How Stress Affects your Immune System

This time of year is when colds and flu start to run rampant. The decreasing daylight and Vitamin D levels, plus being stuck inside where germs can accumulate and circulate, make fall and winter the hardest seasons on your immune system. But there are things you can do to help keep your immune function high this winter. Eating right, exercising regularly, getting plenty of sleep, and taking supplements when needed can all help you stay healthy this winter. But one of the most detrimental things for your immune system is also one of the things we often ignore or don't think about when trying remedies to boost immunity.

Have you ever noticed that you tend to get sick more often when you’re stressed out?  Scientists have noticed this connection for a long time, but until recently they couldn’t explain it.  While a big project at work or the loss of a loved one isn’t going to give you the flu, it can decrease the functioning of your immune system and make you more susceptible to colds, the flu and other infections. 

It may surprise you, but very short term stress actually boosts the immune system.  Increased immune functioning is associated with the “fight or flight” response related to short term stress you know will end.  This is because our body is still trying to adapt to beat the stressor.  The problem with this is that a majority of our stress is continual over a long period of time - and this is where things get dicey and a number of health problems can result.

Regions of the brain affected by stress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Long term stress is what actually decreases our immune functioning.  The worst kind of stress is not only long-term, but stress we think we can’t control or see an end to.  For example, while meeting a deadline at work may cause a decrease in our immune functioning; it’s probably not as bad as stress caused by a debilitating accident.  When we think the stressor is beyond our control and may never stop, our body feels it can’t cope with the stress and it begins to take its toll.  This kind of stress causes a drop in almost all immune functioning. 

For regular, long term stressors, the decrease in immune functioning becomes greater with time.  This means even if you feel you are in a position of control, long-term stress such as a job with high levels of responsibility and not enough help, can build up and gradually decrease your disease-fighting abilities.

Another important factor to consider when looking at the immune system and stress is that the decrease in immune system functioning is greater for people who are elderly or already sick.  This is likely why older people who are severely injured or have recently lost a loved one are much more likely to die within a year than those who haven’t had these circumstances. 

You may think, “Well, I’ll drop my stress level and I’ll be fine”.  However, studies have show that traumatic events can stick with us and affect our immune system long after the stressor is gone.  If a person was in an accident, was attacked, or experienced a traumatic loss, they can show decreased immunity even years later.  The best way to increase immunity in this case is to undergo treatment for the trauma. 

In addition to causing a decrease in immune system functioning, stress can also make you more susceptible to other long term diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.  If you want to maintain a healthy body, you should include activities and a proper diet that promote a less stressful lifestyle.

How to Get More Sunlight During the Cooler Months

It’s pretty obvious as the summer comes to a close and autumn begins that the days are growing shorter. Unfortunately, shorter daylight hours cause the condition Seasonal Affective Disorder, also called SAD or seasonal depression. Some people begin to feel “down” because their body physically needs more sunlight than others. Here’s how to get more sunlight during the cool months despite the fact that the days are shorter.

Autumn. (Photo credit: GaggieITMI)

As much as possible, it is important to get outdoors every day - even on the coldest days of the year. Even though the temperatures are cold, getting at least 20 minutes of direct sunlight a day can do wonders for helping to stave off seasonal depression. Of course, the more skin you have getting direct sunlight the better, but even if you can only get sun on your face and hands, that’s better than nothing.

Bundle yourself up and go for a walk in the autumn leaves, or if there is snow where you live, get out in the snow. Take along a camera and get shots of the beauty of the season. By having the camera with you, hopefully it will encourage you to spend more time outdoors.

Try a fall or winter sport. There are so many cool weather sports to choose from – ice hockey, ice skating and snowboarding are winter sports you can try. If those sports aren’t to your liking; you can get involved in sledding, skiing or a family snowball fight.

Adjust your schedule during the fall and winter months so you get out of bed when the sun comes up and are winding down when it sets. This will allow you to experience as much daylight as possible. When you rise, open the blinds or curtains and let in as much sunlight as possible to brighten the room and your day. It is also helpful to avoid over sleeping no matter how much you want to stay snuggled under the covers.

A 30 kHz bright light therapy lamp (Innosol Rondo) used to treat seasonal affective disorder. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Change the light bulbs in your home to bulbs that produce the most natural light. If the days are dark and dreary, light therapy (phototherapy) bulbs in the lamps where you spend the most time can help greatly. These bulbs give off light that is similar to sunlight. Since it mimics sunlight, it causes your body to produce the chemical melatonin. The more melatonin you have in your system, the less likely you are to experience the effects of SAD.

If you regularly experience severe problems with depression during the cooler months, you may want to consider moving to a location where the sun shines more. While we won’t dispute living in the northern states is beautiful and has many benefits, places like Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico have more sun during the fall and winter months, so you may want to take a cue from the birds and move south.

For most people, it isn’t practical to move with the seasons. If this is the case for you, perhaps regular visits to tanning salons during the cooler months can help. While daily tanning isn’t recommended, even an hour a week can really make a difference.  Look for a salon that:

1. Is within your budget
2. Is located within your area and has convenient hours
3. Has impeccable standards for cleanliness
4. Owns up-to-date equipment

Even while using these methods to get more sunlight in the cooler months, you may want to start taking vitamin D supplements, particularly during the fall and winter. This is especially important in cooler climates, where it is very difficult to get as much sunlight as your body really needs at this time of year. Eating foods high in vitamin D such as fish, eggs, mushrooms, spinach and potatoes is also a good idea to help you avoid the SAD this winter.

How to Fight the Flu with Vitamin D

You may have heard of fighting colds with Vitamin C, but the importance of Vitamin D may be fairly new to you, as it has just recently come to the forefront of modern medicine. Exposure to sunshine helps the body manufacture Vitamin D, and Vitamin D boosts the body's own virus-fighting ability. This, along with other factors, is why colds and flu increase in the wintertime when there is less sunlight. If you want to use Vitamin D to help prevent the flu this year, here is how.

Image via Wikipedia1. Eat lots of wild-caught fish. (As an aside, it's interesting to note that the diet of the Eskimos, who live in a part of the world where there is no sunshine at all for long periods, includes lots of fish oil and is therefore rich in Vitamin D.) In descending order, some of the fish highest in Vitamin D are as follows:

* Herring
* Catfish
* Sockeye salmon
* Steelhead trout
* Halibut
* Sardines
* Mackerel
* Tuna packed in oil

It's also very beneficial to augment the diet with cod liver oil and fish oil supplements.

2. Choose a good Vitamin D supplement. Some recommend Vitamin D3, as this is said to be the effective and the least likely to cause problems if taken in large amounts. Most supplements are in increments of 1000 IU - take up to 5000 IU per day. Children under the age of ten should have less; no more than 2000 IU is suggested for children aged two to four, and no more than 3000 is recommended for children under ten.

Image by colindunn via Flickr3. Increase your Vitamin D intake if you have been exposed to the flu. You can take up to 10,000 IU if you think you've been exposed. Make the necessary adjustments for children.

4. Get outside in the sun when you can. It can be tough in the wintertime, but go outside as much as possible on sunny days. While your face may be the only skin exposed to the sun, it may still provide a bit of help.

5. Supplement your Vitamin D with common sense. You can also help your immune system ward off infection by getting regular exercise and enough sleep, and of course avoiding those who are contagious if at all possible. Be sure to wash your hands well and often during cold and flu season. It's amazing how much of a difference just these little common-sense things can help!

Note: Extremely high doses of Vitamin D can be toxic, so if you plan to take high doses of Vitamin D for extended periods of time, you will want to consult with a naturopathic physician and get your blood levels checked. Most people in North America are actually deficient in Vitamin D (some extremely so), so normally this will not be a problem, but you may still want to get tested to be sure.

Note: Due to the holidays, we won't be posting next week, but we hope you all have a wonderful, fun, and safe holiday! Be sure to check back in the New Year for some more great tips on living a clean & green healthy life in 2012 and beyond!

Related Articles on Fighting the Flu with Vitamin D :

• Even Low Dose Vitamin D Slashes Flu Risk by Nearly Half (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
• Tune Up Immune System to Fight Flu (abcnews.go.com)
• Vitamin D outshines vitamin C at preventing flu virus (drbradshook.com)
• Vitamin D studied as flu-fighter (healthzone.ca)