Improving your immunity is more than just what you eat and the vitamins you take. Surprisingly, it also comes down to how you care for your mind. If you struggle with stress, then you know the impact that it can have on your immune system. To enjoy optimal immunity, you have to focus on a holistic approach to support your health, which includes practices like yoga and meditation, as well as proper sleep health.
In this article, we’ll explore the importance of mind-body practices for immune support, diving deep into how meditation and yoga can encourage you to relax and protect your health. We’ll also discover how sleep can support immunity and why getting enough sleep is so essential for your well-being in the long term. Let’s first start with a look at how meditation supports your immunity.
Meditation Supports Your Immunity
While it might not be a practice that you incorporate into your daily routine, meditation has numerous benefits for your health and well-being. Mindfulness meditation, specifically, is one of the most effective because it allows you to stop, take a moment, and become more aware of what is happening around you.
Some studies have already shown a connection between mindfulness meditation and immunity support, showing impacts on markers like inflammation and biological aging, but the evidence is not definitive yet (Source: The New York Academy of Sciences).
Other experts have explored how meditation can help athletes and their immunity, showing that long-term use of the mind-body practice might be beneficial for impacting lymphocyte counts, an essential marker of immune response. So, evidently, while meditation can help improve mental well-being, it can also help reduce cellular stress and inflammation, which can help immunity.
Yoga Encourages Better Immune Responses
Second to meditation is yoga, which is a powerful mind-body practice that has numerous health benefits. As an ancient form of exercise, yoga continues to be used around the world, and it is also a form of support for those who need better immune support. Research shows that whether you choose hatha yoga, vinyasa yoga, or even restorative yoga, it can all be beneficial to your long-term health.
Some have shown that yoga can enhance cell-meditated and mucosal immunity. In other words, it can support a healthy immune response that can limit inflammation. The research is still being developed, but what this shows is that yoga—like meditation—has a lot of powerful benefits that can help those looking to have a stronger immune system. This was even found to be true for those with COVID-19, as yoga enhanced their immune response to the disease.
It's important to note that in both of these studies, yoga is seen as a complementary form of support. That is, it should be included with other practices to encourage better immunity. When you are feeling stressed, yoga is an excellent way to de-stress and regulate your cytokine levels to have a better immune response, regardless of what infection or illness you might be struggling with (Source: International Journal of Yoga). So, if you feel sick, try a bit of light yoga. Even if you’re not ill, it certainly can’t hurt!
Proper Sleep Catalyzes Necessary Immune Responses
Compared to meditation and yoga, sleep is an integral part of your body’s immune response because of how it affects the production of cytokines, T-cell function, and more. Simply put, if you don’t get enough sleep, you will not experience normal immune responses, even when you’re healthy. That’s because your sleep takes care of specific immune responses that can’t be done while you’re awake.
For instance, in the early stages of sleep, your body will promote pro-inflammatory cytokines to help fight infections. When you’re asleep, your T-cells will also be able to move out of the blood vessels and into the lymph nodes more efficiently, which is necessary if you want to enjoy a normal immune response. You can think of sleep as the modulator of your immunity; if you lack sleep, you’ll weaken your immune response and make yourself more susceptible to infection.
If you struggle with poor sleep as many did during COVID-19, you’ll have worse immunity, likely get sick more often, and you will also lower your quality of sleep—which undoubtedly can lead to long-term challenges, too! So, to ensure your immunity is as strong as possible, prioritize sleep and focus on creating healthy bedtime routines so you’ll always get enough quality rest.
How to Integrate Yoga, Meditation, and Proper Sleep for Better Immunity
To truly maximize your immune system’s potential, you can integrate all three into your daily routine. For instance, you might practice yoga in the morning to help energize yourself and get ready for the day. You can also try some sleep yoga to help you relax and unwind. Alternatively, you might include a quick meditation session throughout your day to take some time to relax and focus on the here and now.
Yoga and meditation can contribute to a healthy lifestyle and even encourage better sleep health! Because both practices are relaxing, they are perfect for becoming part of your bedtime routine. By focusing on sleep hygiene and a sleep schedule, you can sleep better, feel more relaxed, and ultimately enjoy better immunity.
The most important thing is to tailor your new routine to your preferences. You can try various yoga or meditation practices and test our different bedtime routines to find the one that best suits you.
Incorporate Mind-Body Practices and Enjoy Enhanced Immunity
With so many experts touting the benefits of yoga, meditation, and sleep for immunity, it’s a great idea to find ways to incorporate this into your day. Meditation can help you clear your mind and reduce inflammation, while yoga can facilitate better immune responses. If you include these two practices and continue to find ways to encourage better sleep at night, you’ll notice a difference!
We hope that this article taught you something new about immunity, sleep, and the power of yoga and meditation. How will you incorporate some of these ideas into your daily routine?
