As colds and flu return this fall—feeling stressed about the health and safety of yourself and your family is completely understandable. What you may not realize, though, is that the brain and the immune system are in constant communication in a delicate balance that can be disrupted by any kind of physical or emotional stress (including worrying about the future).
Stress has a direct impact on your immune system, particularly chronic stress, making you more susceptible to illness.
Chronic stress makes us vulnerable to illness and disease because the brain sends defense signals to the endocrine system, which then releases an array of hormones, including cortisol, that not only gets us ready for emergency situations but severely depresses our immunity at the same time. Some experts claim that stress is responsible for as much as 90% of all illnesses and diseases.
In short spurts, cortisol can boost your immunity by limiting inflammation. But over time, your body can get used to having too much cortisol in your blood. And this opens the door for more inflammation. In addition, stress decreases the body’s lymphocytes — the white blood cells that help fight off infection. The lower your lymphocyte level, the more at risk you are for viruses.
At BeBalanced, one of the main components of our program is stress management. Not only can managing stress help to keep you from getting sick, it can help lower anxiety, support weight loss, improve sleep, and so much more.
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Building a strong immune system is your best defense against infectious illness and disease.
Your immune health depends on the lifestyle choices you make every day. By supporting your body’s own natural ability to defend itself against pathogens, you will not only have resistance to colds and flus but to other infectious illness that comes your way.
The best way to protect yourself, and your loved ones, is to BePrepared.
Below are a few tips to help protect you and your family from not only the coronavirus, but also the flu, the common cold, and the harmful effects of coronaSTRESS, or any stress for that matter! And while the following suggestions are not a guarantee to prevent you from contracting the virus, they are easy ways to keep yourself as healthy as possible.
BeConsistent with daily relaxation techniques. Along with a nutrient dense diet, stress management is your first line of defense to keep your immune system strong. Setting aside time each day to de-stress is vital to your health and well-being. At BeBalanced, we use relaxation therapy in the form of audio tracks. These pure and precisely tuned sound frequencies drive brain activity into high-level states of mind. These brain states are known to lower cortisol levels, improve focus, concentration, insight, and memory, as well as promote deep sleep, deep relaxation, and increased healing.
BeUnplugged from your TV, computer, and cellphone at some point during your day. Setting aside time to unplug from technology completely can do wonders for your mental and physical health and can keep you grounded in the present moment. Instead, read a book, take a walk, meditate, or take a hot bath.
BeGrateful for all that you’ve done to take care of your health up to this point, making you less vulnerable to illness. Practicing gratitude has been linked to many health benefits, so now’s a good time to dust off your journal!
BeClean by washing your hands often for at least 20 seconds, especially after using the bathroom, being in a public place, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose. Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily, including tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.
BeMindful to not touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
BeConnected to those you love, spending time laughing together. Laughter can strengthen your immune system, boost mood, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. However, if your loved one is sick, it is best to avoid physical contact as much as possible.
BeGenerous with your cash, keeping money circulating in the economy to help prevent the additional stress of economic downturn.
BeActive for at least 20-30 minutes each day. Regular, moderate exercise, such as walking or practicing yoga, can help your immune system fight infection. Exercise can also boost your body’s feel-good chemicals and help you sleep better. Both of those are good for your immune system.
BeNourished with organic, whole foods. Consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, which are rich in nutrients. Other foods particularly good for your immune system include fresh garlic, which may help fight viruses and bacteria, and bone broth. Avoid sugar at all cost. Sugar has is known to lower your immune function for several hours after consumption.
BeKind to yourself and others. Kindness releases feel-good hormones, eases anxiety, and reduces stress.
BeCozy in bed early every night, so you’re sure to get a full eight hours of rest. Without sufficient sleep, your body makes fewer cytokines, a type of protein that targets infection and inflammation. Chronic sleep loss even makes the flu vaccine less effective by reducing your body’s ability to respond.
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Although we want you to BePrepared, we also want you, and your family to BeSupported!
At BeBalanced, we offer a range of programs and professional-grade supplements to help support your immune health. The BeBalanced supplements are NSF Certified as professional grade, meaning they contain only high-quality raw ingredients, free of any hidden additives, and are rigorously tested for impurities, quality, and freshness. Unlike many products on the market, our supplements contain only ingredients that your body can use, and nothing else.
Soothe Stress – Adrenal Support
Soothe Stress is a powerful adrenal support, we offer, that helps combat the negative effects of stress you encounter daily. When your body is under stress, it shuts down functions in the body it deems necessary at the time, like proper immune function. While it is important to manage your stress daily, adding Soothe Stress is vital to counteract unavoidable stress and environmental toxins. Soothe Stress uses adaptogen herbs, like Maca, to support the adrenal gland, as well as Pregnenolone and DHEA, which encourage a healthy stress response.
Be Lively – B vitamin complex
Be Lively is an advanced B complex formula providing the entire spectrum of this vitamin, including B-2, B-6, B-12 and the most active form of thiamine and folate.* Our Be Lively also contains vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant and other complementary nutrients. Together these nutrients help support energy levels, metabolism function, and the adrenal gland.*
Vital-D – Water-soluble Vitamin D3
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient your body requires, primarily to build strong bones and promote overall health, including the immune system. Our Vital-D is a natural, soy-free, from of Vitamin D in a water-soluble micellized form. The micellization process greatly increases the solubility, absorption, and bioavailability of our vitamin D3 over oil or emulsified forms.*
Foundation – Multivitamin
Even if you are eating a clean, whole foods diet, studies have shown that because of soil depletion, crops are significantly lower in vitamins and minerals than those a few decades ago. Get the support your body needs with Foundation, a comprehensive multiple vitamin, mineral, and herbal supplement, with select amino acids, designed specifically for your unique nutritional requirements. It is in an easy-to-swallow vegetable capsule and delivers select nutrients to support the bones, thyroid, and adrenals along with broad spectrum antioxidant protection.*
Flora-3 – Probiotic
Good or “friendly” bacteria is essential to intestinal health and immune support. In our modern-day society, a high-quality probiotic is needed to ensure the body will build up its intestinal flora, and this will then rebalance any harmful bacteria or yeast that can overgrow. Our probiotic, Flora-3, is comprised of several strains of probiotics so they can more readily attach to the walls of the intestines. Stress, coffee, medications (especially antibiotics) kill off these essential strains of bacteria.
The BeBalanced Weight Loss Program – The foundation for a healthy immune system.
Our a comprehensive 14-week program that is not simply a diet, it’s a complete lifestyle change. We help our clients learn how to take care of their bodies from the inside out.
During the fat-burning stage of our program, your body will quickly enter into a ketogenic state that is more efficient than that of traditional ketogenic (keto) diets. Through a nutrient-dense, whole foods diet in a specific combination, our program helps the body detoxify, improves digestion, reduces inflammation, and supports a healthy immune system.
Studies have shown that a ketogenic diet triggers the release of immune system cells that trap a virus before it spreads.
Researchers have discovered that a keto diet appeared to activate genes that produce a specialized type of immune cells called gamma delta T cells. Tissue samples from the lungs of mice in the keto group confirmed that they had higher levels of these cells. The researchers suspected that these elevated levels of gamma delta T cells killed infected cells in the mice’s lungs, and they also appeared to increase mucus production in the lungs, helping to trap more of the virus.
We also provide supplementation your body needs to balance hormones naturally through liver support, enhanced gut health, natural plant-based progesterone, and ingredients for adrenal support and better stress response all of which help to strengthen your immune system.
We also include relaxation techniques and one-on-one guided support to help you not only lose weight but to also balance your hormones naturally, helping you keep the weight off long-term. When hormones are balanced, you will see improvement in your sleep, mood, energy levels, immune health and more!
Precautionary Measures to keep you healthy
We are literally in the business of keeping you healthy and well, and therefore take both your physical and mental health very seriously.
As a precautionary measure, we are more than happy to host consultations and appointments over the phone or by video chat! We guarantee to give you the same amount of support and resources in the comfort and safety of your own home. In fact, we have clients all over the country who are not within driving distance of one of our centers, and are having the same amount of success and PMS or menopause symptom relief as the clients we help face-to-face.
If you are interested in learning more about any of our products or services, schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate Hormone Balancing Specialists.
Be well!
Your dedicated team at BeBalanced.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended as an alternative to recommended official government guidelines. For more updates and information about the novel coronavirus, visit the CDC’s website.
Journal reference: Science Immunology, DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aav2026