Boosting your immune system is a bit like going to see an old fashioned doctor before the age of the internet when there were hundreds of conflicting options about how to be healthy.


#1. Quit smoking


Unless the doctor has stock in a tobacco company to pad his retirement years, the number one, universally agreed way to boost your immune system is to quit smoking.


Interestingly, doctors were a considerable part of tobacco's efforts to promote smoking as recreational at worst and actually good for you at best.


Between the 1930s and the mid-1950s, doctors (or actors playing doctors) were a prominent part of big tobaccos pushing cigarettes, according to Helios.com at https://www.healio.com/news/hematology-oncology/20120325/cigarettes-were-once-physician-tested-approved


#2, Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables


Health officials frequently comment on eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. NOt only do fruits and vegetables have a lot of vitamins and micronutrients, but if you fill up on fruits and vegetables, then you tend to avoid lots of foods such as sugars and starches that add to your being overweight.


#3. Get plenty of exercise.


The Centers for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/adults/index.htm) recommends that you get a minimum of 150 minutes of exercise per week.


According to the CDC, while adults should exercise around 30 minutes per day for 5 days per week, on average, they actually clock in around 17 minutes per day.


#4 Reducing our weight


Being overweight really stress the immune system, and yet more than 36 percent of Americans are obese, and another 32 percent are overweight. Women, in particular, are gaining a lot of weight, with the average woman being 5 foot 3 inches in height but weigh 170 pounds.


Given that most health charts show a 5-foot 3-inch woman should weigh between 104 and 127 pounds, that's a lot of excess weight to shed.


One way to combat weight gain may be to research "What is Thrive?" a relatively new technology that helps people lose weight through weight loss patches.



#5. Limit your alcohol use


Studies have shown that alcohol can significantly tax the body, and the CDC recommends women drink no more than 1 alcohol drink per day, and men should consume no more than 2 drinks per day.


The Mayo Clinic says there are no research whatsoever that drinking provides any health benefits, but that heavy drinking definitely has a detrimental effect.


If you are going to drink, keep your consumption down to a bare minimum.


#6. Get adequate sleep


According to the Centers for Disease Control, at least 1 out of every 3 Americans does not get enough sleep.


According to the CDC, people should be getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night. And it is well established that not getting enough sleep has a great impact on the immune system.


The National Health Service in the UK reports that not only does sufficient sleep boost your immune system but protects you from diabetes but wards off heart disease.


#7. Minimize stress


Stress taxes the immune system like practically nothing else. That's why so many health officials recommend Yoga, Meditation, and other Stress busters as a possible solution to stress.