Signs of improved immunity

A common cold will be cured within 3 days, it will not be easily infected during seasonal changes/in crowded places, it will not be cured even after staying up overnight for 1-2 times in a row, and it will not be cured even after 3 days, and small wounds will scab within 24 hours and will not become inflamed. Most of the remaining body sensations are the placebo effect or the by-product of improved lifestyle habits, and have no direct causal relationship with immunity improvement.

When I was doing follow-up visits in the nutrition department, I met many people who attributed various irrelevant body sensations to their immunity: after drinking probiotics for half a month, my stool became smooth, and they said their immunity was improving.； Soaking my feet every day makes my hands and feet less cold, which is also said to be related to immunity. In fact, there are two schools of thought on immunity in the current academic circles. One school is the laboratory indicator school, which believes that only numerical changes in blood draws such as immunoglobulins and lymphocyte subpopulations count, and somatosensory is all metaphysics without comparison. ； The other school is the evidence-based and practical school, which pays more attention to changes in daily status - after all, it is impossible for ordinary people to just draw two tubes of blood to check immunity. Perceivable changes are the most practical reference.

Let’s just say that during the team building of the company a while ago, half of the people in the car were infected with influenza A. There was a girl who used to catch a cold every time the season changed, and had a stuffy nose for half a month every time she coughed. This time, the fever subsided after a day, and the cough did not last more than 3 days. Later, when I took the physical examination report, I found that the immunoglobulin G increased by nearly 20% compared to half a year ago. This is a real improvement. Of course, there are exceptions. I met a young man who has been working out all year round and has never had a cold. The physical examination showed that the immune response is half a beat slower than that of ordinary people. He is a type of virus that kills the bacteria without triggering an immune warning. This kind of "never getting sick" is not a good sign. If you encounter a highly virulent pathogen, it is easy to become seriously ill as soon as you get sick.

Another point that many people tend to overlook is whether you will be implicated when someone around you is attacked. Last winter, three members of my family got the flu one after another. During that time, I just kept jogging three times a week for three months, eating under the same roof every day and taking care of the sick, and I didn't get infected. At that time, I knew that my immunity was indeed online. I was too lazy to move for three months in the first half of this year. Last week, a colleague in the office caught a cold, and I caught a fever the next day. The difference was really obvious. Oh yes, I would also like to mention the point of view of the indicator group here: they think that this "not being infected" may also mean that you have been exposed to the same strain of virus before and have antibodies. It is not a general improvement in immunity, but can only be regarded as the role of specific immunity. This statement is indeed tenable. Ordinary people do not have to worry about which one belongs to it. It is always a good thing not to get sick.

Another small detail that is very accurate is the healing speed of small wounds. In the past, when I often stayed up late to catch up on plans, I would make a small cut on my hand, which would turn red for two or three days and easily ooze out. After adjusting my work schedule for half a year, I made a small cut while cutting vegetables. After the bleeding stopped, I put a Band-Aid on it for half a day. The scab formed the next day, and there was no redness, swelling or pain. This is actually because the phagocytes and platelets in the innate immune system react faster. This signal is much more reliable than "the complexion becomes better".

Of course, some people think that these body sensations are too subjective. It is most accurate to go directly to the hospital to check the five immune parameters + lymphocyte subgroups. Especially for people with basic diseases such as diabetes and autoimmune diseases, do not rely solely on body sensations to avoid delaying the problem. As for ordinary people who really want to improve their immunity, they don't need to buy hundreds of yuan of health care products. They just eat one to two eggs and half a catty of milk every day, take two or three hours a week to walk and run, and stay up less late.