Nip illnesses in the bud

As the days get shorter, our thoughts turn to last year’s flu and bronchitis season. The 2013- 14 influenza season was particularly tough on the 25- to- 64 age group, and experts say we should be prepared for a repeat performance. Is there a way to not just treat symptoms but prevent those and other illnesses in the first place?

Research says yes. One key is managing stress. Way back in 1964, Dr. George F. Solomon, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA, was the first to prove a link between stress and dysfunctional immunity. Now we know that stress — both acute and chronic — can weaken your immune system, so many of the tips for preventing illness focus on managing anxiety and stress. The mechanism is primitive: “Toomuch stress triggers excessive production of the stress hormone cortisol, important in the fight- or- flight reaction,” says Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, coauthor of “Real Cause, Real Cure: The 9 Root Causes of the Most Common Health Problems and Howto Solve Them.” “This process is meant to protect us during life- threatening situations, so it shunts your body’s resources away from immunity and toward quick production of adrenaline and energy.”

The key, experts say, is helping your immune system regulate itself.

“One often hears about ‘ boosting’ immunity with certain lifestyle practices, foods or supplements,” says Dr. Andrew Weil, author of “Spontaneous Healing” and director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. “But it’s important to remember that what we really need is a discriminating immune system — one that knows the difference between friends, benign companions and enemies. When immunity can’t make distinctions, the result can be autoimmune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or Type 1 diabetes, in which healthy organs are attacked as if they were invaders. On the other hand, we need a robust ability to resist infection.”

Here are five ways to help your immune system do its job: