In light of the changes COVID-19 has brought to everyone's life, all around the globe, I wanted to bring the focus back to something that we do have control over in our lives, the health of our immune system. At a time such as this, we can put more energy into keeping ourselves healthy, and making the right choices to keep our bodies in the best shape possible. There are many, many ways that we can boost this system, and there are also ways that we can avoid putting any extra pressure on the body, so that when we may come into contact with micro-organisms that cause disease, such as the Coronavirus that is spreading around the world at an extreme rate, our body can fight hard to limit the degree to which we are affected. But before we go into ways to keep the immune system running optimally, lets talk about what exactly the immune system is and how it functions.

Although I want to focus more on the TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) aspect of immunity, it is important, first, to understand the western side of this equation. Every organism has an immune system, even microscopic bacteria. Of course, humans have a much more complex system comprised of many biological structures and processes that work together to keep us free from disease. The basic job of the immune system is to keep the body free from invaders, and to rid the body of dead or sick cells that may be circulating. It is very important that the immune system is able to distinguish self, from non-self, and when a foreign invader is detected, the immune response is activated. One of the key players are the white blood cells, or leukocytes. WBC are on constant patrol, looking for pathogens, and when they detect something foreign they multiply to signal further immune response. WBC are stored in the lymphoid organs - thymus, spleen, bone marrow and the lymph nodes. There are two types of WBC - the phagocytes, which essentially destroy and "eat" pathogens, and the lymphocytes, which form a sort of memory of past pathogens, produce anti-bodies, and stay on watch to alert the clean up cells if this pathogen returns - which is how immunizations work. During an immunization, certain molecules of a pathogen are introduced to the body so that the immune response can be activated, and antibodies created. Overall, this is an extremely complex system that we need to have working at optimal levels at all times.

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