As the common cold and flu symptoms increase and the threat to our immune system becomes higher on a global scale we want to encourage you to proactively boost your immune system naturally. We’ve gathered our best immune boosting practices, products and recipes for you to take control of your health, including herbs to boost your immunity naturally!
Herbs to Boost Your Immunity - Guide content:
(click to skip to each section)
- What causes your Immune System to weaken
- Signs of a Poor Immune System
- Best herbs for Immune-Boosting
- Natural Tea for Immune System
- Immune Boosting Diffuser Blend
- Herbal Bath for Immune System
- Herbal Infusions for Immunity
- Immune Boosting Products
- Our Favourite Ways to Boost the Immune System Naturally
We take a look at what causes a weakened immune system, signs you have a weakened immune system and offer a variety of ways to boost your immune system today with the natural therapeutic benefits of herbs!
Coming from me, a premie-baby that grew up with a weakened immune system, being the kid who always had a runny nose, cough, strep throat and ear infections, I became fed up with my continuous doctors visits that only seemed to have a solution once I was already sick and rarely offered preventative practices; I began to get curious about different ways to boost my immune system naturally.
Once I discovered the power of herbs and their benefits I began to implement the best herbs for the immune system and began my journey of strengthening my immune system naturally. I finally felt in charge of my health and free from having to rely on antibiotics, which you’ll learn can cause an even weaker immune system.
What Causes Your Immune System To Weaken
As we all tend to live a faster paced life than we used to; working long hours and travelling from place to place we are exposed to practices, habits and environments that are weakening our immune system daily.
The increased level of stress from work and home life has a major impact on our immune system. When we are stressed the immune systems ability to fight off antigens is significantly lowered as the stress hormone, corticosteroids can suppress the effectiveness of our ability to fight off infections.
Our bodies require nutrient dense food to operate at its optimal making poor diet a main cause of weakening our immune system and often feeding the bacteria that is harmful to our bodies; sugar, caffeine, processed foods and alcohol.
Lack of sleep and exercise causes your immune system to weaken over time. Getting proper rest to support the body in recharging itself and getting out of fight or flight mode will have a significant impact on your immune system, while exercise helps to get your endorphins going and release stagnation in the body to improve our overall health.
Lastly, as I’ve experienced and learned throughout my life from endless rounds of antibiotics they can leave a lasting impression on your immune system, weakening its function to fight off future bacteria and infections. This is why taking action to naturally boost your immune system will help you to stay healthy and out of the doctors office.
Common causes that weaken the immune system:
- Stress
- Poor diet
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of exercise
- Certain medicines
Signs of a Weak Immune System
If you could put a check mark beside the list above ‘what causes your immune system to weaken’ then your immune system could possibly be weakened and in a state of needing a natural boost. On the other hand if you are unsure and want to assess the state of your’s there are a few signs of a weak immune system you may notice.
Again, stress is one of the leading causes of a weak immune system so if you are experiencing an extremely high level of stress this may affect your immunity. If you are anything like I used to be and tend to get sick or infected often then your immune system is most likely not functioning at its optimal.
A few other signs of a weak immune system are if you experience stomach and digestive issues as all the major systems are linked and can have major effects on one another causing your immunity to weaken. If you feel tired often, need a nap most days or feeling burn out hovering over you this can also be a sign that your immune system is under attack and you need to rest in order for it to keep up and fight off any infections.
Signs of a weekend immune system:
- Your stress level is extremely high
- You are extremely tired all the time
- You often get sick or have infections
- You experience stomach and digestive issues
- Your wounds are slow to heal
How To Boost Your Immune System Naturally
Now that you have a good understanding of what can cause a weakened immune system and the signs of a weak immune system you can start taking action today to boost yours naturally! We’ve gathered our best immune boosting herbs and practices that you can begin implementing today through tea, diffusing, bathing, infusions and recipes.
There are many different ways to incorporate herbs into your daily life, we encourage you to find a way that works best for you, possibly by adding it to something you already do habitually or adopting a new practice that you’ve been wanting to try. Utilizing herbs for your health is meant to be an experiment and done habitually to reap the endless benefits they have to offer. They are also extremely affordable and accessible.
Let's dive into how to boost your immune system naturally by kicking things off with the best immune boosting herbs. When seeking herbs to boost your immune system you want them to have antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties while being nutrient dense, warming and soothing. Think of the concept ‘lemon and honey hot water’ it targets hydration, warming for stagnant fluids, citrus for vitamin C and sweetness for soothing, however it's missing a long list of real nourishing properties to actually cause this result on your body and immune system.
Below are the best herbs for your immune system that are proactive and reactive to support your immune system from being compromised.
Herbs to Boost Your Immunity:
- Elderberries
- Elderflower
- Astragalus
- Ginger
- Lemon Myrtle
- Cardamom
- Cloves
- Eucalyptus
- Tea Tree
- Lemongrass
- Rosemary
- Spruce
Now for how to boost your immune system naturally, we’ve gathered our favourite practices that are easily accessible, affordable and beneficial.
Immune Boosting Tea
No shocker here as we designed a specific blend to help boost your immune system, relieve symptoms and help support your immunity throughout the cold and flu seasons. IMMUNITY is a blend of sweet and spicy herbs that contains antioxidants, antiviral, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Containing one of the most well-known herbs in Chinese medicine to relieve upper respiratory infections, Elderberry. This blend will reduce inflammation of sore throats, and sinuses, warm up bodily fluids to reduce fevers and runny noses and soothe scratchy throats with its sweet honeybush and lemon myrtle flavours.
Read more about our all natural remedy, IMMUNITY and how it's the perfect addition to your medicine cabinet. Make sure to sip daily to protect your immune system from circulating sicknesses.
As I mentioned above, all of our major internal systems are linked and have a large impact on one another; when one system is compromised the others kick into overdrive trying to keep up with the bodies needs, often resulting in lowering immunity. It's important to support, nourish and enhance the health off all the systems: the digestive system, nervous system and immune system. Keeping all three systems in harmony and functioning at their best will help you to stay healthy and in the safe zone during cold, flu and virus breakouts.
IMMUNITY TEA
$14.00
Immune Boosting | Cold and Flu Soothing | Anti-viral | Nutrient Rich | Anti-inflammatory | Anti-bacterial | Best Seller A restorative blend of sweet honeybush, elderberries and spicy herbs designed to relieve common flu symptoms and boost immunity. Think lemon and honey… read more
Immune Boosting Diffuser Blend
The air we continuously breathe in has a huge affect on our immune system and symptoms, diffusing a blend of immune boosting herbs that will cleanse, refresh and comfort your environment.
Our favourite daytime immune boosting diffuser blend:
- Rosemary
- Tea Tree
- Lemongrass
Our favourite evening immune boosting diffuser blend:
- Eucalyptus
- Spruce
- Lavender
- Bergamont
Photo by Vitruvi
Our favourite essential oils come from Vitruvi a local Vancouver based company with high quality organic products.
Immune Boosting Herbal Bath
There’s no better way to soothe the body and soak up powerful immune boosting properties than soaking your largest organ, your skin in them. Tea bathing is a great way to lower stress (the number one cause of a weakened immune system), calm the nervous system and have a little ‘me time’ while nourishing your body from the outside in.
Tea bathing is simple and doesn’t need to make a mess in your tub. Simply steep a pot of IMMUNITY or ME TIME (another great blend of herbs with immune boosting qualities and blended to calm the nervous system) and pour the steeped tea directly into your bath (make sure to remove the leaves before you pour).
Another easy way to tea bathe is to fill a compostable tea bag with either tea blend and place it right under the tap while your hot bath is filling. A little bonus to amplify the therapeutic benefits and aroma of your bath is to add a few drops of the above essential oils to your bath. (Make sure to do this right before you hop in).
Immune Boosting Herbal Infusions
The list of immunity boosting herbs above can also be used to cook with, make tinctures or add to any infusions you already enjoy. Here’s a few herbal infusions we love making that are easy to make, buy or add to.
Herbal Infused Bone Broth
Making bone broth is easy and quick especially with a slow cooker. We love to make our own so we can add or change the ingredients depending on what we need at that time. Our favourite ingredients to add to our bone broth for immune boosting is our IMMUNITY tea blend and Astralagus herb. Astragalus contains antiviral properties and can be consumed in a variety of ways (see below).
Our Favourite Immune Boosting Herbal Products
Astragalus Tincture
Tinctures are great for those who are pressed for time and on-the-go a lot as you can put 15 - 20 drops under your tongue a few times a day to reap the immune boosting benefits of this amazing herb. We love getting ours from Gaia Garden (in Vancouver).
Elderberry + Elderflower Syrup
My go-to when I begin to feel symptoms creeping in is Sambu by Dr. Dunner an elderberry and elderflower concentrate known for its antiviral, antibacterial and immune boosting properties that is packed with vitamin C. It’s great for viruses in the upper respiratory tract. You can most likely find this at your favourite health food store or Whole Foods.
You can also make elderberry syrup yourself to decrease the cost significantly by getting elderberries from your local herb shop. Bring to a boil 2 cups of dried berries to 2 cups hot water, then let simmer for 1 hour. (Use within 2 weeks of making it)
In addition to all the above ways to boost your immune system naturally make sure to stay hydrated, drinking lots of fluids whether that is a herbal infusion (water, lemon + rosemary is my fav) or plain water, getting lots of rest and taking normal precautions like washing your hands and avoid touching your face in public places.
Our Favourite Ways to Boost Immune System Naturally
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Incorporate our list of immune boosting herbs into your daily routine
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Sipping on IMMUNITY daily
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Diffusing a blend of immune boosting herbs
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Sip on homemade bone broth with added immune boosting herbs
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Use Astragalus tincture on-the-go to boost your immunity
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Have on-hand Elderberry and Elderflower syrup when you feel symptoms creep in.
I’ve used the above practices, recipes and rituals for the past few years to help boost my immune system naturally. This has encouraged me to tune into my body and its unique needs, become more intuitive about what I put in it and on it and help me to take back my health when I thought being sick was just how it was going to be.
Now that you know how to decrease the habits that will weaken your immune system, notice signs that your system may be threatened and have a variety of ways to incorporate the best herbs for your immunity, you can too, boost your immune system naturally.
To learn more about the energetics of herbs, their unique properties, which herbs are best for your body and your unique constitution read our BLOG post post 'Choosing the right tea for your body [Guide]'
