Eating healthy food and getting enough rest and exercise may not be enough to boost your immune system, particularly when you are being exposed to bacteria and viruses in your increasingly polluted environment. Your immune system needs a bit more help and Homeopathy offers more than a helping hand, find why it should be the first line of treatment? 

The immune system is like a fort to protect the body against foreign invaders (or pathogens) like fungi or parasites, bacteria, viruses etc. Inimical entities are also being created from within, auto-immune disorders and diseases like cancer. Proper immune function is a complex balancing act which nature has to carry out but with a little help. While functioning properly, our immune systems are able to discriminate effectively, between body s own tissues and foreign pathogens. A weakened immune system makes you vulnerable to virtually every type of illness. If the immune response becomes overactive or misdirected it begins to target the body s own tissues for foreign invaders and starts attacking them

Immunity is influenced by the digestive capabilities and our ability to digest, assimilate and absorb nutrients in our bodies. In a healthy body where immune function is strong, any invaders are neutralized or destroyed and then expelled and normalcy is restored. If digestive capabilities are impaired by an imbalance, metabolism is affected and the immune response and natural resistance are lowered. If the body is unhealthy by stored toxins from undigested food, then an environment is created in which invaders are encouraged to thrive. What makes us sick is the deranged, disturbed immune system not the disease tonsillitis or headache or bacteria. These are all end products of disease.The disturbance in the normal functioning of vitality is the real sickness.
Boosting the Immune System:

It is absolutely vital that you have a good strong immune system. A strong immune system means your body can fight back very well when it is under attack. Thousands of times a day your immune system helps combat all sorts of minor invasions, from bacteria, viruses, parasites and many other "intruders". However, this internal self-defence mechanism can sometimes function poorly. There are many reasons for this and at these times it is important to try and recover as quickly as possible.

A point well worth remembering is that prevention is always better than cure. So a strong immune system can stop one getting ill in the first place.

Why Homeopathy to boost your immunity?

Unlike antibiotics homeopathy does not  neutralize  an infection, instead it strengthens the body s immune system to fight disease or infection.
The modern system of homeopathy looks towards systemic detoxification that causes weakening of defense mechanism. It, therefore, works on removing poisoning or toxicity from bone marrow, liver, spleen, lymphocytes, lymph nodes that play a vital role in immune defense mechanism.
Homeopathy is more palatable than many conventional medicines since the mildly sweet pills, powders or liquids are easy to dispense and consume.
Homeopathy is effective in any problem associated with a compromised immune system or lowered immune response.
Patient on Homeopathy regains appetite after few days thus helping the patient gain weight.
Homeopathy helps control opportunistic infections associated with a compromised immune system.
Homeopathy decreases the viral load after few months of regular consumption.
Homeopathy is well tolerated in patients of all age groups and has been used by thousands of patients in several countries with no adverse effects reported.
Being totally natural, homeopathic medicines are ideal. Homeopathy uses a very small amount of therapeutic substances for easing several symptoms and conditions. The top homeopathic medicines used in boosting your overall immunity are as follows:

Allium cepa- This medicine contains a low amount of red onion. It is used for relieving nasal congestion and treats teary eyes. It is ideal for improving immunity against cold and influenza.
Gelsemium- This remedy is derived from the vine called Gelsemium sempervirens. It treats cold and flu symptoms. Your immunity against body aches and fever get reduced.
Oscillococcinuim- This homeopathic medicine is also known as Oscillo. This remedy contains a small amount of duck liver and duck heart. It should be taken on the first day when you experience flu symptoms. It strengthens your immune system against germs, which cause cold and related conditions.
There is no specific homeopathic medicine, which is only meant for boosting your immunity. The medicines are actually used for treating some specific conditions and symptoms, and they also improve your immunity against the conditions it fights. It is always recommended to consult a specialized homeopath before you undergo any medication.

How Homeopathy Boosts Immunity And Why It Should Be The First Line Of Treatment?

Catching a cold once in a while is nothing to worry about, but needing to take sick leave every few weeks is a sign of low immunity. Immunity can be defined as our ability to fight infections. By eating right and making a few lifestyle changes, you can easily strengthen your immune system and lower your risk of catching infections. On that note, here are 10 ways to strengthen your immune system.

Eat a balanced meal: Along with fruits and vegetables, your body also requires carbohydrates and proteins. Eating a balanced diet helps keep your blood sugar levels stable and allows your body to prioritize building your immune system over generating energy to perform normal tasks.
Drink plenty of water: When you re ill, fluids help transport nutrients to the infected area and flush out toxins from the same. Hence, it is important to stay hydrated in order to recover faster from an illness and to build your immune system.
Probiotics: 80% of your immune system is located in the gut. Probiotics help the body produce more healthy gut bacteria. Thus, probiotics directly boost the immune system.
A good night s sleep: Ideally, a person should get 8 to 10 hours of sleep on a daily basis. While we are asleep, the body produces cytokines ad antibodies that are vital to a strong immune system. Depriving the body of this sleep can thus make us more susceptible to infections.
Get some sun: While we put a lot of effort into protecting ourselves from the harmful UV rays of the sun, sunlight is also a rich source of vitamin D. Vitamin D helps protect us from a number of serious illnesses. Apart from sunlight we can also get vitamin D by adding cod liver oil, egg yolks and fatty fish to our diet.
Quit sugar: Sugar is an immunosuppressant and hence cutting out added sugar from your diet can have a drastic effect on your immunity. Added sugar refers only to refined sugar in cubed, crystal or powdered form and not the natural sweetners in fruits.
Exercise: Regular exercise improves blood circulation and boosts the production of antibodies. A healthy circulatory system combined with antibodies enables your body to fight infections in any part of your body.
Avoid tobacco and alcohol: Alcohol impairs the immune system and tobacco smoke weakens the body s basic immune system. This holds true for both first hand and second hand smoke.
Reduce stress: Stress increases the production of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol suppresses the immune system and thus makes us more susceptible to illnesses.
Prevent germs from spreading: Lastly, make simple things like washing your hands before eating and after coming home or using the toilet a habit. This prevents germs from spreading and entering our bodies.

10 Ways You Can Strengthen Your Immune System

As indicated by Ayurveda, good digestion, solid  agni  (the metabolic flame), quality functioning of the liver and an adjusted endocrine framework result in strong immunity. Immunity of the human body is said to be associated to an entity called  ojas  which is believed to be the subtle and positive essence of  kapha  an aspect which provides the body with vigour, strength, immunity and vitality. The general notion is that stronger the Agni, healthier the  ojas , although other factors play a major role too. Therefore, it becomes important to protect your  ojas . Protection of 'ojas' is possible when you are able to live in the present with pure and complete awareness. A number of ways to promote  ojas  and thereby, develop your immunity are listed below:

Diet: Agni is bolstered by a dietary routine that minimizes refined sugars, stimulants and processed foods. The focus must be shifted to consumption of whole and healthy foods while maintaining a proper schedule. Inclusion of garlic, ginger, black pepper, long pepper, cinnamon, asafoetida in the diet is advised as it destroys poisons and bad bacteria, kindles Agni, promotes normal body temperature maintenance and eliminates the extra kapha.
Get adequate sleep: It is proven that sleep deprivation in humans can cause a total loss of the immune functions of the body. Thus it becomes mandatory to adopt a balanced sleeping schedule where the minimum duration to be regularly maintained is 8 hours.
Exercise: Appropriate exercise discharges collected strain, moves stagnant emotional and mental energy, enhances circulation, encourages proper elimination, improves digestion, supports sound sleep and promotes relaxation in the body. All these contribute to a healthy maintenance of the immune system. Adversely, improper exercise can prove to be damaging.
Meditation and yoga: The different types of Ayurvedic practices, each having a different set of benefits, are advised to be adapted so that you can sustain immunity. Some of these practices include yoga, pranayama, meditation, etc.
Herbal support: Different types of herbs in the Ayurvedic tradition, each having an affinity for a certain type of tissue, are capable of supporting the immune system. The advisable herbal supports include chyavanprash, turmeric, ginger, Tulsi, Shatavatri, Ashwagandha, turmeric, tulsi, trifla, giloy, Bronchial Support Herbal Syrup, Immune Support tablets, etc.
Regular detoxification: Regular detoxification (by Panchkarma procedures) of body as advised in Ayurveda , keeps basic body doshas ( Vats, pitta, kapha) in balance.
Rejuvenation therapy- After detoxification certain ayurvedic drugs, herbs are given for a long duration for rejuvenation, longevity of life, immunity boosting. It also prevents and cure diseases.

How Ayurveda Helps in Boosting Your General Immunity?

The human body is a marvellous creation and functions in a highly synchronised and balanced way. Disease results when this balance is disturbed either due to infections, inflammations, trauma, autoimmune diseases, tumours. Whatever the reason, with any of these, the body has a strong immune system, which reacts to these changes and tries to ensure that balance is restored as quickly as possible and with minimal effect on overall bodily function.

While most of us have a natural tendency to do so, some have it weaker. This makes them more prone to infections and they take more time to repair and restore health. However, there are a number of supplements which can help to strengthen the immunity. These can be used with the consultation of a professional, and this can help improve overall health.

Homeopathy obviously fits into the class of therapeutic methods that augment the body's own defenses. A microdose of a substance heals the symptoms in large dose. Homeopathic medicines are both considerably smaller and safer in dose and more individualized to the person they are being used to treat.

Although homeopathic medicines are thought to stimulate the body's own defenses, how they do so remains a mystery. Homeopathic medicine do not simply stimulate the body's immune system to treat ill people, for they can also calm it when this is necessary for the healing of the individual.

People with auto-immune ailments suffer because their body's immune system is over-active and it attacks the person's own cells, not just bacteria, viruses, or foreign substances. Homeopathy believes that  like cures like.  So in treating a disease, what it does is use small amounts of the substance that is known to induce the disease. This way, similar symptoms are induced and the disease is treated. Some of the most common homeopathic medicines are-

Allium Cepa: With winter setting in, more and more people are prone to developing a runny nose, nasal congestion, and teary eyes. So, with winter still around the corner, using allium cepa (small onion) helps build immunity by easing these symptoms. Keeping 3 to 5 pellets of this compound under the tongue can help control nasal congestion.

Oscillococcinum: Popularly known as Oscillo, this contains very small amounts of duck liver and heart. When used on the first couple of days with the onset of flu-like symptoms, this helps the body aches and fatigue disappear. It is proven to be safe, effective, and helps prevent further attacks of similar symptoms.

Gelsemium: Obtained from the vine Gelsemium sempervirens, this is useful to build immunity towards cold and flu symptoms. Keeping it under the tongue also helps relieve symptoms if they are already present and controls further attacks of flu-like symptoms.

Silica: This is responsible for stimulating the production of macrophages. These are a type of cells, which are essential for eating up bacteria and foreign bodies. It, therefore, helps improve immunity and fight infections.

Arsenicum Album (white arsenic): This is used in a variety of conditions ranging from anxiety to poisoning to digestive disorders.

While some people refer to most homeopathic medicines as immune stimulating, they are in fact immunomodulatory. Whether a person has an autoimmune disease or repeated infections, homeopathy can be used. A detailed discussion with a specialized homeopath would be the first step to identify what is the right compound to use.

5 Best Homeopathic Medicine for Strengthen Immune System

Probiotics are healthy bacteria that resolve two crucial factors:

1) Boost Immunity: They help in production of antibodies and other substances that fight infections.

2) Digestion: They help in digestive disordes, gastro as well as other stomach related problems.
Yogurts, Probiotics fortified drinks and foods are the common sources.

What are Probiotics?

8 Ways to know that your immunity is low

Are you falling sick very frequently or get tired too soon? It could be most likely because your immunity is very low and your body has to fight harder to function properly. There are certain indicators which tell you that your immunity is low, and you must take quick action to avoid any major problem your body may encounter eventually.

Here are the telling pointers for lowered immunity.

1. Dehydration - Our body is made of 70% water. This goes to show how important water is, for it to function properly. Fluids help get rid of germs and other toxins from the body. It is very important to keep ourselves hydrated. At times, our body loses water, however we do not realize immediately. A good way to find this out is to keep a check on the colour of our urine. Ideally it should be transparent.

2. You are always unwell - It is a no brainer This is the clearest possible indicator that your immunity needs a boost. If every time there is a change in weather or you are around someone who has the flu/is sneezing, you get sick too then it is a clear indication that your body is unable to fight the germs.

3. Drinking water seems impure - Most parts of India doesn’t get pure drinking water and this happens to be a matter of grave concern. This doesn’t apply to only the poor and homeless; a lot of our population resides in localities where pure drinking water in not available. Therefore it is important to make sure you purify your drinking water. Always check your water purifier. In situations where one doesn’t have access to purifier, ensure that you boil and strain your drinking water.

4. You are forever stressed - Your work, family, personal and social obligations might be pulling you down and you are forever stressed or worried about something or the other. If you fall sick when already stressed, you body cannot fight the germs as it could if you are stress free. Chronic stress leads to your immunity being low and you falling sick repeatedly.

5. Your sugar cravings going up - We are all well aware that having a weakness for sweets poses a threat to your oral health and waistline. However, if it leads to a craving and you end up consuming too much, every day, it can lower your immunity by weakening the white blood cells. If the white blood cells are weak, the body loses its ability to fight the germs.

6. Your nasal passage feels dry - This is comparatively rare, but does happen to many people. While a dripping nose is bothersome, what is worrisome is a dry nasal passage. Germs linger in dry passages and one can have cold & flu frequently. Keeping a humidifier in the room might come handy.

7. You are overweight - Being overweight is never a good news. It leads to a multitude of diseases and also weakens your immunity. Once your body mass index is way above the allowed level, your body gets stuck in a vicious circle. An overweight body gives ways to health problems, which again affect your weight for instance, when hormonal imbalance happens.

8. Lack of energy - You are always tired. All you want to do is sleep, even after waking up from a good, long sleep. This is a clear indicator of low immunity. You need to regulate your diet & exercise, apart from ensuring you sleep a good eight hours in the night, instead of 8-10 hours throughout the day.




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8 Reasons Your Immunity Is Lower Than It Should Be

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