Health Immunity - Protect Yourself 2020

100 Pages·2020·58.026 MB·English

by  The Editors of Health

Immunity
PROTECT YOURSELF
Learning
from Staying Safe
COVID-19
Science-Backed
Answers
Foods That Boost
Immunity

Immunity
PROTECT YOURSELF
Contents
4 Introduction: Mighty Immunity
PLUS:
CHAPTER ONE
SPECIAL SECTION
First Line of Defense
Learning from
10 The Social Connection the Coronavirus
14 The Secret Life of Germs
18 Pets and the Immune System 30 COVID Questions
20 The Power of Stress and the Mind
Answered
26 H ow Doctors Do It: Fighting
34 Storm Warning
Germs and Staying Healthy
CHAPTER TWO
Under the Weather
42 I Do Everything Right, So Why Do
I Keep Getting Sick?
44 Decoding the Cough
48 What Does It Mean to Have an
Invisible Illness?
52 My Immune System Attacked My Hair
56 What Exactly Is Cancer Immunotherapy?
CHAPTER THREE
Protect Yourself
62 Sleep It Off
66 How Effective Is the Flu Shot?
68 Vaccines: Myths and Facts
72 Why Missing My Flu Shot Could Put
My Best Friend’s Life in Danger
74 The Awesome Way Tattoos Boost
Your Health
76 H ow Exercise Boosts Immunity
CHAPTER FOUR
Feed Your Health
84 1 5 Healthy Foods a Nutritionist
Recommends
88 5 Myths and Facts About Vitamin C
90 C an Taking Probiotics Help with
Seasonal Allergies?
92 Cook for Better Health
96 Your Immunity Peaks in the Morning
Parts of this special edition were previously
published by Health, EatingWell, and Shape.
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HEALTH
AEROBIC
ACTIVITY, SUCH
AS WALKING OR
RUNNING, CAN
STRENGTHEN
IMMUNITY.
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HEALTH
INTRODUCTION
MIGHTY IMMUNITY
In the age of COVID-19, as in any age, your immune system
keeps you healthy in a variety of ways. When a virus enters
the body, this complex network gets to work.
BY HALLIE LEVINE
A CUT THAT HEALS. A cough that lingers. A sore immune system, is your skin. Think of it as a giant
throat that clears. It doesn’t take much to remind us wrap that prevents germs from entering.
that our immune systems work around the clock to Other, more subtle physical barriers exist in other
protect us from disease and infection. But nothing quite parts of your body, too. Your nose and throat, for
highlights the role played by the body’s protective gear example, are coated with mucus that “catches” bugs
like a pandemic. As the nation has battled the COVID-19 such as viruses and bacteria and traps them in their
virus over the past months, we have been presented sticky lining. They are then swept out by cilia, tiny
daily with evidence of the immune system’s amazing brush-like hairs. Your eyes are constantly bathed in
strengths and also heartbreaking vulnerabilities. tears, which contain an enzyme called lysozyme that
Seeing the number of cases mount and death toll attacks bacteria and helps protect the eyes from
rise, you may have questioned whether your immune infection. Your saliva washes disease-causing
system really does an effective job at fighting disease. viruses and bacteria off of your teeth and other soft
Rest assured, it does. “Your immune system attacks parts of your mouth, like your cheeks. It also causes
germs such as viruses and bacteria, preventing them microbes to clump together so you can swallow them
from taking hold so you don’t get sick,” says Ellen and send them to your stomach, where they’re bro-
Foxman, MD, PhD, an immunologist at Yale School of ken down by stomach acid.
Medicine. The difference with COVID-19 is that our These kinds of mechanisms do a great job of keep-
bodies have never encountered a virus like it before ing most germs away, says Foxman. But sometimes
and as a result have little to no playbook on how to keep they are still able to infect these cells, so they take
it at bay,” says Foxman. root in some part of your body. This is where the real
To fully understand how immunities fight against action begins.
an invader such as the novel coronavirus, it helps to White blood cells known as leukocytes roam your
have a brief primer on immunity as a whole. Even blood stream, constantly doing surveillance. “There
after a germ gets in, there are several different bar- are millions of these immune cells circulating, looking
riers that it has to go through before it can infect you, for things that don’t seem right,” says James Fernandez,
explains Foxman. The first defense, which you may MD, PhD, an immunologist at the Cleveland Clinic.
not automatically associate with being part of your When they encounter a virus, they leap into action.
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HEALTH
POTENTIAL
COVID-19
VACCINES ARE IN
DEVELOPMENT
AROUND THE
WORLD.
INTRODUCTION
One type of white blood cells, natural killer cells, go like your tonsils (to guard your throat and lungs) or
after it, inserting a protein into the virus’s cells in an the Peyer’s patches in your small intestine, to keep
effort to destroy it. They are assisted in their mission watch over your digestive system. Some also patrol
by another kind of white blood cell, T cells, which also the hundreds of lymph nodes throughout your body,
go on the attack. (There are two kinds: helper T cells, lying in wait for germs. (This is one reason you may
which plan strategy, and killer T cells, which do the notice swollen lymph nodes in, say, your neck when
dirty work of carrying it out.) you’re battling a cold or flu; think of it as soldiers con­
Their mission isn’t done just yet. The T cells call in gregating in one area as they combat the enemy.)
even more reinforcements: B cells, which create Another place where key immune­system war­
antibodies. These are proteins that attach to the novel riors can be found is your gut. The thin, sticky mucus
coronavirus like a key in a lock, explains Dr. Fernan­ that lines it is made up of immune cells, immuno­
dez. Once the B cells have zeroed in on the virus cells globulins (antibodies that attack bugs), and intesti­
and lock them down, they send a signal back to the T nal bacteria. “This is why when our gut is healthy,
cells to return and kill them off. These B cells then we tend to be able to fight off infections faster and
remember the virus. That way, if it enters your body better,” says Yufang Lin, MD, a physician at the
again, your B cells recognize it and increase produc­ Center for Integrative Medicine at the Cleveland
tion of the needed antibody. “When that antibody Clinic. “When it’s not, our immune system is weaker
binds to that same antigen, or virus, it signals all of the and more susceptible to disease.”
other cells in your immune system to come running One easy way to develop a healthier gut is to focus
and destroy it,” says Dr. Fernandez. on a Mediter ranean­style eating
Sometimes, the immune system pattern, which is rich in fruits, veg­
ramps up just the right amount, Even after a germ gies, whole grains, and healthy fats
triggering enough of a response to gets in, there found in foods such as fatty fish,
kill virus cells without destroying are various barriers nuts, and olive oil. Adults who did
the rest of the body. But some­ that it has to go so for a year showed small but sig­
times it goes haywire. Some people through before it nificant increases in T cells, accord­
who become critically ill with can infect you. ing to a 2018 study published in the
COVID­19 have what’s known as journal Frontiers in Physiology.
a “cytokine storm,” explains Interestingly, this process is
Dr. Fernan dez, in which their bod­ innate, meaning that we’re born
ies overproduce proteins called cytokines, including with it, and it works in concert with a second type of
one called interleukin­6 (IL­6), which in turn immunity, known as adaptive or active immunity,
unleashes a type of white blood cell known as a mac­ which develops throughout our lives. “We get this sort
rophage. Macrophages fight infection, but they fuel of immunity once we’ve been exposed to a disease,”
inflammation as well, and ultimately they can destroy explains Dr. Foxman.
normal lung cells, as well as possibly cells in other Here is where vaccines come in. They contain part
organs in your body. This may help explain why some of the same germ that causes a disease. (For example,
young, otherwise healthy adults have become seri­ the measles vaccine contains part of the measles
ously ill or even died from COVID­19. virus.) This stimulates your immune system to pro­
What these disease­fighting cells have in common duce antibodies as if you were exposed to the disease.
is where they come from: the lymphatic system. This As a result, your body becomes immune to it, without
is a vast network of vessels spread throughout your ever getting sick. Using germs to protect against
body that collects excess fluid from tissues and returns disease originated in China hundreds of years ago,
them to your bloodstream. Most disease­fighting cells when small powdered smallpox scabs were rubbed
begin in the bone marrow, the spongy substance found into scratches in other people’s skin. Then, in 1798,
inside your bones. These master cells, called stem English physician Edward Jenner developed the first
cells, eventually grow into different types of fighter smallpox vaccine, leading to the deadly disease
cells. When they mature, they move out and take up finally being eradicated in 1980. Today there are 18
residence either patrolling your bloodstream, looking recommended vaccines in the U.S., for diseases
for invaders, or setting up shop in strategic locations r anging from chicken pox to flu to polio to hepatitis B.
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HEALTH
HEALTHY
SKIN AND A
HEALTHY GUT
CAN HELP
FIGHT OFF
INFECTIONS.
Although vaccines dramatically reduce your gatherings of the sort.) Given the country’s history of
chances of getting a disease, they’re not foolproof. The choosing purposeful infection, there was even fear
measles vaccine, for example, is only 97 percent effec- among health experts that Americans might turn to
tive, meaning that for every 100 people who get it, coronavirus parties to contract the illness and try to
three will not develop antibodies. That’s why “com- develop an immunity to it. Yet any such gatherings
munity immunity,” also called “herd immunity,” is so would be extremely risky, since the science around
important, says Dr. Foxman. When enough people in COVID-19 is still evolving and there are many
a community are vaccinated against a certain disease, unknowns about long-term immunity in general.
it can’t travel as easily from person to person—mean- Aside from vaccine, some of the most effective tools
ing that even if you personally never developed anti- we have to protect our immune systems, of course,
bodies, you’re much less likely to get sick. are lifestyle choices. Science shows that getting
In some cases, if you’ve had a disease, you won’t get enough sleep, eating properly, avoiding stress, exer-
it again. Before the chickenpox vaccine, for example, cising, and interacting with other people all contrib-
some parents used to host “pox parties” as a way to ute to helping strengthen our bodies’ protective gear.
infect their kids so they wouldn’t develop it later in There’s even evidence showing that owning a pet can
life, when it can be more dangerous, and there are help keep your immunities up. So, yes, our immune
opponents today who have organized similar occa- systems are amazing and do an amazing job at pro-
sions. (The Centers for Disease Control and Pre- tecting us. But they need our help to do that job.
vention continues to strongly recommend against Where to start? Read on. ●
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