A Crash Course on Your Immune System

With all the news about COVID-19, also known as the
coronavirus, one thing that’s constantly on our minds right now is our body’s
immune system. While modern medicine might help you treat the virus’s symptoms,
your immune system is ultimately the only thing standing between you and the
illness. 

How does your body’s immune system work? Is there anything
you can do to make it stronger? Here’s a quick crash course on your immune
system to answer those questions and more. 

The Basic Parts of the Immune System

Before start our crash course on the immune system, we need to know what components make up this system? There are six individual parts, which include: 

• White
  blood cells: As front line troopers in your immune system, these cells
  travel the body and search for things that don’t belong, like bacteria and
  viruses. If they find something out of place, they attack.
• Antibodies:
  These are what your body creates when it encounters a substance your white
  blood cells have to fight off. These stay in your body, which is why vaccines
  work. 
• Lymphatic
  system: This system is a network of tubes that spans your entire body,
  helping you react to bacteria and even deal with cancer cells. 
• Spleen: While
  it might not seem like a vital organ, the spleen works by removing old, damaged
  cells and microbes from the bloodstream. 
• Bone
  marrow: As the tissue found inside your bones, bone marrow creates the cells
  that make up your blood. These include the white blood cells that are part of
  the immune system. 
• Thymus: This
  little filter produces T-lymphocytes — a specialized kind of white blood cell —
  while also monitoring your blood content.

This system and these elements might seem complicated to
someone outside the medical community. But for most people, all of these
individual components work together to protect you from bacteria, viruses,
fungi and other invaders that aren’t supposed to be in your body. When they
encounter one of these foreign bodies, they trigger what is known as an immune
response. 

What an Immune Response Looks Like

What does an immune response look like if your immune
system encounters a foreign body? An immune response starts when one of the
system components encounters an unknown antigen — a protein on a
cell’s surface. If it’s something the immune system doesn’t recognize, your
body goes on the offensive and starts attacking it.

While your immune system is at work, your body responds as
it tries to help. This response could come in the form of inflammation or
swelling around a wound. It could also appear as a fever as your body increases
its internal temperature to burn the invader out of your system. 

In extreme cases, an immune response can also trigger an
allergic reaction — or even anaphylaxis, which can be dangerous. 

Your Immune System and Vaccines

Scientists are currently working on creating a vaccine for
the coronavirus. When it’s complete, it will help us stay healthy even if we
face exposure to the virus. But how do vaccines work?

They function by teaching the immune system how to recognize a dangerous virus so it can
respond as soon as one of these substances enters the body. Everything goes
back to those antigens. Vaccines contain antigens from a specific bacteria or
virus, allowing the immune system to recognize them. 

Vaccines aren’t meant to make you sick, though. Most of
them use dead or mostly dead samples of the targeted bacteria or virus. This
amount is just enough to train the immune system without creating an actual
infection. 

Bolstering Your Immune System

In most cases, strengthening your immune system isn’t
something you have to do actively. Every virus or bacterium you encounter in
the world will do that for you. You can do various things to keep yourself
healthy, though. Some examples include getting enough sleep and eating a
healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, since they’re full
of the vitamins and minerals you need. 

You don’t need to buy into products or supplements to
boost your immune system. Most of the products on store shelves that claim to
do so have little to no factual basis. Just focus on keeping your entire body
healthy, and your immune system will be as robust as ever. 

It’s All in the Cells

While we live under the shadow of the coronavirus, we’re all thinking about our immune systems. Don’t waste your money on supplements that might do more harm than good. Instead, focus on keeping yourself healthy — mind and body — and your natural immunity will do the rest. 

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