Your Healthy Immune System

Immunity. One great sign that things are going right in your world is that you easily resist getting sick. Everyone around you can be coughing and hacking. Yet your immune system is up to the task of keeping you healthy. It’s a good thing!

On the flip side, if you're the person who gets every little bug, listen up. This means something. One of the things it means is that your immune system isn’t doing as good a job for you as you might like.

Now sometimes people figure, well, who cares? It's too much trouble to make a change. I can deal with the occasional cold. And you probably can. But what about the big guns? Cancer, for example — an opportunistic condition that hakes hold when the immune system fails.

There are lots of different ways to stoke up your immune system. You get all the micro-nutrients your body needs, were born from hearty stock, live in a climate that suits you, get lots of rest, manage stress well, and engage in a livelihood that makes you proud. Most of us can recite the list readily.

However there are two additional factors we don't see talked about as frequently. Both have a direct effect on your staying well and healthy. See if you can include these in your healthy lifestyle.

You meet your personal needs on a regular basis, allowing time for fun. Even for pampering, if that's what makes you feel good.

That's the lesson one of my college professors shared in this true story about his annual winter cold. Seems he got the obligatory one cold each year. Just sick enough to take a couple days off work and catch up on his rest.

One day, someone asked him the big questions, "How would you like to get rid of that cold?" Followed by, "What do you do on your sick days?"

After thinking it over, he realized that once he'd caught up his sleep, he'd spend his remaining "sick" time playing the guitar. I'll bet you can guess the outcome from here. Once he started allowing time for his favorite passion in real life, he mysteriously stopped getting the cold.

Protection. Your immune system protects you from danger. It will work as hard as you do to keep you healthy. In other words, each and every day you set the standard for your immune system with your behavior and your thoughts. If you act as though you believe you're worth protecting, your immune system will get the message and step up to the plate.

This is specifically a self-esteem issue. Do whatever it takes to get your self-esteem up to par and your immune system will thank you. A great way to do that, of course, is to live according to your values.

One thought sums it all up. Do the things that make you proud to be you, and your immune system will be proud to do its best to protect you!