Strategies for improving your immune health: The different approaches to improving your immune system

January 2007     View PDF     En español

What strategies are available today?

Currently, there are several ways to improve your immune health that can readily be included into your long-term health plan. These include good nutrition, a sound exercise plan, stress management, getting eight hours of sleep each night, and drinking at least eight cups of water daily. All of these preserve and promote your immune health. A discussion of each can be found in Project Inform’s publication, Strategies for Maintaining Your General Health.

Other methods, which some people may not consider when thinking about their immune health, include skin and oral healthcare and other preventive health measures.

Your skin is your body’s first defense against infection. It’s a physical barrier that keeps infections out. Eating well, drinking lots of water, getting rest and managing stress are all great ways to promote skin health. Diagnosing and treating skin conditions promptly is also important.

Infections enter your body through the places you have openings to the environment—your nose, mouth and genitals to name a few. For women, when the level of acidity (pH balance) in the gynecological (GYN) tract gets out of balance, the cell walls are weakened and infections are more likely. More frequent and more severe GYN conditions are often the first symptoms of a weakened immune system in women. Routine GYN care to check for and treat these conditions preserves and promotes your immune health.

Studies show that people with gum disease (gingivitis) are at higher risk for heart disease. The bacteria build up in the mouth and gums are breathed into the lungs and can compromise the heart. Regular brushing, flossing and good dental care can help prevent certain kinds of heart disease. As well, maintaining the health of your body’s mucosa (the surfaces of the vagina, anus and mouth) reduces the risks of infection and disease.

One way to promote and maintain good immune health, especially when living with HIV, is to maintain good preventive health measures. This includes routine and age-appropriate health screening, proper vaccines, and following safer sex and safer food handling guidelines. For more information on these topics, call Project Inform’s National HIV/AIDS Treatment Hotline at 1-800-822-7422.

HIV starts reproducing when the immune system actively fights infections and disease. HIV more easily infects activated cells. One way to prevent HIV from destroying the immune system is to prevent and treat infections promptly and aggressively. This means avoiding the flu by getting a flu shot each year (if appropriate); avoiding some infections by practicing safer sex; and avoiding other infections that can be passed more casually like through handling and preparing food, drinking water or close contact by following preventive guidelines. Avoiding more casual infections can be difficult, but there are tips and guidelines available to reduce risks. This ranges from using gloves to change cat litter (to prevent toxoplasmosis) to getting a water filter for your sink or drinking bottled water (to help prevent Cryptosporidium). Read Project Inform’s publication, Sex and Prevention Concerns for Positive People.

Introduction

LAST      NEXT

Are immune therapies available?