How does aging affect the immune system?
Aging does not need to affect the immune system; diet, stress management, digestive health and the liver's ability to filter toxins are actually the main factors. Watch functional medicine expert Susan Blum, MD, explain the keys for strong immunity.
Transcript
As we grow, as we age, and grow up, and go through our years, we succumb to environmental toxins and chemicals
that were all filled with. They're all around us. [BRIGHT MUSIC]
Aging does not need to affect the immune system. It turns out that the immune system is built from the ground up.
There are four foundational systems that if they are healthy your immune system will be healthy too. So we always start with food.
The food you eat has the power to create inflammation in the body, which can be damaging to the immune system, or it can provide rich antioxidants
and be anti-inflammatory that will support immune health. So we always work on food first. The second is stress and the adrenal glands.
You do not want to live with constant stress and not sleeping because you can end up with adrenal fatigue, which will damage your immune system.
So if your adrenals are happy and healthy during your lifetime, then your immune system will be happy and healthy as well.
The third very important piece is your gut. You have 100 trillion bacteria in your gut. And they are really important in determining the health
of your immune system. So if you have a healthy gut, you will have a healthy immune system. And so if we focus on digestive wellness,
making sure your gut flora are healthy, making sure you're not taking antacids, making sure that you're not taking too many antibiotics,
your immune system will benefit from that because your gut will stay healthy too. And number four, we always have to look
at the toxins in our body and the toxic burden. Toxins damage the immune system. And this is one of the reasons why the immune system does
get sick as we age because as we grow, as we age, and grow up, and go through our years, we succumb to environmental toxins and chemicals
that we're all filled with. They're all around us. And so we have to make sure our liver is doing a really good job mobilizing those toxins
and digesting them and moving them out of the body. And if the liver is really healthy and tuned up and able to clear out toxins, then they
won't get stored in the body, and they won't damage the immune system. So if you maintain a healthy gut,
maintain a healthy liver to move those toxins out, you manage your stress and sleep well so that your adrenals stay
healthy, and you focus on eating an anti-inflammatory diet, then your immune system will stay strong throughout the entire span of your lifetime.
immune system
Browse videos by topic categories
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
ALL