How Your Immune System Works

Inside your body there is an amazing protection mechanism called the immune system. It is designed to defend you against millions of bacteria, microbes, viruses, toxins and parasites that would love to invade your body. To understand the power of the immune system, all that you have to do is look at what happens to anything once it dies. That sounds gross, but it does show you something very important about your immune system.

When something dies, its immune system (along with everything else) shuts down. In a matter of hours, the body is invaded by all sorts of bacteria, microbes, parasites... None of these things are able to get in when your immune system is working, but the moment your immune system stops the door is wide open. Once you die it only takes a few weeks for these organisms to completely dismantle your body and carry it away, until all that's left is a skeleton. Obviously your immune system is doing something amazing to keep all of that dismantling from happening when you are alive.

The immune system is complex, intricate and interesting. And there are at least two good reasons for you to know more about it. First, it is just plain fascinating to understand where things like fevers, hives, inflammation, etc., come from when they happen inside your own body. You also hear a lot about the immune system in the news as new parts of it are understood and new drugs come on the market -- knowing about the immune system makes these news stories understandable. In this article, we will take a look at how your immune system works so that you can understand what it is doing for you each day, as well as what it is not.

Strengthen The Immune System - The Response To The Aging Process

The aging process does increase the need to strengthen the immune system. Aging is not synonymous with illness. However, getting older does increase the risk for many diseases and disorders. Overall, elderly people have an increased rate of chronic disorders, arteriosclerosis, infections, autoimmune disorders, and cancer. This increased risk may be caused, in part, by the nature of these disorders. Most of the chronic disorders such as arteriosclerosis are slowly progressive and do not show symptoms until they have been progressing for years. Another significant part of this increased risk is probably related to aging changes in the immune system.

The immune system protects against diseases. It seeks out and destroys viruses, bacteria, fungi, and cancerous cells before they can damage the body. It learns to tell the difference between "self" tissue and "non-self" particles. If you strengthen the immune system you enhance your protection against those diseases. The thymus, one of the organs of the immune system, is the site where certain immune cells called T lymphocytes or T cells mature. The thymus begins to shrink (atrophy) after adolescence.

By middle age it is only about 15% of its maximum size. Some of the T cells directly kill foreign particles. Others help coordinate other parts of the immune system, which are specialized to attack different types of infections. Although the number of T cells does not decrease with aging, T cell function decreases. This causes a weakening of the parts of the immune system controlled by these T cells. If the T cell function are enhanced this will strengthen the immune system. There is a slow, steady decrease in immunity after young adulthood. When the body is exposed to bacteria or other microorganisms (by an actual exposure or by immunization), fewer protective antibodies may be formed or they may be formed at a slower rate.Flu shots or other immunizations may be less effective, and protection may not last as long as expected. Later in life, the immune system also seems to become less tolerant of the body's own cells.

Sometimes an autoimmune disorder develops -- normal tissue is mistaken for non-self tissue, and immune cells attack certain organs or tissues. The immune system becomes less able to detect malignant cells, and cancer risk also increases with age as a result. The immune system also becomes less able to detect foreign particles, and infection risk is greater. Other things also increase the risk of infections. Sensation changes, gait changes , changes in the skin structure, and other "normal aging changes" increase the risk of injury in which bacteria can enter broken skin. Illness or surgery can further weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to subsequent infections.

Diabetes, which is also more prevalent with age, can also lead to decreased immunity. If you strengthen the immune system it will also reduce the risk of inflammation and slow wound healing. Inflammation is an immune response, when the immune system thinks there is trouble, it sends more cells to the site of the problem and this causes swelling, pain, redness, warmth and irritation, which are the hallmarks of inflammation. Inflammation often indicates infection, but may also occur due to autoimmune attack on "self" tissue as well. Many older people heal more slowly. This may be directly related to changes in the immune system, or it may be a consequence of other problems such as diabetes or rteriosclerosis, which leads to decreased blood flow to some parts of the body such as the lower extremities.

Stress And The Immune System

Stress and the immune system play a vital role in your life and overall health. Day-to-day stressful events affect how your body responds to fighting illnesses. Stressful events that occur on a short-term basis can change the way your immune systems responds temporarily. Responses from the immune system to short-term stresses can actually be helpful in some cases, redistributing cells in a positive manner to help your body adapt as a quick-fix. Moderately stressful events, however, can have a damaging impact on your body’s immune system, while traumatic and chronic stress can compromise your immune system’s ability to perform.

Individuals react differently to stressful situations: some experience more physiological changes when under pressure than others. Stress and the immune system can bring about conditions in which your body’s cells can actually be suppressed and rendered unable to engage in their useful functions of protecting your body against infections.

From one stressful presentation you have to make at work, to the everyday traffic congestion that can turn into road rage, stress and the immune system play a significant role in your overall health. If your body’s immune system isn’t functioning properly, all sorts of germs, bacteria, viruses, and diseases have the opportunity to pass into your system to cause you more grief.
Diabetes, ulcers, heart attacks, and asthma are just a few conditions made worse by the effects of stress and the immune system. Increases in chemicals produced by your body that help with nerve conduction cause changes in your heart rate and blood vessels, compromising the immune system's response when you enter situations that cause you stress.

To help lower the chances that stress and the immune system will negatively affect your daily life, you can take steps such as eating right, getting regular exercise and getting plenty of rest. Your body needs you to take care of it so that it can help take care of you. Eating healthy and nutritious foods is a good place to start. Consumption of foods such as orange vegetables (carrots, pumpkin, squash, and sweet potatoes) help with the Vitamin A your skin needs to help prevent bacteria from getting into your body. Lean, low-fat beef and certain types of mushrooms containing zinc promote the building of white blood cells to help fight infection. Tea, fortified cereals and yogurt also aid in keeping your immune system functioning well.

You can also try to keep your stress levels at a minimum -- easier said than done for a lot of people. Practice deep-breathing exercises and other anxiety-calming techniques to try to reduce your stress levels. Stress and the immune system can negatively impact your body’s health and well being when stress gets out of hand and your immune system isn't up to its job. Stress is a physiological process, but you can take psychological steps to rein it in and get control over the situation before it gets out of control and causes an illness to befall you.

How Much Is Your Immune System Affected By Stress?

How much is your immune system affected by stress? That inquest can be answered by basic discussing the variation between acute (short-term) stress and chronic (long-term stress). You can define acute stress causes by responses in the body that include boosting the immune system, while chronic stress may impair the immune system.

Preferable questions are "Does stress damage the immune system on the short term?" The second query would echo: "Does stress damage the immune system on the long term?" The body's feedback to acute stress (a real or immediate threat such as a confrontation with a sneak) which is sometimes called the "resist or flight" feedback includes changes in all the systems of the body. Since the investigation is "Does stress damage the immune system?", then we will center on those responses to acute stress that are temporarily boosting the immune system during this flight or flight synopsis.

The most notable primary answer to the prowler's appearance is an swell in heart rate. Your body is preparing itself for the possibility that you will need to run. The raise in heart rate triggers the spleen to discharge deeper red and white blood cells. The red blood cells raise your oxygen supply, while the white blood cells will be mandatory for boosting the immune system, in case you fall or the prowler attacks you. Portions of the brain trigger the production and release of cortisol, a primary stress hormone, which dampens subordinate essential parts of the immune system, so that white blood cells and other infection fighters can be directed to the areas of the body where injury or infection are most likely to occur, namely the skin, bone marrow and lymph nodes, thus effectively boosting the immune system temporarily. Once the immediate pitfall has passed, the body systems return to usual.
So, the answer to "does stress damage the immune system" on the short-term is "no". Acute stress activates the body's natural defense systems and while this results in boosting the immune system temporarily, it does not "damage" the immune system. Chronic stress, however, is a contrary story.

Does stress damage the immune system on the long term? It can, if persistent stressful situations, such as a stiff-pressure job or an unhappy relationship, do not allow the body to return to a usual relaxed state. Instead of boosting the immune system, chronic stress appears to blunt the immune feedback, boost the risk for infections and impair a person's response to immunizations. Studies have shown that people under chronic stress have lower than ordinary white blood cell counts, are more vulnerable to colds and other viruses, take longer to recover from them and event worse conditions than people who do not have excessive stress levels.

If you are concerned about the answer to the inquiry; does stress damage the immune system, then you may feel that you are in a stressful situation over which you have no administrate. It may not be possible to leave a high-priced-pressure job in order to reduce your stress level and if doing so would purpose financial problems, you could actually raise your stress level. Valuable nutrition, normal exercise and certain health supplements may support you protect yourself from the effects of chronic stress by naturally boosting the immune system and allowing the body to return to a numerous relaxed state.

Your Immune System

One important type of white blood cell is a lymphocyte. These are made in the marrow of your bones. You may have as many as 2 trillion lymphocytes in your bloodstream at any one time. Two major types of lymphocytes involved in protecting the body against invaders are T lymphocyte cells and B lymphocyte cells. T lymphocyte cells destroy cells that have been infected or damaged by the antigens. B lymphocytes are found in immunity-related organs such as the lymph nodes. They direct the making of immunoglobulin E, called IgE. IgE is a special disease-fighting protein known as an antibody. It binds to an antigen in your body, such as bacteria, rendering it harmless.

Antibodies such as IgE are very specific. Much like a lock-and-key system, they only work on particular antigens. If, for instance, a flu virus enters your body, special flu antibodies attack it. Each time you're exposed to a new invading agent, or antigen, your body creates different antibodies to fight it.
What Happens During an Allergy Episode?
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When you have nasal allergies, your body sees harmless substances, including pollen, mold, or pet dander, as dangerous invaders. Your immune system immediately goes into action, releasing IgE. Each of these IgE antibodies is made especially for the particular type of allergen. For instance, the body produces one type of IgE antibody for ragweed pollen and another type for oak pollen.

The IgE antibodies attach tightly to the membrane of your body's mast cells and a kind of blood cell known as basophils. Thus the allergen, the IgE antibody, and the mast cell or basophil form a complex. The basophils circulate in the bloodstream and gather in the tissues of your nose, skin, stomach, and lungs. The mast cells remain stationary. The next time these complexes come in contact with the same allergen, the mast cells or basophils release powerful chemicals, called histamines, to fight the invader.

Histamines cause:

• smooth muscles to relax. These are in your lungs, stomach lining, and other areas.
• your blood vessels to open up, causing more blood to flow
• fluids containing more defensive chemicals to flow more easily from your bloodstream into individual cells

As the small blood vessels in your nose widen, fluids leak out into the surrounding tissues, causing the runny nose, watery eyes, itching, swelling, and other symptoms of nasal allergies.
This entire process is called the allergic inflammatory response. It's an effective way to fight invading agents. Unfortunately, when the agent is harmless, it's a wasted effort that only results in misery for you.

The Importance Of Healthy Immune System

Just as the world is filled with disease-causing organisms, the body is filled with defenses to resist them. In fact, no matter what your pet is confronted with, her body is well-designed to fight back. Studies have shown, for example, that cats that have suffered serious nerve injuries can recover complete muscle function. When pets take medications (or eat poisons), the liver produces extra enzymes to detoxify them. Even something minor as a pulled muscle is swiftly addressed with an increase in blood flow, which brings additional oxygen and nutrients and carts off wastes. The main reason a pet gets sick, according to holistic veterinarians, is that something is interfering with the body's natural healing powers.

The key to self-healing is a strong defense system, which protects dogs and cats from everything from the flu germs to cancer cells. More than their mainstream counterparts, holistic veterinarians believe that a weak immune system plays a key role in causing disease. Antibiotics fight infection, but they don't affect whatever weakened the immune system in the first place. This is why holistic veterinarians focus less on things that cause diseases and more on those that affect the body's defenses.

For instance, some veterinarians believe that there is a type of energy, or life force, that surrounds and flows into every living thing. You are not aware of this energy. You can't see it or hear it, and scientists still don't know how to measure it. But it is every bit as real as the invisible germs that surround us.
When this energy is flowing freely, dogs and cats have a superb ability to resist disease. But when the energy is blocked or unbalanced due to such things as stress or injuries, pets become vulnerable to illness. And once they get sick, the energy becomes even more unbalanced, making it much harder for them to recover.

Everything dogs and cats experience, from the quality of afternoon light to an upsetting afternoon, can affect the body's energy balance. But a few things in particular, such as diet, stress and exercise, play the biggest roles in determining whether pets get sick or stay healthy.

The Immune System

The Body has an impressive array of defenses to block, trap, and kill outside organisms it considers a threat, with a memory to prevent them attacking again. Without this defense system (known as the immune system) most people would constantly fall ill from the wide range of threats to the body. Like an army on constant full alert, the immune system is active night and day to guard against attack and to repel or destroy invaders.

The immune system consists of the blood supply, the lymph system, and small sets of organs known as the tonsils, thymus gland, and the spleen. Defense against disease is essentially a function of white cells in the blood (leukocytes), and it is one of the jobs of this group of organs to produce these cells.
White blood cells produce substances that defend the body against attack from anything harmful such as a bacterium or virus. If an invader (antigen) gets past the barrier of skin, hairs, and body fluid, the defending substances - neutrophils, basophils eosinophils, and, finally, macrophages - close in and finish off the organism. Some white cells travel in the bloodstream to fight infection while others remain in the lymph "nodes" (glands), situated mainly in the neck, armpit, and groin, where they destroy organisms brought to them by the lymph fluid. It is this battle between white cells and invading organisms that causes lymph nodes to become inflamed and swell; they can often be felt through the skin.

Body cells that become infected produce a wide range of chemical "messengers" to help in the fight against invaders. These chemicals (cytokines) - the main examples of which are interleukins and interferon - send messages to other cells telling them to protect themselves and thus prevent the spread of the infection. Complement, which also travels in the blood when an immune response is activated, coats the invading microbe to attract macrophages to destroy it.

Next in line of defense are T-cells and B-cells, both based in lymph tissue such as the spleen and lymph nodes.
T-cells are divided into "killers" (which destroy microbes), "helpers" (which stimulate the formation of antibodies), "suppressors" (which keep this production in check), and "memory" cells (which ensure a swift response should invaders of the same type return). B-cells produce antibodies, each of which is a response to a specific antigen. These not only protect the body but they also remember the antigen should another return in the future and try to get past the same defenses.

Immune System - Stronger Or Smarter?

We all know how important it is to have an immune system that is working well in order to combat and ward off allergies. Each of us is becoming more aware of the products that we eat and drink so that we strengthen our immune system. Many people I come across believe that strengthening our immune system is the answer to dealing with their allergies and are disappointed when reactions continue, despite having taken extra vitamins to boost their immune system. The truth is that while it is important to have a strong immune system, strength alone isn’t everything.

If we were to really think about an allergic response, whether it is a dog allergy, cat allergy, food allergy or whatever, what is really going on? Allergies are overreactions to substances called allergens. Let us use the example of a cat allergy although the same logic can be used for most allergies. The immune system will detect cat dander and then fight against it. The stronger the immune system, the stronger will be the allergic response. This isn’t very helpful. In fact it can be very dangerous.

So I suggest that what we need is a smarter immune system, not just a stronger one. A smarter immune system will be able to detect cat dander and choose not to fight, choose not to have an allergic reaction. When this happens, the immune system can reserve its strength for fighting those substances that really are dangerous.
So yes, eat well, exercise and make your immune system strong. But remember that we also need an intelligent general to direct the troops. Teaching the troops what to fight against and what to leave alone is all part of being smart. It makes sense that being smart as well as being strong is included in effective allergy treatment.

Immune System Problems And Thyroid

When you go out into the world every day, try to remember you have an immune system designed to withstand the daily medical issues that afflict us. But, it needs help. Like any defense system, it needs replenishing to do its vital work. Immune system malfunction is at the root of most disease conditions. It becomes affected if your thyroid gland is inactive or over active. If your thyroid levels are low, you can balance it through Thyromine and can control your immune system.

The Immune system: If your immune system suffers, you will too If your immune system becomes over active or under active, you could develop diabetes, cancer, arthritis, allergies, bronchitis, tuberculosis and a host of immune system related conditions.
Solution?
You may be knowing that the thyroid gland plays a pivotal role to keep your immune system intact. The thyroid gland is stimulated by the pituitary gland to produce hormones like thyroxine (T4 or thyroid hormone). Thyroxine determines how quickly nutrients are converted into energy and how efficiently food is burned within the body. The thyroid takes in iodine and combines it with tyrosine, an amino acid that then converts it into the hormones T3 and T4. If your thyroid is normal, 80% will be T4 and 20% T3. Both of these hormones travel through the bloodstream, converting calories and oxygen into energy. If this process doesn’t work properly, then the calories and oxygen cannot convert the energy properly and you have your immune system disorder.

Well, given the scientific surge in thyroid research, the actual solution to these and many others has been, for many sufferers, thyromine product. Why? Because thyromine works very well for people who have hypothyroidism. For example L-Tyrosine works to stimulate the metabolism. Guglipid works to lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. Adrenal Powder from Bovine helps regulate your body's stress levels. Piper Longum Extract increases the production of thyroid hormones and stimulates the immune system. Finally, Ginger extract works to prevent blood clots and is used to treat digestive problems. Thyromine is the key medicine designed to strengthen your immune system without any side effects.
The fact is that the immune system can be kept strong so as to furnish maximum defense when you need it. Why not get thyromine support for your immune system and prevent the kinds of conditions that swamp you down?

Tips On Keeping Your Immune System Strong

Maintaining proper health and protecting against infection requires a strong and healthy immune system. Keeping the immune system working at its peak level is something most of us should consider long before the start of cold season.
"It is believed that our immune system is easily affected by a number of factors, such as diet, stress levels, environment-even the medications we take," says Suzy Cohen, R.Ph., noted pharmacist and author of "The 24-Hour Pharmacist" (HarperCollins, 2007).

Cohen offers the following tips on how to build up your immune system before the cold season kicks in:

• Get moving: Studies have found that moderate exercise provides a boost in the production of immune cells and circulates them through the body at a much quicker rate than during inactive times.

• Manage stress: High levels of stress, even in the short-term, can be "toxic" to the immune system. Some easy ways to manage stress include exercise, yoga, meditation or other deep breathing exercises. Reading, listening to calming music and taking time to enjoy your hobbies are recommended.

• Laughter is the best medicine: Laughing releases endorphins, a feel-good chemical that many believe boosts immunity. Laughter also reduces stress hormones, which are known to negatively affect the immune system.

• Eat your fruits and veggies: Fruits and vegetables are diet staples because they are full of the antioxidants that are vital to good immunity, such as the B vitamins, vitamin C and phytonutrients. Foods, such as spinach, garlic, broccoli, carrots, blueberries and oranges, among others, are great sources of free-radical-fighting antioxidants.

In addition to eating a balanced diet full of fresh vegetables and fruits known for their high vitamin and mineral content, you can also supplement daily.
For example, the new Cold-EEZE Immune Support Complex 10 contains 10 herbs, vitamins and minerals in one easy-to-take pill.
The supplement contains Himalayan goji, Eleuthero root, Panax ginseng and Hawthorn leaf, as well as vitamins A, C, E, B6, B12 and the mineral zinc. These ingredients are believed to increase the body's natural defense mechanisms and boost antioxidant levels.
And don't forget that homemade chicken soup isn't just for colds. A fan favorite during illness, chicken soup that contains fresh garlic and onions may not cure a cold, but it's a great way to boost immunity from the inside out.