Building up your immune system has become an important issue in recent years. In order for the body to defend itself it must make itself resistant to disease, to become immune to attack by virus and bacterium.
Having a sound grasp of the new concepts which concern human immunity has become essential in understanding our world and making personal choices.
There has been a statistical explosion of a whole range of auto-immune diseases. The epidemic of AIDS is one example. To understand the effect of the holistic approach, it is important to have some knowledge of the biological basis of immunity and the role it plays in human life.
The Herbal Possibilities:
There are many ways to use herbs for building up your immune system. Herbal medicine is based on an ecological relationship that has gradually evolved through time.
Today traditional knowledge is being confirmed by modern pharmacology, and a growing number of natural remedies are being shown to have remarkable immune system support success in both the laboratory and the clinic.
Some are to stimulate the immune system but most of them enable the body’s natural responses to be more flexible in the face of disease. American herbalist Christopher Hobbs has identified three levels of herbal activity:
* Deep immune activity - this describes plants that impact the immunological process within the tissues that mediates its work. These plants that act as biological wholes have an effect upon the cellular foundation of the human immune response.
Specific immune system natural remedies encourage the body’s well-being through the support of each of the body systems, which will help in building up your immune system. Herbs with the actions of bitter tonics, alternatives, hepatics, diuretics, diaphoretics, and pulmonary are all useful.
* Surface immune activation - this action focuses on the resistance aspect of immunity and addresses the need to help resist pathogenic micro-organisms. There are many remedies known as anti-microbial and are plants that stimulate the activity and generation of white blood cells.
Some examples of these include Echinacea, Wild Indigo, Myrrh, Thuja, Marigold and Garlic.
* Adaptogens or hormonal modulators -immune system natural remedies in this group work through a hormonal modulation of immune response. True adaptogens, such as Ginseng, work through the adrenal glands.