Aside from the necessary precautions like washing your hands frequently and getting the recommended vaccinations, here are some other tricks for keeping illness at bay.
When germs are your job
One moment Dr. Ernest Brown might be in a stale hotel room handing tissues to someone with the flu, and the next he could be telling folks at a homeless shelter to open up and say, “ah.” In other words, he hardly lives in a bubble of sterility. Still, the house call doctor in the District of Columbia hasn’t been “full-blown knocked out” by illness in about five years. “Considering how many sick patients I see, my immunity is quite high,” he says. And while he and others with robust immune systems take appropriate precautions like washing their hands frequently and getting the recommended vaccinations, some also credit these tricks for keeping illness at bay.
1. They manage stress.
Dr. Tiffany Lowe-Payne’s prototypical patient is a successful woman who keeps getting sick but doesn’t know why. “We realize they’re really just stressed,” says Lowe-Payne, a family medicine physician in Raleigh, North Carolina. Indeed, research shows that chronic stress weakens the body’s response to illness at the cellular level. Even temporary stress can compromise the immune system; one classic study showed college students’ immunities declined every year during exams. “Natural, physical or environmental stressors can affect our balance … and cause chronic stress,” says Lowe-Payne, who de-stresses by lighting candles and diffusing essential oils in her room. “If your balance is off, your immune system decreases, and that’s how people get sick.”
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2. They have kids (or patients).
When Lowe-Payne’s son started day care, he learned to share — germs, that is. At first, Lowe-Payne caught his illnesses when caring for him, but soon enough she developed resistance the same way she did when beginning her career in health care. “Eventually, my body began to build memory to viruses or things we’re exposed to,” she says. Parents also play a role in shaping their kids’ immunity: One study even suggests that sucking your infant’s pacifier can lower their allergy risk. “Exposing babies to certain microbes early in life may stimulate their immune systems,” says Miryam Z. Wahrman, a biochemist who wrote “The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled World.”
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3. Their bedrooms are their “oasis.”
Lowe-Payne tells patients that their rooms should be an “oasis,” or a calming place conducive to sufficient, high-quality sleep. After all, research finds sleep quality, not just quantity, is central in cells’ immune response development. “[Sleep] is the period of time when your body begins to rejuvenate,” she says. To create your oasis, limit artificial light exposure before bed, lower the temperature and invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows, the American Sleep Foundation suggests. Keep your space clean too, Lowe-Payne advises. “If you have a cluttered room or a cluttered car or a cluttered workspace, you’re going to have a cluttered mind, and it’s going to create a stress response.”
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4. They supplement with caution.
Take a trip to the supplement aisle of the drugstore, and you may be convinced that your immunity depends on what pills you pop. But in reality, there’s only so much you can do to shape the microbiome you were born with. As Lowe-Payne says, “The majority of your immune system is natural, so there’s not really that much you can do to make it better or worse.” That said, some alternative treatments like aromatherapy, herbs like Echinacea and supplements like vitamin D show promise, experts say. “In 50 years,” Brown predicts, “they’ll look at us and say, ‘Can you believe these people didn’t take vitamin D?'”
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5. They drink plenty of water.
Ever since moving from the District of Columbia to Luanda, Angola, where he works as a logistics officer, Ethan Pickering hasn’t gotten sick — even though water and soap are scarce and air pollution and humidity are high. “Even in the States, I catch some kind of cold … with more frequency,” he says. His secret? Morning workouts, which he began after arriving in Angola and lead him to drink lots of water all day. Makes sense, since your cells need a lot of the stuff to do their jobs flushing out toxins and fighting disease. “I wasn’t trying to boost my immune system,” Pickering says, “but it’s been a pleasant bonus.”
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Thinkstock
6. They have good friends.
You are the company you keep — and to your immune system, that doesn’t mean friends who don’t get sick are good for you as much as it means friends you enjoy, trust and who support you are good for you. That’s because research ties social isolation and feelings of loneliness to decreased immune function. “Friends” who cause more stress than they relieve can literally make you sick, too. “You have to [be] really mindful to not allow those things that are going to increase your stress level to remain in your life for an extended period of time,” says Lowe-Payne, who wrote “A Woman’s Guide to De-Stress for Success.”
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7. They exercise regularly, but not excessively.
Every morning, Dr. William Schaffner stretches and exercises with dumbbells. He also hits the gym three times a week and walks daily. Such diligence toward exercise is universal among sickness evaders since physical activity is well-known to lower stress, boost mood and help maintain weight — all factors that contribute to a strong immune system. “You don’t have to train to be an Olympic athlete” to reap the benefits, says Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. In fact, intense exercise — think marathon running — is even linked to immune system suppression, at least temporarily, adds Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, an internist in Atlanta.
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8. They get help when they need it.
As soon as Brown feels a bit off, he evaluates exactly what’s bothering him and addresses it right away by, for instance, drinking more fluids or taking a supplement like zinc. “I start hitting it in the first four hours,” he says. Not only does that minimize the severity of the potential illness, but it also helps prevent would-be viruses from recurring. Follow his example by listening to your body and calling your provider promptly for advice when you need it. “People need to not just try to muscle through their illness,” he says. “They need to slow down and identify what to do so they can get better.”
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