Page 19 - INSIDE ACCESS FEBRUARY-21-3RD EDITION

FUN FACTS
10Facts About The
Our immune system, a network of organs, proteins and cells that works to defend our bodies against bad bacteria, viruses, and toxins, is to thank for maintaining our health day after day. Simple as that may sound, our immune system is actually an extraordinarily complex network with features and functions that are not common knowledge.
Immune System
Our immune system remembers every microbe it has ever fought and defeated. This means that if a microbe enters the body for a second time, the immune system has a stored record that enables it to quickly recognize and fend off the microbe before it has the chance to infect you.
The immune system doesn't have one centralized location in the body like the heart or the brain. Instead, the cells that make up the immune system are produced in organs throughout the body including the tonsils, lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow and adenoids.
Stress can affect the immune system. Believe it or not, your everyday stressors may actually be making you sick. Stress suppresses your immune system and increases your likelihood of contracting a virus. It creates chronic inflammatory conditions and lowers the immunity of those who otherwise might have a healthy immune system.
The immune system is made up of two different systems: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. The innate immune system is a component that every person is born with and the adaptive immune system is a component that the body develops after being exposed to microbes and the chemicals released by microbes.
Are you cursed with a runny nose and itchy eyes every spring? This next fun fact about the immune system might be to blame! Food allergies, allergic reactions to medications and stinging insects, anaphylaxis, hay fever, asthma, hives, dermatitis and eczema are all symptoms of immunesystem overactivity.
A poor immune system may be the result of lack of sleep. Believe it or not, when you deprive yourself of sleep you are actually weakening your immune system. People who never get sick follow a bedtime routine; they set a specific time to go to sleep every night.
Sunlight affects the Immune System. Get outside and reap the benefits of the sun. Sunshine stimulates your immune system’s vitamin D and T cells, which ultimately results in boosted immunity.
Getting a fever means that your immune system is working. A rise in body temperature is a commune immune response that your immune system may deploy to kill certain microbes and trigger your body's repair process.
Our immune system also becomes weaker as we age, as immune system tissues begin to shrink and our white blood cell count and activity starts to decline.
Happy relationships boost your immune system. Time and time again studies have shown that people who are involved in happy and healthy relationships live longer and have fewer health problems.
PAGE 19 INSIDE ACCESS | FEBRUARY 2021 3RD EDITION