Ways to Improve Your Immune System: Natural Immune System Boosters

As we head into cold and flu season, there’s a single million-dollar question on everyone’s minds: how to improve their immune system naturally. You may be happy to learn that it’s indeed possible to boost your immune system with a combination of good habits and the right supplements. We’ll explore how in this post.

How to Boost Your Immune System Naturally

Harvard scientists have collected a list of tips to help keep you healthy during this cold and flu season. Here are some of the highlights.

1. Eat Plenty of Fruits and Veggies

Getting enough whole plant foods can strengthen your body against infection. Veggies, seeds, nuts, and fruits are all packed with nutrients to boost your immune system. In addition, many of them are natural antioxidants. This means they combat free radicals, or molecules that can roam around your body causing cell damage.

These foods also contain plenty of fiber. That’s important for your gut biome, or the community of microbes living inside your digestive tract. Keeping them healthy helps mitigate the chances that infections will be able to enter your body via your stomach.

2. Get Enough Sleep

Here’s one health tip that never goes out of style. And if you’re wondering how to strengthen your immune system, getting sleep is one of the best ways to do it.

If you get less than 6 hours of sleep per night, your chances of catching a cold or the flu significantly increase. Researchers have demonstrated that this is true in lab settings. For kids, that number is even higher. Children need to get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep per night to keep their immune system in working order. And it’s even more important for them, since kids get exposed to more vectors for colds from school, sports, and other activities.

3. Minimize Stress

Stress has a huge role to play in your immune system. Long-term stress can trigger inflammation, which can interfere with immune function. In fact, long-term stress can even suppress children’s immune systems. 

So how can you manage stress to boost your immune system? Practice mindfulness techniques like meditation. Make sure you get enough exercise. If you’re really stressed, speak to a counselor.

You can also give plant extracts a try. Research has shown that some may be able to reduce chronic stress and anxiety. As a result, it could be an effective (if roundabout) way to boost your immune system.

4. Try Immune Booster Supplements

Several different types of immune booster supplements may be able to either help reduce your chances of catching a cold or shorten its duration. However, you can’t just trust any supplement. Experts have recognized benefits of a select few, including:

• Echinacea: commonly found in many immune system boosters, this herbal flower is a popular herbal remedy with several benefits. One exhaustive study tested more than 700 participants’ reaction to echinacea. It found that the herb helped users recover slightly faster from their colds.
• Elderberry: here’s one you may not have expected. Researchers believe that elderberries and their extracts could be an effective way to reduce symptoms of upper respiratory infections. You can use one of several elderberry supplemental products, like or Relive Everyday Elderberry Gummies, to take advantage of these effects.
• Garlic: this veggie is one of the most powerful immune boosting foods out there. In fact, one three-month study surveyed nearly 150 people to determine just how effective it was. Researchers found that garlic appeared to reduce common cold infections by one-third. You can eat garlic raw if you’re brave, you can or eat it as an ingredient in other dishes.
• Vitamin C: here’s another classic ingredient in countless immunity boosters. And there’s plenty of science to back up Vitamin C’s reputation. Research surveying more than 11,000 participants showed that this supplement could reduce the duration of a cold in both children and adults. However, data suggests that Vitamin C doesn’t actually raise your immunity to colds in the first place – it only makes you get better faster.
• Vitamin D: researchers believe that Vitamin D also appears to have a part to play in immune system function. Vitamin D shortages may short-circuit your immune system, lowering your defenses and leaving you opened to getting sick. As a result, adding Vitamin D to your routine when you don’t already lack it won’t boost your immune system if you’re already getting enough in the first place.
• Zinc: here’s a supplement that may be one of the most powerful natural ways to improve your immunity. Data collected from nearly 600 participants suggests that 75 mg supplements could shorten the length of cold and flu symptoms by 33 percent.
• Plant Extracts: this compound can do more than just ease anxiety. However, this isn’t your typical immune booster. In fact, researchers still haven’t decided on how the specific plants used in Relive Everyday’s products have apparently paradoxical immune system effects. Research shows that certain plant molecules appears to have both immune system boosting and immunosuppressant properties. As a result, it may be an effective way to ease the symptoms of a cold or flu, even though it doesn’t affect the underlying cause.

Boosting Your Immune System Naturally

As the seasons transition from Summer into Fall, we’re heading into the peak of cold and flu season. But if you learn how to improve your immune system naturally, you may be able to fend off infection until springtime.

Looking for immune boosting supplements? Since plants have so many diverse roles to play when it comes to boosting your immune system, that may be a good place to start. Check out our online shop, where you can find a wide variety of plant-infused products.

With nondetectable levels of psychoactive compounds and a proprietary extraction method, Relieve Everyday products are a great choice. And since all of our products are vegan and gluten free, they can fit into nearly anyone’s diet. Go ahead, give them a try!