Recent research reaching AF NEWS from the Harvard School of Public Health has shown that adequate sleep, body exercise and low stress help the body to fight infections and diseases.

It is important to note that during times of illness, people often seek special foods or vitamin supplements that are believed to boost immunity, such as Vitamin C and foods like citrus fruits, chicken soup, and tea with honey. Yet the design of our immune system is complex and influenced by an ideal balance of many factors, not just diet, and especially not by any one specific food or nutrient.

However, a balanced diet consisting of a range of vitamins and minerals, combined with healthy lifestyle factors like adequate sleep, exercise and low stress, most effectively primes the body to fight infection and disease.

To further have a strong immune system and to stay healthy, one needs to avoid the following:

• Environmental toxins (such as smoke and other particles contributing to air pollution, excessive alcohol):
• Excess weight:
• Poor diet: (Malnutrition or a diet lacking in one or more nutrients can impair the production and activity of immune cells and antibodies).
• Chronic diseases: Autoimmune and immunodeficiency disorders attack and potentially disable immune cells.
• Chronic mental stress
• Lack of sleep and rest: (Sleep is a time of restoration for the body during which a type of cytokine is released that fights infection; too little sleep lowers the amount of these cytokines and other immune cells).