Focus on the Immune System

Most people understand on an intuitive level that exercise is good for many areas of health, including the immune health, but did you know that overexertion could actually leave you open to certain kinds of infection?

One of the great benefits we typically see from regular, moderate exercise is an improvement in overall health. It helps us to keep a healthy weight, makes us feel good during the day (natural endorphines) and improves cardiovascular health, among other things.

While we usually think about exercise helping keep us healthy, here are some ways that having a healthy immune system can keep us on track for our exercise and fitess goals:

Avoiding Infections

The obvious one is being able to fight off colds and other seasonal illnesses that may more easily take down our less active friends and family.

More Energy

One aspect of regular, moderate exercise that so many of us enjoy is the feeling of "having more energy" throughout the day. If you do not feel that way about your workouts, it could be due to overtraining (going beyond your limits too often) or having a low grade infection that really does not manifest itself (except for making you feel tired) or a combination of the two.

If you suspect overtraining, then look at taking rest days between workouts. There are ways to do "active recovery" that still involve working out, but at a lower level of intensity. This will not only help you feel better, but you will likely see improvements on your "hard workout" days and an overall improved level of fitness.

When we do give ourselves enough time to recover completely, then that can actually decrease the effectiveness of our immune function and we can become *more* susceptible to getting sick than our more sedentary colleagues.

Through The Winter

Most of our outdoor activities take place over the summer, late spring and early fall with the notable exception of some skiing, snowboarding, or snowmobiling. If we make the effort to keep up our activity level over the colder and more inclement months we have a better shot at maintaining our fitness levels and going into the next year as strong as last, if not stronger.

If we completely lose focus on exercise over the winter then our immune system may weaken to the point where we catch those illnesses we were able to avoid all summer.

Travel and Illness

Some of us need to travel regularly for work or even for sporting events. The added stress of traveling by air these days can work to depress our immune system and when we are in contact with many more people than usual we increase our chances of coming into contact with colds or other contageous illness.

While keeping fit definitely gives us an advantage in this area, it may not be enough, especially if travelling coincides with disturbing our normal sleep pattern and not eating as healthfully as we normally would.

Exercise in Moderation

We get the greatest benefit to our immune system health when we have regular, moderate activity. When we are not able to exercise on a regular basis, then our health does not improve by much. Conversely, when we overtrain or have big event days, our immune system function can become depressed more than a sedentary person's, depending on how far over our limits we have gone.

Some people who experience this see it as their body's way of telling them to "slow down" or "take it easy". This is one way to look at it, but the underlying cause was having a lowered immunity which allowed an invader to come in and make us sick, or it could even be an existing low-level illness is allowed to more fully manifest itself.

For many, having an extra hard day is just part of training or even competing. This is the point where many of the people that we think of as very fit and in good health can unexectedly come down with some sort of viral illness.

I have seen this many times with competitive cyclists. These are people who would normally be in great shape and you would think they would have a strong immune system to match. Unfortunately what happens is they will not incorporate enough rest during their traning program to allow the body to recover and not only be able to perform at a higher level later on, but be able to fight off any bugs that come along. This can also happen right after competition days, where over-exertion is expected and almost required to place highly in the finishing.

Some Examples

The members of the US Ski and Snowboard Team took Shaklee to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. Here's what they had to say:

"For a stressful, exciting event like the 2006 Games, our athletes will be taking Shaklee NutriFeron to boost their immune systems and keep them healthy and ready to compete."

"U.S. Ski Team athletes travel four to five months straight each year, flying to winter conditions in many different countries throughout the world. NutriFeron helps boost their immune systems as they push through jet lag, drastic temperature changes, tough training and the stress of competition."

"NutriFeron has had a huge impact on the health of some of our athletes. They take NutriFeron with them wherever in the world they are traveling to train and compete."

And from athletes competing on the world stage, we go to people closer to our own ability levels. One physical trainer says:

"I like the NutriFeron. The NutriFeron is phenominal. If anybody takes a single product, I would probably want them to take the NutriFeron, just because of all the things it does to your immune system. We have already a ton of testimonials just in our group, in my family with the NutriFeron."

-Cory Chapey, Physical Trainer

In addition to the benefits for athletes, NutriFeron can help people who need an improvement in their health not just so they can exercise at the level they want to, but just to improve the baseline health that many of us take for granted:

Help for Chronic Sinusitis

"I have severe sinusitis and developed a mold infection due to over prescription of antibiotics. After 20 sinus surgeries, the doctors are now frustrated with me. I started taking NutriFeron about three weeks ago and this is the longest I have been without antibiotics in over a year! This is significant because I’d been on antibiotics for 18 months, and could only go off them for 3-4 days before all the symptoms came back. The GLA and NutriFeron have definitely helped. I now feel like my body is trying to fight. I am so encouraged!!"

-Lisa McCourry

Allergy Relief

"I was not able to get a doctors appointment for my allergy shot before the mulberry trees were in full pollen-producing swing. The pollen from these trees causes me to have an extreme reaction. Within a few minutes of exposure I can barely breath, because my throat is closing up; my eyes water so bad I can hardly see; I am coughing so much I can't talk; and my ears, eyes, and throat itch so bad I feel like I'm going crazy. So far I have not had a significant reaction, and the only change is that for the last six weeks I have been taking Shaklee's new NutriFeron."

-Luanne

There's a special report available for you that goes even further into the benefits of NutriFeron and talks about how it works. Sign up for the free report here.

If we train at or over our limits on a regular basis without recovery, we can compromise our immune function.

Fixing that is just a matter of incorporating rest days into the routine.

As trainer Joe Friel says, "Train hard. Rest harder."

Other aspects of our training may not be so easy to control. After a tough event or competition our immune system can be decreased and allow illness to take hold, which can seriously jeapordize our future training and event participation.

Allergies and Other Things That Come Up

In addition to the effect our training has on our immune system, there are those of us who can have problems training out of doors due to seasonal allergies. This is not a function of a depressed immune system, but rather of an immune system that goes into overdrive for the wrong reasons.

This free report explains how a breakthrough product helps both of these cases. Because of the way it works, it actually helps the immune system to work properly in both cases: making the body more ready to fight off virus, while at the same time better identifying true threats so that the body does not see benign allergens as invaders and thus largely ignore dust, pollen, and other irritants.