Immune system

[Light Espeon]

I was constantly sick as a young child and I guess that boosted up my immune system since I'm generally healthy today.

 

[curiousnathan]

Green Tea + Vitamin C should help boost your immune system. I take Vitamin C tablets if I ever feel like I'm coming down with a cold, and they work!

 

[Lotus the Cat]

My advice is to limit or regulate your stress as much as possible. I personally find that most times I fall ill is following an extended period of high stress. I caught a cold last week following a very busy and stressful month at work. I was so stressed out on the Friday before break that I was shaking and it took hours to settle.

Stress effectively puts your body into a state of flight-or-fight: your heartbeat, breathing and blood pressure increases in addition to the release of cortisol and epinephrine. We are not designed to be in this state of stress for a prolonged period of time, so when we are it takes a considerable toll on our bodies, which increases likelihood of infection.

How do you guys go about keeping a strong immune system? I'm pretty sure none of us like being sick so everyone's gotta have some way of preventing harmful germs into their body.

For me, I take multivitamins and drink chamomile tea. I swear chamomile heals almost everything.

Unless you do not eat a proper diet, there is no reason to take multivitamins and chances are you're just wasting your money. You really should only take supplements where you know there is a deficiency that you need to address. For example, every now and then I get a bit anemic and require iron supplements. I only take them for a few weeks (as directed by my doctor), because any more is unnecessary. Diet first, then supplements.

I am a ridiculous hand sanitizer. Though sometimes I get lazy and I don't do it, I try to keep my hands generally clean. Oh and I take vitamins too, to compensate for the vitamins that a medicine I take removes. Trying to eat healthy as well, although that's more to do with weight loss than preventing sick. Oh and I got a flu shot too.

Overall, sometimes I get sick, and sometimes I don't. It's not too excessive, but not enough to say that I have a crazy good immune system. Or maybe it is. I don't really know who I'm comparing myself to, and what the standards are.

See above with respect to wasting money on vitamins, but you're also doing yourself a disservice by using hand sanitiser (except where alcoholic) instead of just a good old bar of soap. Studies have shown that antibacterial soaps are no more effective than regular soap at killing germs. People only think they're more effective because the companies pushing these products tell you it is. Not only is there no evidence to support that they are more effective, but their use will also lead to the creation of anti-bacterial resistant strains of bacteria.

 

[Alfieri]

Unless you do not eat a proper diet, there is no reason to take multivitamins and chances are you're just wasting your money.

My doctor tells me to take Vitafusion Multivites.

See above with respect to wasting money on vitamins, but you're also doing yourself a disservice by using hand sanitiser (except where alcoholic) instead of just a good old bar of soap. Studies have shown

Hand sanitizers for on-the-go purposes. We don't carry a bar of soap with us in our bags or pocket after grabbing on to rails in a subway station. If there's a bathroom, soap. No bathroom, hand sanitizer.

 

[Lotus the Cat]

My doctor tells me to take Vitafusion Multivites.

If your doctor recommends that you must be one of the few who may require supplements, but it's very important to understand that healthy individuals do not require vitamin supplements and there is no evidence to suggest vitamin supplements benefit healthy individuals.

If you don't suffer from any sort of health issues I'd consider getting a new doctor.

Hand sanitizers for on-the-go purposes. We don't carry a bar of soap with us in our bags or pocket after grabbing on to rails in a subway station. If there's a bathroom, soap. No bathroom, hand sanitizer.

I made a very particular exception in my post about alcoholic hand sanitisers for that specific purpose. Antibacterial santisers are still worse for everyone, if you insist on carrying portable sanitiser with you, at least make sure it's alcohol based.

 

[Alfieri]

If your doctor recommends that you must be one of the few who may require supplements, but it's very important to understand that healthy individuals do not require vitamin supplements and there is no evidence to suggest vitamin supplements benefit healthy individuals.

If you don't suffer from any sort of health issues I'd consider getting a new doctor.

Don't worry about it.
My doctor's been the same for a very long time and I've had no complaints. I trust his judgment. I lack nutrition so he recommends multivitamins along with a better diet. So don't play doctor with me before knowing my medical history.

 

[Lotus the Cat]

Don't worry about it.
My doctor's been the same for a very long time and I've had no complaints. I trust his judgment. I lack nutrition so he recommends multivitamins along with a better diet. So don't play doctor with me before knowing my medical history.

I don't play doctor, I am one, lololol, just not an MD. ;)

I may have singled you out due to your comments, but my post was to highlight the misconception about multivitamins in general. You may be instructed by a doctor to take them but many people take multivitamins based on advertisements that say it will benefit their health when they have no proven benefit. I felt the need to highlight this in a thread where people are mentioning what they do to be healthy.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I dunno about that whole vitamin thing much, but I take Vitamin D3 because I lose a lot of it being up at night a lot from a lack of sunlight which causes mild depressions. That's about it for supplements and shit, honestly.

 

[Ruma]

I'm also one of those who are on a multivitamin regimen via doctor's orders due to a diet deficiency. :P If you're not getting the nutrients you need from diet alone, then vitamins definitely are handy. My doctor said to only bother with the chewable ones though, because the solid pills usually don't even dissolve.
I also take extra vitamin C, try to stay kinda sanitary, but still expose myself to germs, and I'm around animals a lot. I also try to meditate and stretch to reduce stress as much as possible.