Immunity Immune system habits

Habits Damage Immunity | 10 Habits That Directly Harm Your Immunity

What are the factors make your immunity weaker? Various factors can make your immunity weaker and render you susceptible to diseases. Do you know that many common daily habits actually harm your immune system? Most of your habits directly impact your immune system, especially as you age. It is important to adopt healthy habits and quit bad habits to maintain a strong immune system. Let's look at the top 10 everyday habits that directly harm your immunity.

Updated on July 5, 2024

You are quite aware that good habits help your success in life and bad habits damage your life. Do you know some habits that damage immunity? Yes, you read it right. Some bad habits damage your immunity power and make you sick. In this post, you can find the top 10 everyday habits that directly harm your immunity. Continue reading and watching the video and make necessary changes in your lifestyle to avoid habits that are harmful to immunity.

What Are The Habits that Damage Immunity?

Do you know the immune system is your body’s number one defence mechanism? Yes, your body should have a good immune system to protect you from various types of bacteria, viruses and other disease-causing pathogens. Your immune system and your health are directly related because the more protection you will have against colds viruses and other illnesses that can attack your body. On the other hand, if you have weak immunity, that can make you more vulnerable to frequent colds and other viral infections and also slow healing.

It is important to adopt healthy habits and quit bad habits to maintain a strong immune system. Let’s look at the top 10 everyday habits that directly harm your immunity.

What are the factors that make your immunity weaker? Various factors can make your immunity weaker and render you susceptible to diseases. Do you know that many common daily habits actually harm your immune system? Most of your habits directly impact your immune system, especially as you age.

Top 10 Habits Damage Immunity

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Habits Damage Immunity
10 Habits That Damage Immunity

  1. Sleep deprivation
  2. Refined sugar
  3. Excessive alcohol consumption
  4. Tobacco
  5. Excessive caffeine
  6. Eating junk food
  7. Not drinking enough water
  8. Avoiding enough physical activity
  9. Avoiding human connections
  10. Avoiding healthy diet

5 Indian Habits That The World Wants To Learn During COVID-19

1. Sleep deprivation – Habits Damage Immunity

If you work late at night, watch TV or do projects late at night without proper sleep, you may have a weak community. Poor sleep habits lower the immune system functioning and reduce the level of killer white blood cells that fight germs. Sleep deprivation also reduces the production of protective cytokines. While you sleep your immune system releases different types of cytokines and helps to protect your body against infections and diseases whose production can significantly decrease if you are sleep deprived.

Sleep deprivation Immunity Habits Damage Immunity
Sleep deprivation

In a 2017 study published in Journal of Sleep researchers took blood samples from 11 pairs of identical twins but different sleep patterns and found that the twin with the shorter sleep duration had a depressed immune system and with reduced activity of lymphocytes in the blood compared with his or her sibling avoid skipping on sleep.

Develop proper sleep hygiene. Be in the bed at a fixed time every night and try to wake up at the same time every morning. Be sure to get seven to nine hours of quality sleep every night. If you often eat or drink something to satisfy your cravings you can suffer from weak immunity.

2. Refined sugar

Refined sugar can reduce the ability of white blood cells to kill germs. Sugar actually prevents vitamin C from getting into the white blood cells resulting in weakened immunity. Interestingly the immune-suppressing effects of sugar start within 30 minutes after ingestion and may last for many hours.

Refined sugar
Refined sugar

If you need to eat something sweet to go for fruits like oranges, apples, mangoes, watermelons and others that contain natural sugars to satisfy your cravings. The vitamin C in these fruits will also help your immune system to work in a more efficient manner.

3. Excessive alcohol consumption – Habits Damage Immunity

The benefits that a daily glass of wine can contribute to cardiovascular health is scientifically proven but excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can throw away all the benefits of moderate consumption. In addition, not all alcoholic beverages have the same benefits of wine.

alcohol consumption immunity immune system
Excessive Alcohol Consumption

Many have a high alcohol level that cannot be metabolized by the body depressing the ability of the immune system. Also, excessive alcohol consumption reduces the production of white blood cells, slows down digestive activity and overloads liver work reducing his ability to store vitamins. All these factors contribute to the poor immunity in alcoholics if the control consumption of some alcoholic beverages can be accepted.

4. Tobacco – Habits Damage Immunity

Tobacco immunity immune system
Tobacco Affects Immune System

In the case of tobacco, there is no limit allowed. Cigarettes contain more than 250 highly harmful substances some of which are even considered poisonous such as ammonia, arsenic, nicotine and toluene. The human body is not made to process chemicals as potent and devastating as those contained in cigarettes. Slowly smoking affects all systems of the human body and the immune system is no exception.

5. Excessive caffeine – Habits Damage Immunity

Caffeine Immunity Immune System
Excessive Caffeine Affects Immunity

Drinking too much coffee and other caffeinated beverages is also not good for your immunity. Excessive caffeine stimulates your nervous system by increasing the stress level in the body. A high-stress level causes the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Cortisol is also known to suppress the immune system and make you more prone to infections and other health problems elevated. Cortisol is also linked to health issues related to the heart, blood sugar and high cholesterol. When taken in moderation coffee provides many health benefits like increased alertness, mood and energy. So limit yourself to just 1 to 2 cups of coffee per day.

6. Eating junk food – Habits Damage Immunity

Eating junk food in excess can be bad for your immunity. Junk food is often high in fat and eating excess fat is one of the key reasons behind obesity. A diet high in saturated fat can harm the immune system even before the way it came begins to show obesity can affect the ability of the white blood cells to multiply and produce antibodies. Thus making you more prone to infections.

Junk Food Immune System
Eating Junk Food Affects Immunity

A 2014 study bubbly in nutritional journal reports that the Western diet is characterised by overconsumption of refined sugars, salt and saturated fat which has a negative impact on immunity. It can lead to increase inflammation, reduce control of infection, increased rates of cancer and increased risk of allergic and autoimmune diseases. Cut down on fast food and choose a healthy diet instead.

7. Not drinking enough water – Habits Damage Immunity

The human body is mostly made of water in every cell of our body to perform numerous functions. If you don’t drink enough water to replenish what your body needs it will surely affect your immune system. Proper hydration is essential for building stronger immunity.

Drink enough water for immunity
Drink enough water

In 2013 animal study published in frontiers of zoology researchers concluded that depending upon the life history of an organism osmotic state may have a greater influence on immune function than energy availability. Which in simple words means water is more important for immune function than food. A healthy person should drink about eight to ten glasses of water per day. However, the amount of water you drink may depend upon the climate in which you live.

8. Avoiding enough physical activity – Habits Damage Immunity

How physically active you are and your overall health. Lack of regular physical activity is harmful in every way for the body these dentary lifestyles literally make the immune system sleep engaging in any sport or some form of physical exercise activates it to fight viral and bacterial infections and decreases the likelihood of suffering from chronic diseases such as osteoporosis, arthritis or heart disease. Exercise reduces stress and increases the production of antibodies and white blood cells on the other hand when we work out our body temperature rises and elevation of body temperature reduces the possibility of bacterial growth in your body.

 Physical Activity Immunity Immune System Habits Damage Immunity
Regular Enough Physical Activity

Physical activity is essential for building a stronger immunity and there is no doubt about it. But that brings us to our next point which lowers our immunity which is excessive exercise. Your body has a limit and when you try to push it beyond its physical limits it stops functioning correctly. Your immune system also stops responding efficiently and you fall prey to infections easily. Researchers showed that more than 90 minutes of high-intensity exercise can make you more susceptible to illness for up to 72 hours after the exercise session. Intense exercise seems to cause a temporary decrease in immune function. Researchers have found that during these intense physical exertion periods the body produces certain hormones that temporarily lower immunity.

Cortisol and Adrenaline are stress hormones that perform numerous important functions in our body. But they also raise blood pressure and cholesterol levels and they also suppress the immune system. This effect has been linked to increased susceptibility to infections in endurance. Athletes after extreme exercises always ensure that you take proper rest and do not overwork yourself. Heavy long-term exercise such as marathon running and intense gym training has been proven to lower your immunity and decrease its ability to fight viral infections.

9. Avoiding human connections – Habits Damage Immunity

Believe it or not, avoiding people or human connections can also affect your immunity. Social relationships both the quantity and quality affect our mental health which affects our health behaviour and indirectly affects our immunity as well. People who have poor relations usually run at least twice the risk of serious illnesses and premature death compared to the people who have good social relations. If you want to be healthier you cannot avoid other people.

Habits Damage Immunity Human connections Immune system
Human connections

Like it or not the human body is built to be a part of society and putting time and effort into positively interacting with others will inevitably bring you many health benefits.

10. Avoiding a healthy diet

Healthy Eating Healthy Immune System Habits Damage Immunity
Healthy Eating

If nothing else, a good and healthy diet is essential to building a healthy immune system and fighting off infections.

Source: YouTube

Find How To Boost Immune System With Food And Healthy Living.

Final Thoughts

Lack of inner peace, stress, fear, anxiety, etc will affect the immune system. If you can manage these factors and find happiness that will surely boost your immunity.

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What are the habits you would like to change to boost your immune system?

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