Immunity improved

If you ask me what is the most intuitive answer to improving immunity, the standard answer is never "never get sick again" - the essence is that your body's tolerance threshold for external stimuli becomes higher and the repair speed becomes faster. There is never a universal improvement formula, and all useful methods are tried by yourself.

Last autumn and winter, I got bronchitis as soon as the temperature dropped. I had to get up to find Sichuan Fritillary Loquat ointment at 2 a.m. and drank medicine for a week to suppress it. This year, when the temperature dropped, I forgot to wear long johns for three days in a row. My nose was red when I was commuting to and from get off work. I could only sneeze twice, but nothing happened the next day. I used to go to have skewers with iced cola with my friends, and I had diarrhea twice on the same day after eating. I had to take montmorillonite powder to save me. Now I occasionally get cravings for spicy hot pot and iced milk tea. At most, my bowel movements will be a little more frequent the next day, and I don't need to take medicine at all.

Speaking of which, I have been through a lot of pitfalls before. I followed the "30-day immunity improvement plan" on the Internet. I forced myself to run five kilometers every day, eat boiled vegetables without salt, and bought hundreds of probiotic powder. As a result, I caught a cold after running for half a month. I went to the doctor and found out that excessive aerobic can suppress immune function in a short period of time. I exercised when I was tired, which put a burden on my body.

Nowadays, there are indeed mixed opinions about improving immunity. Evidence-based doctors always say that as long as you have a balanced daily diet and a regular work and rest schedule, there is no need to take additional supplements. Practitioners of functional medicine also believe that people nowadays are generally stressed and have less sun exposure. B vitamins and vitamin D are almost universally deficient. The benefits of appropriate supplements outweigh the disadvantages. I don’t take sides. I usually take a 400IU vitamin D pill every time I think about it. After all, I sit in the office for less than 10 minutes in the sun every day, so I don’t take it every day. After all, some doctor friends have warned that excessive supplementation of fat-soluble vitamins will cause poisoning in the body, so you just have to control yourself. Oh, by the way, a while ago, a friend sold me a certain imported "immunity pill" and said that after taking it for half a year, I didn't even catch a cold. I checked the registered ingredients and found out that it actually contains a large dose of vitamin C and zinc. If you really can eat half a catty of fruit every day, buying this is a waste of money, and it may cause stomach problems if you take it too much.

There is also the saying that "colon cleansing and detoxification can improve immunity." I specifically asked my friends in the gastroenterology department, and they said that there is no concept of "detoxification" in medicine. Normal defecation and sweating are the ways by which the body metabolizes waste. Drinking intestinal cleansing tea and eating enzymes will destroy the intestinal flora and hinder immunity. I used to get diarrhea when I ate something cold, and I didn't take any expensive probiotics. I just drank sugar-free plain yogurt two or three times a week, and my stomach gradually became more tolerant. But don't think I'm trying to persuade you to drink yogurt. I have a friend who is lactose intolerant. He has diarrhea for a long time after just one mouthful of yogurt. He eats half a plate of fermented kimchi without any additives every day, and his stomach slowly gets better. To put it bluntly, it's all individual differences.

I don’t set any KPIs for myself now, such as “you must sleep for 8 hours” and “you must eat 3 kinds of vegetables every day”. Sometimes I stay up until 1 o’clock to finish writing, and then take a 20-minute nap at noon the next day, and I don’t feel any guilt. After all, anxiety is the number one killer of immunity. I strain my nerves every day in order to “enhance immunity”, but the gain outweighs the gain.

Speaking of immunity, this thing is really like the property of your community. It does not mean that all outsiders should be blocked outside the door and everything will be invaded. It means that when a small thief breaks in, you can react quickly and take the person away without causing a fuss in the entire community to seal off and rectify. In fact, most of the time, you don't have to look at the physical examination report of certain immune cell subgroups to dig out the numbers. You are usually comfortable, have fewer minor problems, and don't have to go to the hospital every three days to buy medicine. That means your immunity has really improved, and it is more effective than any secret recipe.