There is a renewed focus on immunity these days. It is understandable as we are quite literally in the middle of a global pandemic. There have been some interesting revelations over this past year. This pandemic has given us much to think about, more than most of us ever thought possible. One of the thoughts coming out of this past year is that there is a tie to metabolic health and immunity. Metabolic health is not just about weight. Someone who appears to be healthy, quite simply may not be. That is another interesting fact that has come out of this past year. The truth is that metabolic dysfunction is any time you have abnormal regulation of blood sugar, lipids, or a chronic state of inflammation, all of which can lead to disease. In addition to disease, metabolic dysfunction is setting you up for weight gain, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many other health concerns.
The leading causes of death in Americans have been linked back to metabolic health, or lack thereof. These diseases include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease, flu, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Your immune system is completely intertwined with your metabolic state. The simplest definition of what this means is that those who are unhealthy metabolically are more at risk of getting seriously sick when they get a virus of some type. The most obvious example of that has been the COVID-19 virus. Individuals that have metabolic syndromes have a higher risk of severe illness and even death. When someone has impaired metabolic health, they also have hyper inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and immune dysregulation.
There are many ways to help improve the metabolic health of an individual. These practices include ensuring adequate control of blood pressure and blood sugar. This includes a healthy diet, improved hydration, only a moderate amount of alcohol, as well as stop smoking. More ways to help improve metabolic health include getting a sufficient amount of sleep, managing stress, and increasing physical activity. It is important to change the way we think about immunity and health. If we can begin to do that, we can reduce the risk of deadly diseases, including malignant mesothelioma. If we can work towards being healthier and changing lifestyle choices, we can work towards reducing the occurrence of diseases that have long been considered ones that in some cases could not be avoided.
