The social benefits of laughter are endless. And they aren’t just reserved for the deep belly laugh. Simple acts of kindness or courtesy—including a heartfelt smile—can replicate the feelings of laughter. You can elevate the general mood of the people around you simply by laughing and smiling.
Laughter is characteristically contagious. Consider this: when you see two people sharing a laugh at a distance, there’s a good chance you will smile, too. Humans mirror each other. It starts in infancy with babies copying their parents’ behavior. As you create social bonds with others, it’s natural to draw upon past positive mannerisms and try to replicate them. Your body naturally smiles as a reaction to pleasurable experiences, so it’s normal for others—who aren’t even sharing the positive experience—to mimic a smile.
Scientists have suggested that laughter was a precursor to language. This theory is wrapped up in the social brain hypothesis. This popular notion says humans’ brains are larger than other animals because early humans lived in large groups. The brain developed into a larger organ due to the demand to remember other members of the group and the relationship between each individual.
This gave rise to the importance of socializing. Unable to vocalize emotion, early humans emitted short bursts of laughter to signify pleasure to other members of the group. As humans physically developed the ability to speak, laughter remained a way of communicating feelings of appreciation to other group members.
A Good Dose of Laughter
Exercise can help keep your body in motion. A healthy diet can give your body the right nutrients. And a good dose of laughter is excellent to keep your spirits up, improve mood, and naturally make you feel better. So, it’s important to maintain a healthy, humorous perspective on life.
That makes the answer to the original question ‘is laughing as medicine a ridiculous, joke-worthy concept?’ a resounding no. Even if it won’t replace modern medical practices, laughter can be part of your healthy lifestyle.
Everyone finds different things funny. But if you can increase the amount of laughter in your life, you’ll be better able to deal with stressful situations, increase creativity, support your health, and have a more positive outlook to take on your day.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AdobeStock_306637416.jpg501835staffstaff2020-05-13 05:00:112022-07-19 14:45:59Laughing as Medicine: The Benefits of a Sharing a Laugh
Your immune system is ecstatic to unite with your bed at the end of the day. That’s because tucking in for a restful night of quality sleep is one of the best immune supporting habits you can adopt. Sleep is essential for total body health, of course. But what your immune system does while you sleep connects the maintenance of proper protection to your nightly slumber.
Sleep brings the period of regrouping, repairing, and rejuvenation you need to maintain your healthy, and occasionally hectic, life. So, it’s not surprising study after study link sleep to maintaining healthy immune function.
You have probably felt it in your life. Running yourself down and burning the proverbial candle at both ends can leave you feeling less than your best. You’re off, weakened, grumpy, susceptible to poor health decisions, and generally gross.
You’ve also lived the end result of a solid night of slumber. You’re energetic, sharp, strong, mentally agile, and generally ready for what the world has in store. So, you understand the benefits of sleep. What you might not know is why or how sleep is vital to supporting immune health.
An eye-opening exploration of your body at rest is the way to reveal that information. It’s time to pull back the covers on what your immune system does while you sleep—including moving components around, making “immunity memories,” and triggering processes that support immune cell proliferation and effectiveness.
While You’re Sleeping … Your Immune Cells Move Around
Sleep is a complex, active process cloaked in serenity. You look calm and peaceful in your dreamy state. But your immune system (along with your brain and other bodily processes) are cranking away at keeping you healthy.
For one, some of your most important immune cells are on the move.
T cells (important white blood cells made in your thymus) circulate in your bloodstream while you’re awake. They’re like your security force ready to pounce on intruders. During sleep, T cells leave the blood, dropping their levels.
Where do they go? Researchers have had a hard time tracking them in subjects. But evidence suggests that some subsets of T cells tuck into lymph nodes for the night, only to return to the blood when wakefulness is upon you.
Why does this happen? It’s complex, but there is some agreement T cells’ overnight stopovers in the lymph nodes helps adaptive immune memory. You’ll read more about this process below.
The immune cell movements during sleep also help maintain equilibrium. Your body is always seeking homeostasis, and sleep gives the immune system the time to accomplish that.
While You’re Sleeping … Your Immune System is Creating Memories
Hormones start the chain reaction of events that cements an immune memory. Those secreted by your endocrine system during deep, non-rapid-eye-movement sleep prompt creation of durable immune memories.
Part of this process is the nighttime lymphatic rendezvous of T cells and antigen-presenting cells. Movement into lymph nodes and lymphatic tissue allows antigen-presenting cells to pass information to T cells. This is key to immune memory creation and the responsiveness of your adaptive immune system.
How do scientists know this works? Researchers have studied how sleep impacts specific immune-memory-cell counts after vaccinations (one of the only ways to test this process without harming subjects by exposing them to active pathogens).
Results show adequate sleep after vaccination supported production of antibodies and antigen-specific T cells. Sleep-deprived individuals didn’t exhibit the same robust response to the vaccine. This shows the power of sleep to support your adaptive immunity and help provide optimal protection for your body.
While You’re Sleeping … Immune Cell Effectiveness is Being Preserved
Sleepwalking through the day after a late night is proof you’re your best self when you’re well rested. A good night of sleep makes you a more efficient and effective individual, who can tackle what life throws your way.
Your immune system is at its best after a night of quality sleep, too. Let’s go back to the T cells to see what your immune system does while you sleep to help these cells do their job keeping you safe and healthy.
To neutralize invaders, your T cells need to stick to them first. The tacky ability that helps T cells kill pathogen-infected cells comes from proteins called integrins. One study looked at how sleep impacts these proteins and your T cells’ ability to do their job.
Researchers linked sleep (and the corresponding drop in stress hormones) with the normal activation of these sticky proteins and maintained T-cell function. The sleep-deprived group showed reduced integrin activity. Those who slept had properly sticky T cells capable of effectively fulfilling immunity duties.
Sleep and its accompanying cocktail of hormones help maintain the effectiveness of important immune-cell processes. Studies have produced positive signals about the interaction between sleep and key immune-cell processes, including:
Proliferation of white blood cells and protective immune proteins (cytokines)
Activation of immune cells
Differentiation of new white blood cells
Optimization of natural killer cell function (quick-acting white blood cells of the innate immune system)
When your immune cells are cared for—as they are when you get quality sleep—your supply of bodyguards are stocked, locked, and ready to protect you properly.
Tuck into Immune Supporting Sleep
Reading about the immune benefits of sleep could have you extra excited about your nightly slumber. That’s understandable. You’ve gotten a look at what your immune system does while you sleep. And how important that is for your health.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AdobeStock_197312186.jpg501835staffstaff2020-05-08 07:56:182022-07-20 14:31:47What Your Immune System Does While You Sleep to Keep You Healthy
Coffee is one of the world’s most consumed beverages and remains one of the top five most popular drinks. Whether your opinion about coffee is pro or con, your conviction is likely as strong as a double-shot espresso. You know how deeply you feel about a cup of java, but how expansive is your knowledge of coffee facts?
For instance, did you know the origin of coffee is truly the stuff of legend? It’s been said goat herders in the ninth century saw their flock seeming to dance after eating coffee berries. That led a local monk to concoct a drink that kept him up at night using the fruit.
The earliest substantiated evidence of coffee drinking in its modern form was in 15th century Arabia. In what is now Yemen, coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed much like you’d see today.
Coffee’s ability to provide an almost immediate pick-me-up is well known. It’s the reason many people choose a coffee beverage to start their day. Various studies have confirmed coffee’s ability to increase wakefulness, alleviate fatigue, and support good concentration and focus.
But coffee isn’t simply a method of consuming caffeine. It also contains many beneficial nutrients including B vitamins, manganese, potassium, and many antioxidant phytonutrients.
Take This Coffee Facts Quiz
Whether or not you’re a fan, there’s a lot of interesting, lesser-known coffee facts. Enjoy this short quiz and share it with your friends. See how your coffee IQ compares.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AdobeStock_267568050.jpg501835staffstaff2020-04-26 11:00:132022-07-20 14:51:50Know Your Joe: Test Your Knowledge of Coffee Facts
The human brain is an incredible organ. But it is also a hungry one. Weighing in at only around three pounds, your brain is an apex feeder. It uses 20 percent of all blood and oxygen produced in the body. So, it’s important to understand the connection between your diet and brain health so you can eat to support your cognitive functions.
Your brain does a lot, and it needs glucose to do all that work. Glucose is a type of carbohydrate—sugars found in fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk products. But the brain can’t store any of that glucose itself. It must continuously receive a supply from the body.
Because your body must absorb and metabolize sugars before they make it to the brain, it’s actually best to focus on eating complex carbohydrates. They power your body and keep your brain operating at optimal levels. This means focusing on whole, natural foods and limiting processed foods high in simple carbohydrates and low in fiber and micronutrients.
But what’s the best diet type to help your brain? Here’s a good rule of thumb: what helps your heart, helps your brain. Let’s dig deeper to examine popular diets and discover how to be mindful of what you eat.
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean Sea connects Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since the time boats were first put into the water for fishing, trade, and conquest, the Mediterranean has been the aquatic breadbasket of the Western world.
There are over 500 different species of fish in the Mediterranean, including omega-3 rich, oily fish like sardines, mackerel, and herring. Traditional trading routes connect different cultures with regional foods: protein-rich chickpeas from Israel, Egyptian figs, Greek olive oil, Libyan couscous, and Italian tomatoes.
The nations bordering the Mediterranean focus on a daily consumption of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and healthy fats, like olive oil. Weekly, they consume oily fishes plus poultry, beans, and eggs for protein. Diets here have a limited intake of dairy products and very little red meat.
An abundance of cruciferous vegetables, nuts, and fresh fish supply the primary benefits of the Mediterranean diet. Oily fish are packed with omega-3s, a type of polyunsaturated fat the brain uses as a cell-building nutrient. Omega-3s are also important for normal brain function, preserving cell membrane health, and facilitating neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to form new neural connections.
If you have a sweet tooth, this isn’t the diet for you.
The ketogenic diet focuses on foods that provide healthy fats, adequate levels of protein, and nearly zero carbohydrates. The idea is to consume most of your calories from fat and limit carbs, thereby putting your body into ketosis—a metabolic state where fat provides most of your body’s fuel.
Growing evidence suggests keto diets may help support and protect your brain and nerve cells. Ketones, the product of ketosis, may provide a neuroprotective impact on the brain, especially as you age. While it’s difficult to start and maintain a keto diet, there are a number of potential health benefits. By limiting carbohydrates and total calories in your diet, you can experience weight loss (and a healthy weight will stress your heart less), and protected brain function.
Your brain still requires fuel to function. Instead of relying solely on carbs to create glucose, the brain uses ketones to meet its energy needs. Your liver and muscles store glucose in the form of glycogen. After two or three days without ingesting carbs, these reserves are depleted and insulin levels drop. Your liver increases production of ketones by breaking down fat stored in cells.
A sample of foods you can eat on a keto diet are seafood, non-starchy vegetables, cheeses, avocados, eggs, meat, and plant-based oils. Providing the food is low/zero carb, your body will convert stored fat into energy, resulting in weight loss.
Avocados are an excellent food source for brain health. A medium-sized avocado contains nine grams of carbs. The good news is seven of those grams are fiber, so your net carb consumption is only two grams. Avocados are also packed with vitamins and minerals, including potassium.
Ultra-Low-Fat Diet
The polar opposite of keto is the ultra-low-fat diet. As the name suggests, the goal of this diet is to eliminate as much fat consumption as possible from your daily intake. You instead turn to whole grain foods, lean meats (skinless chicken and turkey), white fish, vegetables, lentils, and fruit. Butter, eggs, and cheese are out, but you can eat pasta, rice, and oats.
This diet requires a lot of discipline because your body still needs approximately 10 percent dietary fat to function. Foods like salmon and flaxseed help. And walnuts are an excellent option—loaded with omega-3s, antioxidants, vitamin E, and minerals to support your brain.
Since you can eat fruit, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries provide flavonoid antioxidants your brain needs to function properly. Berries can boost brain health by maintaining healthy communication between brain cells, fostering neuroplasticity, and supporting normal cognitive function as you age.
Intermittent Fasting
This diet is more about when to eat than what. On intermittent fasting, you avoid eating for set, extended periods of time. It’s a new diet trend with centuries-old roots. As hunter-gatherers, humans would often go long period of time between meals. Today, those who intermittent fast eat only during certain time windows, like 16-hour fasts with eight-hours of feeding or one meal per 24-hour cycle.
During fasting, scientists believe new neural pathways are created, strengthening both connectedness and communication paths in your brain. When you’re not eating, fat stored in your body can be pulled for energy to power your body. The stress of fasting makes the brain look for nutrients inside the body. The result is your brain receiving the energy it requires and your body losing weight.
Special consideration should be given to intermittent fasting. If you have a chronic health condition, you should consult a physician before starting—sound advice for anyone starting a new diet program.
Vegan Diet
Veganism is as much a lifestyle as it is a diet. Proponents of the vegan diet abstain from all consumption of animal products for ethical, environmental, and health reasons. Saying no to any meat, dairy, or other animal-based foods and ingredients requires discipline but comes with some brain benefits.
Cruciferous vegetables—bok choy, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, and broccoli—are packed with folate, a water-soluble B-complex vitamin that supports the formation of red blood cells to help the production of energy. Circulation and energy are important for feeding your brain oxygen and nutrients. Folate and other B vitamins (B6 and B12) also have been shown to help support normal cognition function as you grow older.
Beans and legumes, an important staple in a vegan diet, provide proteins and complex carbohydrates. Your body slowly digests beans, helping to maintain stable blood-sugar levels. Because your brain utilizes so much energy, beans are a good source of complex carbohydrates that slowly enter your bloodstream to continually feed your cognition.
However, a strict vegan diet can place demands upon your brain. You need choline to support healthy brain functions like the regulation of memory, mood, and muscle control.
Unfortunately, the best sources of choline are beef, eggs, fish, and chicken, while nuts, legumes, and vegetables contain little. Because it is difficult to obtain optimal levels of choline from a vegan diet, you may consider supplementing to meet your needs. The same is also true of vitamin B12, since it is only found in animal foods
Many may find a strict vegan diet to be difficult. But you should try to incorporate elements of a plant-based diet into your normal routine. Cutting back on animal proteins can benefit your weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.
Mindful Eating
As you’ve seen, parts of many popular diets can be good for your brain. So, how do you choose?
The best diet for you is the one you can stick with. Being conscious of your consumption helps you appreciate your food and, hopefully, encourages better food choices. Maintaining a healthy diet isn’t always fun. But a lifetime of considerate eating can fuel your brain and body with the nutrition they need.
And good brain health doesn’t stop and start with your fork. Exercise helps improve blood flow and memory by stimulating the release of growth factors—chemicals in your brain that enhance learning, mood, and thinking. Get smart. Include exercise and a healthy diet to live a healthy life.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AdobeStock_306476105.jpg501835staffstaff2020-04-20 16:00:582022-07-20 14:55:56Diet and Brain Health: Eat Smart to Power Your Cognition
In today’s hyper-connected, fast-paced environment, the challenge more than ever is to have the discipline to slow down. Modern-day technology also inundates your life with distractions that draw your focus outward. It’s possible to mask chronic stress and other unhealthy psychological states, but society has begun to recognize the need for a counter movement.
Taking a “brain break”—relearning how to slow down and go inward—has become increasingly popular. That may be due, in part, to recognized meditation benefits for the brain.
Meditating is a great way to ease the frantic state of mind many find themselves in. Once thought to be an enigmatic practice, meditation has gained traction in recent years. One study shows regular meditation by adults tripled from 2012–2017. The growing literature on the benefits of meditation is expansive and promising.
The practice of cultivating mindfulness through meditation can be achieved in many ways. Put simply, it’s being aware of where you place your conscious attention. What comes up may be pleasant or unpleasant. But as you practice this inward dive with nonjudgmental attention, you’ll be able to access an inner peace that already exists within you.
Anyone can start a mindful practice of meditation to find a new level of calm. It’s all about the discipline of sitting down and going inward.
Big Brain Benefits
Meditation benefits for the brain are abundant. Meditating strengthens neural connections and can literally change the configuration of these networks. With regular practice, you can cultivate a more resilient neurobiology that:
And with practice, meditation can also help you develop empathy and be more compassionate.
Sound amazing? Read on to reveal even more meditation benefits for the brain.
Mindfulness to Manage Your Mood and Well-Being
Like exercise for your body, meditation helps to condition your mind. Confronting and letting go of unwanted psychological states, like anxiety and fear, releases their hold and the associated conditioned response. Studies now prove control over your internal experience, once thought to be fixed, can be altered with the simple practice of mindfulness.
Though not a cure for chronic emotional and psychological stress disorders, meditation has many extraordinary benefits for mood and overall well-being. A few minutes of mindfulness and meditating can help hold off overwhelming emotion and guard against the powerful thought patterns that fund unproductive worries.
Here’s a small slice of the research backing mindfulness and meditation benefits for the brain:
One randomized controlled study found mindfulness-based therapy over 56 weeks significantly reduced the period of time before relapse of episodes of low mood. It also helped with long and short-term healthy mood maintenance. Participants reported experiencing a better quality of life.
Another study showed eight weeks of mindfulness-based therapy improved participant’s mental health scores. This lead to important conclusions, like relief of anxiety in the mind from meditation being tied to the regulation of self-referential thought processes. Anxiety is a cognitive state that occurs when you’re unable to control your emotional state due to perceived threats.
After an eight-week mindfulness course, participant MRI scans showed a reduction in the brain’s fight or flight center associated with fear and emotion. The amygdala—a part of the brain that controls your body’s stress response during perceived danger—is a key biomarker of stress in your body.
Tune into Greater Attention and Focus
Everyone’s mind gets distracted. It could be putting off homework, losing track of your words mid-sentence, or thinking about work while your significant other tells you about their day. Humans developed selective focus as a coping mechanism for dangerous threats in the ancient past.
Today, there are fewer physical threats to worry about. Instead, people ruminate psychologically, letting worry and anxiety overtake the present with past emotional pain or future anxiety.
Your brain naturally, easily slides into boredom, so it may welcome distractions. A default-mode network of neurons is associated with mind wandering—also called the “monkey mind.” But scientists have found that abnormalities in this system of the brain can lead to anxiety, depression, attention disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Meditation allows you to be in the present moment, a timeframe associated with feelings of happiness. It can increase your attention span and combat mind wandering and excessive self-referential thoughts. With over-activity, these unhealthy states of mind can lead to a state of unhappiness.
Mindfulness helps you focus and ignore the distractions around you. It also helps to hone your ability to notice more in your environment. This gives you access to the present moment with a fuller perspective of your experience. Managing your monkey mind through daily meditation is a simple and easy first line of defense for endless modern-day distractions.
Play the Long Game: Aging and Brain
Free to all, meditation is a fountain of youth for mental aging. The human brain naturally begins to deteriorate in your 20s. Maintaining a healthy brain can be supported with the powerful practice of meditation.
Meditation is shown to thicken the pre-frontal cortex. This brain center manages higher order brain function, like increased awareness, concentration, and decision making. Changes in the brain show, with meditation, higher-order functions become stronger, while lower-order brain activities decrease. In other words, you have the power to train your brain.
Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist from Harvard Medical School, found consistency with meditation is key. In her study, she discovered that experienced meditators 40-50 years old had the same amount of gray matter as an average 20-30-year-old. In this older group, the health of the frontal cortex was maintained.
Brain Structures and Neuroplasticity
Mindful meditation can create physical changes in the brain through neuroplasticity.
This increasingly popular concept refers to the brain’s ability to reorganize and change continuously throughout your lifespan. Behavior and lifestyle are major influencers on the brain. So, your life makes your brain constantly create new neural connections. That’s because neurons (nerve cells) actively adjust to compensate to changes in your environment.
Brain cells go through a process of reorganization, dynamically adapting by creating new pathways inside the brain. How you think and feel changes these neural structures. By flexing the muscle of thoughtful attention, again and again, you effectively change the “physique,” or shape, of your brain. And it’s doesn’t take much time, either.
Studies have shown it only takes eight weeks to change the shape of your brain, including an increase of gray matter volume. Gray matter is found in your central nervous system, and makes up of most of your brain’s neuronal cell bodies. This type of tissue is particularly important in areas responsible for muscle control, sensory perception, emotion, memory, decision-making, and self-control.
Through neuroplasticity, you can create and improve the connections between neurons as you alter the density of gray matter. You can effectively change your brain in just a few minutes a day.
Seeing the Brain Through Meditation
The gray matter in your brain tells a lot about what happens as you sit down for brain training. The many meditation benefits for the brain triggered by daily practice are staggering. But what happens, exactly, to produce these exciting effects?
During the first few minutes of your meditation session, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is the first area to light up. This part of the brain filters experiences through a self-referential lens. As you ease into a meditative state, your brain is still bouncing from thought to thought—the monkey mind active in the trees. Thoughts that surface can be exaggerated outcomes due to your lived experience.
When you’re able to rein in your attention, the lateral prefrontal cortex activates. Regardless of the method you use—a mantra or breath—this shift can help you override the “me” from moments earlier. Thoughts during this phase are more rational and balanced, helping you see a more neutral perspective. Now you’ve settled into the sweet spot of meditation.
Practice for several weeks (8 to 12) activates the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. In this state, empathy can develop, and compassion easily arises. This range of activation in the brain becomes stronger the longer you practice. The dedicated practice creates a gateway to a dynamic, gracious life.
Release Chemical Helpers with Mediation
Your brain naturally releases key neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that help regulate the balance of vital hormones. They influence systems throughout the mind and body.
Studies show practicing meditation can directly impact the level of these crucial neurotransmitters produced in the brain. Mindfulness can have a measurable impact on these brain chemicals:
Serotonin—increases this “feel good” chemical to help regulate mood
Cortisol—decreases this stress hormone
DHEA—boosts levels of this longevity hormone
GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid)—improves the calming effect of this major inhibitory transmitter in your central nervous system (CNS)
Endorphins—increases the “natural high” of this overall happiness neurotransmitter
Growth Hormone—elevates levels of this youth-preserving chemical that naturally declines with age
Melatonin—boosts this “sleep hormone” responsible for restful sleep and helps with mood regulation
Moving Towards Alpha
Your bustling brain is a continuous source of electrical activity. It makes sense. Neurons communicate with each other through electricity.
Brainwaves convey information through a rate of repetition—oscillations so powerful they can be detected. An electroencephalogram (EEG) machine measures five basic types of brainwaves, at different frequencies, slow to fast. Corresponding to Greek letters: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. As you might guess by now, meditation allows you to manipulate the frequency of your brainwaves.
Meet the 5 Main Types of Brain Frequencies
Gamma brainwaves: The fastest measurable brainwaves detected by EEG. This quick, oscillating brainwave is associated with heightened mental activity including perception, learning, consciousness, and problem solving. They’re active when your brain is processing information from different regions simultaneously.
Beta brainwaves: Detected during active, alert, and busy thinking. They are present at times of concentration, conversation, or when you focus on a task.
Alpha brainwaves: Identifiable when the mind is in a calm, relaxed, yet alert state. They are present during creative activities, found right before you fall asleep, and increase during meditation.
Theta brainwaves: Measured during deep meditation, day dreaming, or REM sleep. They can also be detected while performing automatic, repeated tasks that disengage the brain, like showering or washing dishes.
Delta brainwaves: These slow brainwaves occur during deep, restorative sleep where you lose body awareness altogether.
Your brainwaves are just one aspect of the complex processes in the mind that produce your experience. And meditation can help you control them.
As you meditate and turn attention within yourself, alpha and theta waves increase. Producing alpha waves helps you tap into the voluntary onset of rest and relaxation. This wave comes over you when you’re not focusing with effort on anything in particular.
Dipping into alpha oscillation through meditation can also fuel your creativity. A 2015 study showed a surge in creativity induced by producing more alpha waves. Moving towards alpha waves isn’t a magic elixir, but it’s a promising start to accessing a calmer, more imaginative life experience.
Your Mindful Destination
For a beginning practitioner, developing mindfulness takes dedication. But as you deepen your craft through physical repetition and mind-body connection, you’ll experience the mediation benefits for the brain. Increased research on meditation presents proven benefits for well-being, enhanced memory and attention, a boost in serotonin, and the list keeps growing.
Training your brain to still fluctuations is easier than it sounds. If you haven’t tried it, meditation is simple. It requires no extra equipment, no previous training. Simply sit in a comfortable position, either in a chair on the floor, and begin to focus on your breath. When your attention strays, gently bring your thoughts back to your breath.
Countless methods exist to practice creating a healthy brain and body through meditation.
Try varying your technique by trying out vipassana, breathwork, transcendental meditation, chanting, focused attention, and moving meditation, to name a few. Each of these can be guided or silent.
Seek out the method that’s best for you. But just trying it on for size is the important part. Step off life’s crazy ride for a few minutes each day to go deeper into the mechanics of your own mind. With regular training, you’ll bring resilience to your mental state, better manage high levels of stress, and become more agile in the face of distressing thoughts, anxiety, and distraction.
Meditation, just like exercise, can transform your brain. As a more mindful individual, you’ll create a more whole, conscious experience with more meaningful connection. It’s within your power to change your brain—start today.
https://askthescientists.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AdobeStock_303989517.jpg501835staffstaff2020-04-20 16:00:172022-07-20 14:58:24Change Your Mind: Meditation Benefits for the Brain
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