By BRIANNA FRANSEN

“Whenever the immune system deals successfully with an infection, it emerges  from the experience stronger and better able to confront similar threats in the future. Our immune system develops in combat. If, at the first sign of infection, you always jump in with antibiotics, you do not give the immune system a chance to grow stronger.”
– Andrew Weil

Your immune system is a complex network that protects your body from harmful influences. In winter particularly, we need a fully functioning immune system to stay healthy, because bacteria and viruses are common in heated and unventilated indoor spaces. 

Did you know that your body can tell if an invader has entered it, even if you don’t realise it? An invader could be anything from a virus, bacteria, parasite or fungi, to harmful environmental substances. Once the invader gets in, your immune system uses a number of different tactics – its lines of defence – to neutralise and remove it.

1. Physical and chemical barriers 

The protective outer layer of your skin is one of the first lines of defence to shield your entire body from attack. The skin’s surface is naturally acidic to prevent invaders from attaching and causing infections. The respiratory system provides another easy entry for invasion. Fortunately for us, the mucous membranes that line our nose, throat and lungs trap invaders from the air we breathe.

About 70 percent of immune function is found in the gut, so this area has the biggest challenge to defend against invaders that make it through. Taking care of your gut therefore takes care of your immune system, so having probiotics, prebiotics and gut-specific antimicrobial herbs keeps our intestinal tissues and gut flora in good order.

2. Non-specific resistance 

The second line of defence is a group of cells, tissues and organs that work together to protect the body. If invaders bypass the body’s first lines of defence, the body provides a constant surveillance team of white blood cells which seek out and destroy disease-causing invaders. More often than not, these immune cells will defeat microbes before they even cause a sniffle! Your body needs healthy circulation to quickly deliver immune cells to the site of infection or inflammation. Once they reach the infected area, the immune cells overcome invaders and destroy them by releasing enzymes.

3. Specific resistance

The third line of defence is specific resistance, a system that relies on antigens. An antigen is a toxin or other foreign substance which creates an immune response in the body by producing antibodies. Antibodies move through your blood to the invasion site, and attack and dispose of invaders. Your immune system attacks invaders from all angles, but it needs help to stay strong all the time.

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