14 Proven Ways to Boost Your Immune System

The immune system is responsible for protecting the body from disease. And while it’s usually effective, everyone is susceptible to illnesses from time to time. However, there are things you can do to boost your immune system and better prepare your body to fight off illnesses, such as prioritizing a healthy diet, getting adequate sleep, and managing stress.

1. Eat Well

When it comes to immune function, the foods you eat matter. Severe malnutrition is the most common immunodeficiency worldwide. Fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein (e.g., chicken, fish), and healthy fats (e.g., olive oil, salmon) offer nutrients that support immune function.

In addition to the foods you eat, make sure to stay hydrated. Water helps regulate temperature, eliminate waste, and other essential body functions.

Sometimes, certain foods can adversely impact your immune system. To boost immunity, limit your intake of salt, sugar, and saturated fats.

2. Exercise Regularly

Researchers have found that an exercise session can temporarily boost immune system function, moderate exercise can lower illness risk, and regular exercise can improve immune regulation.

However, there’s a balance between getting enough and too much exercise. Heavy exercise—such as training for a marathon or athletic competition—can raise the risk of infection or disease.

In general, adults should aim for 150 minutes a week (about 30 minutes a day, five days a week) of light to moderate activity and two days of strengthening.

3. Manage Weight

Excess weight can also affect immune function, raise the risk of infection, and worsen chronic disease. Obesity can also affect lymph nodes (a key part of the immune system) and immune cell activity.

Managing weight can boost immunity. Dietary changes, incorporating more physical activity, and stress management techniques are among the methods for shedding extra pounds.   

4. Get Plenty of Sleep

Getting sufficient sleep supports the development and function of hematopoietic (stem) cells. These immature cells can develop into different types of blood cells, including white blood cells (WBCs), central to immune function.

Getting sufficient and consistent sleep can help make your body more resistant to disease and infection. Adults should aim for seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night, going to bed, and getting up at consistent times daily.

5. Stay Up to Date on Vaccinations

One of the most effective ways to support your immune system is to stay current with your vaccinations. Vaccines can prevent certain diseases, such as tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough, and help reduce the severity of others, like influenza (the flu) or COVID-19.

It’s also critical to ensure that infants and children are up to date with vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR).

Talk to a healthcare provider to ensure you’re current on your vaccinations. Scientists periodically update certain vaccines, like the flu or COVID-19 vaccines, to ensure they can fight newer strains of these viruses.

6. Wash Your Hands Regularly

One of the easiest ways to support your immune system is to keep your hands clean. Various viruses and bacteria can survive on surfaces and spread to the body if you touch your mouth, nose, or eyes after touching an infected surface.

Proper handwashing—especially before meals, cooking, or going to public spaces—helps prevent infections. In a 2021 review article, researchers concluded that more frequent washing reduces disease risk.

7. Minimize Stress

Acute (short-term) and chronic stress can severely impact your mental and physical health. Researchers have found links between brain activity from stress and specific immune cell activity, illustrating the relationship between stress and your body’s ability to fight off infection.

Learning and using healthy ways to cope with stress can boost immunity. Some methods include yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, walking, or participating in relaxing activities.

8. Get a Pet

People with dogs and cats probably don’t need convincing of the benefits of owning a pet. But in addition to companionship and comfort, having a pet may also promote stronger immunity.

In assessing the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers noted that animal companions helped manage stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and decrease the release of cortisol in pet owners. In turn, pet ownership boosted immune function.

9. Build Your Social Network

Just as animal companions can boost immunity, regular contact with friends, loved ones, family, and acquaintances can. Positive social experiences and real-life social contact can help ease chronic inflammation, the body’s natural immune response.

While acute inflammation represents a burst of immune activity, chronic inflammation can have long-term effects and weaken immunity.

10. Find Reasons to Laugh

Another way you can support your immune system is to crack a smile or let yourself chuckle. Laughing is a form of stress relief—it decreases stress hormones and boosts immune cells and the activity of antibodies (proteins that detect infection). As the saying goes, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

11. Avoid Smoking

Smoking tobacco acts directly on the immune system. It affects the development and function of T cells (white blood cells that fight infection) and other cells necessary for immunity. As a result, people who smoke are more susceptible to a wide range of illnesses—both short- and long-term ones. 

12. Avoid Excessive Alcohol 

Alcohol impacts the gastrointestinal (GI) tract (the intestines and stomach), which contains immune cells and microorganisms that influence overall immune function. Excessive drinking—eight or more drinks a week for women and 15 or more for men—makes you more susceptible to severe illness.

13. Immune-Boosting Foods

Eating a nutrient-dense diet is essential for immune health. Those rich in antioxidants, healthy proteins and fats, and other certain nutrients may be particularly beneficial. Examples of such foods include:

• Apples, blueberries, bananas, and other fresh fruits
• Artichokes
• Beans
• Eggs
• Fish, lean meats
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Kale, cabbage, and other leafy greens
• Liver
• Nuts
• Sesame seeds
• Shellfish
• Soy
• Vegetable oils, such as olive, sunflower, or flax oil

14. Consider Herbs and Supplements

Vitamin C from citrus fruit or supplements may lower the chances of catching a cold or reduce the duration of illness in people with high stress.

Elderberry is another popular herbal supplement for its potential immune-boosting effects. While there’s mixed evidence that elderberry prevents cold, it may lead to quicker recovery from them.

Also, the herb echinacea may lower the chances of catching respiratory infections but may not affect recovery time or severity.

Researchers have also found probiotics—live microorganisms found in supplements and fermented foods—may help with diarrhea and respiratory infections.

Boosting Immunity When Sick vs. Not Sick

Supporting your immune system can mean different things depending on whether you are sick. When you’re healthy, “boosting immunity” means taking steps to prevent infection and ensure your immune system is ready. Steps to take might include getting vaccinated, regularly exercising, and managing stress.

However, if you’re sick, the goal is to support your immune system as it fights off the infection. Immune-boosting methods should include getting enough sleep, eating well, and staying hydrated.

Immunity With Immunosuppression 

Immunosuppression occurs when the immune system is weakened due to disease, medical treatment (such as chemotherapy or radiation), or certain medications, making you more susceptible to illnesses and diseases.

If you or someone close to you has a suppressed immune system, take extra care to support your immune system and prevent illness, such as:

• Allowing extra time for recovery from illnesses
• Getting a flu vaccine, making sure not to use the live-attenuated, nasal-spray type
• Staying up to date on the latest COVID-19 vaccine, making sure to talk to your healthcare provider about the best type for you
• Treating viral infections with antiviral medications to reduce the duration of illness
• Wearing a mask (such as N95 or KN95) to prevent inhaling viruses

Summary

The immune system plays a central role in protecting the body from disease and infection. A wide range of behaviors and habits can boost immunity, including ensuring a healthy diet, getting enough exercise and sleep, and managing stress. Additional methods for promoting immunity include staying up to date with vaccinations, maintaining an active social life, and properly washing hands.