Which exercises are available to help the immune system
Perhaps the wrong phrase since it connotes building up something which has been weakened by lack of use....
I've long thought that we raise too many "hot house" kids - just "country logic" with quite possibly no medical validity. But my reasoning is that kids need to be exposed to the environment more growing up. Not shielded from anything that
may be harmful or medicated at the first sign of illness. Raising kids in too sterile an environment ill prepares them to face all the "bugs" that the world presents.
As kids growing up on the farm long ago, we ate our share of dirt, stepped on the occasional rusty nail, got bit by the occasional stray dog or cat (or squirrel, mouse, etc), cleaned out chicken houses with a shovel then spread the stuff on the fields as "free" fertilizer (often surrounded by a cloud of chicken poop dust), etc, etc. Skin a knee - no bandaides, antiseptics, etc (learned quickly not to let Mama put that red stuff on it - it burned like nothing else). In other words, we were exposed to all the world had to offer. Never had a tetnus shot, never even heard of bird flu, didn't have any idea what a respirator or protective mask was. Didn't take a pill ever time we got the sniffles. Not only drank well water, but a fair share from the pond or streams. Pulled turnips out of the ground, wiped them off on the old pants leg, and ate them. Strawberries, tomatoes, etc, were perfect eaten straight from the vine. Ham was what you cut off that pork shoulder hanging in the barn that had been packed in salt.
Aside from both measles & chicken pox as a kid, and the occassional cold, I've never been sick a day in my nearly 60 years of life, nor have any allergies that I know of. Is there a connection? Don't know, but it makes sense to me. My immune system has been "exercised" since the day I was born (at home on the farm, doctor came by the next day and filled out a birth certificate), and seems to be in fine form.
Jim