8 tips for a strong immune system

If you take good care of your body and your immune system, you will not only live a healthier life, but you will also feel safer. After all, an organism with strong defenses is not only able to fight off viruses and other pathogens, but can also cope more easily with stresses such as vaccinations or a hectic everyday life. Alternative practitioner Thomas Lambert Schöberl , author of the book " Green Souls ", tells you the eight most important tips for a strong immune system.

1. Eat a balanced diet, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables – and fast regularly.

I advocate a species-appropriate diet that goes beyond all current trends. I experience again and again that not only chronic illnesses can be influenced by an individual change in diet or a fasting cure, but also that unclear complaints or illnesses suddenly disappear.

A change in diet always has a holistic effect. How we shop, eat and cook also affects the rest of our lifestyle. A conscious diet offers the opportunity to actively shape your own health. Despite recommendations that vary greatly from person to person, the following rule of thumb can generally be applied: the more plant-based foods and the less animal products you eat, the longer and healthier your life will be. This significantly slows down the aging process.

Many of our body cells are equipped with so-called omega-3 receptor sites. As soon as omega-3 fatty acids attach themselves to such a cell, a process is activated that activates or paralyzes various genes. This reduces inflammatory processes and slows down the aging process.

In short: vegetables and healthy proteins are the main components of a healthy diet. These components fill you up and have little impact on your blood sugar levels. The large amount of fiber found in vegetables prevents hemorrhoids, colon cancer, diverticula and protects your intestinal flora.

Fasting can be of great benefit, especially for people with chronic illnesses. The secret lies in the ancient program of our cells - autophagy. Due to our unnatural lifestyle, protein waste products accumulate in the cells of our body. I have been observing similar processes in my practice for years when examining blood under the dark field microscope. When new food intake is stopped during fasting, the protein deposits within the cells are digested again or efficiently recycled and converted into fresh cell structures. This mechanism serves as a rejuvenation treatment for the entire cell.

In my practice, I recommend professionally supervised fasting for a variety of illnesses. For example, for arthritis, diabetes, intestinal diseases and various metabolic disorders. Fasting also has many positive effects on the mental well-being of my patients, for whom supervised fasting is also a motivating start to a healthier lifestyle. Our bodies are designed for renunciation. The excess in which we indulge today is still foreign to our body's ancient programs and causes illness. Fasting - or a minimum gap of eight hours between two meals - enables healthy regulation of our hormone levels.

2. Exercise, but don't overexert yourself.

Even if you eat healthily and fast now and then, you can't do without exercise. Countless studies show that the right exercise can improve the course of arthritis, cancer, diabetes, back pain, fatigue, osteoporosis or heart attacks. Exercise keeps our metabolism active and healthy and refreshes the mind. However, more than five hours of exercise per week no longer has any health benefits and can also have disadvantages. It's always about finding the right balance.

3. Go out into the sun and replenish your vitamin D stores.

Vitamin D is extremely important for a healthy immune system. We get some of our vitamin D from food (e.g. fatty fish). But our bodies also produce vitamin D themselves when the sun's rays hit our skin.

Especially in autumn and winter, when UV radiation is reduced due to cloud cover, you should spend as much time outdoors as possible to produce a sufficient dose of the sun hormone. In addition, I recommend a visit to an infrared sauna, and sometimes I also prescribe oral vitamin D supplements based on a blood test.

4. Reduce stress and pay attention to your breathing.

Shallow, stressed breathing promotes fatigue, sleep problems, heart disease, weakens the immune system, paralyzes the gastrointestinal tract and fuels neck and back pain. Watch your breathing - it reveals a lot about our physical and mental health.

In my daily practice, I observe that the vast majority of my patients do not have natural breathing. Atrophied respiratory muscles lead to feelings of tightness and tension. The constant stress at work and the numerous fears of failure in everyday life lead to extremely shallow breathing in my patients, which in turn results in an undersupply of oxygen. If we lack oxygen, our blood and all the organs it supplies suffer.

Learning the correct breathing technique and avoiding incorrect breathing techniques is a very important factor in your recovery process and your lifestyle changes. As a rule, breathing is an unconscious process. We often only become aware of breathing when we are physically exerting ourselves or are mentally stressed. Breathing therapy can have a calming effect on the nervous system. It influences our hormone production, regulates our metabolism and can have a proven positive effect on fear, anger, stress, pain and inflammation.

Yes, breathing correctly and targeted breathing exercises can be a great help on your way to a healthier, but also more spiritual and spiritually fulfilling life. Do breathing exercises every day. The great advantage of our digital world is that you can use wonderful apps for this and find instructions and help on the Internet. To do your breathing exercises, go into your garden, onto the balcony, to the open window or, best of all, into the forest. Maybe even barefoot?

5. Get good sleep.

With 24-hour lighting all around us, we have forgotten the need for darkness. This so-called light pollution is one of the reasons for the restlessness and exhaustion of modern people. Light causes an increase in the stress hormone cortisol. This in turn causes blood sugar levels to rise, which increases the risk of obesity. Light also reduces melatonin levels. This sleep hormone influences the 24-hour rhythm and thus our metabolism. So darken your bedroom completely and do not use light with a high blue content at least an hour before going to bed - this is the only way your cells can fully regenerate at night. According to the latest studies, our brain uses the time while we sleep to expand the intercellular spaces in order to better remove accumulated toxins. If we do not get enough sleep, we poison ourselves.

6. Drink enough.

If we don't drink enough, we get tired more quickly, age more quickly and become more susceptible to infections due to dry mucous membranes. Our immune system benefits from sufficient fluid intake, because if we don't drink enough, harmful viruses and bacteria can no longer be removed properly. Also pay attention to what you drink. Green tea, for example, contains a large amount of so-called antioxidants, which can strengthen your immune system and prevent cancer.

7. Take contrast showers.

Alternating showers are a tried and tested method of naturopathy. If you alternate between hot and cold showers, you can stimulate your circulation through the difference in temperature. In the first step, your blood vessels expand due to the warm water temperature. The subsequent cold shower with cool water causes your blood vessels to contract again reflexively. This process activates your circulation and improves your blood flow. Good blood flow enables your body to optimally moisten the nose and throat area and equip it with immune cells - this makes it more difficult for potential pathogens to attach to your mucous membranes. Alternating showers also tighten your connective tissue, reduce your sensitivity to cold, support the healing of sore muscles and train your immune system in many ways.

8. Pay attention to your thoughts.

Always reorient your thoughts. Never be too old or too young! The different phases and cycles of our lives are of equal value, and this certainty gives us the confidence that every insight has its time. Don't compare yourself with your fellow human beings, don't get involved in the competition of the performance society, but be unique. Our subconscious thinks, feels and functions in images, so it is crucial that we select very carefully which visual impressions we allow to flow into our souls every day.

The images that our language creates are also of considerable importance for our overall well-being. Choosing the right words basically means nothing other than verbally drawing the right images for inner emotions, thoughts and circumstances. In this way, one's own language becomes the limit of one's own thoughts and feelings - it becomes the measure of one's own world. I try to convey to my patients and students every day the realization that every image that we create or that is forced upon us also contains an opposite pole. The process of healing therefore always requires a reorientation of thinking!

In mindful attention training, my patients learn to differentiate between impressions and entertainment. Entertainment is an invention of our consumer society, while the collection of impressions corresponds to the spiritual development process of living things. Impressions leave traces - imprints on our soul. The sum of our soul impressions determines our ability to understand, our ability to empathize and shapes our view of the world. In order to be open to new impressions, we must anchor ourselves in the here and now.

However, the power of our thoughts is much stronger. Faith moves mountains! In order to profitably use the power of our thoughts for our healing, so-called affirmations can be helpful companions in everyday life. The word "affirmation" comes from Latin and means "affirmation" or "agreement". Prayers are also nothing other than consent, affirmations of a divine creation. The word "Amen" comes from Hebrew and means "So be it". Self-healing with the help of affirmations is one of the oldest forms of therapy. Affirmations are increasingly being used in modern psychotherapy. Affirmations are short, precise and always positively formulated descriptions of an ideal state that should be achieved. Negative formulations or negations are excluded.

I am strong, healthy and full of vitality.
I am safe and secure – in all situations in life.
I am wanted and loved.

Book tip:
Thomas Lambert Schöberl: Green Souls. About the wisdom of nature: From the (life) practice of a naturopath. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition February 2021, paperback, 13.5 x 21.5 cm, 318 pp., 18.95 euros (D) / 19.50 euros (A), ISBN 978-3-86374-598-1.

Audiobook tip:
Thomas Lambert Schöberl: Green Souls (audio book). About the wisdom of nature: From the (life) practice of a naturopath. Mankau Verlag, 1st edition February 2021, 1 MP3 CD in a jewel case, running time approx. 632 min., 15.00 euros RRP (D/A), ISBN 978-3-86374-601-8

Link recommendations:
More information about the book “Green Souls”
To the reading sample in PDF format
More information about the audio book “Green Souls”
More about author Thomas Lambert Schöberl To the Internet forum with our authors
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