immune health

Maximize Your Probiotics for Immune Health

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(nata_vkusidey/iStock)

Recent concerns about immune health have prompted many people to want to know how to boost their immune systems in the best ways possible. One of those ways is with good bacteria, or probiotics—but not just any probiotics. The big questions are: How effective are probiotics for immune health, and how can you be sure to get the most bang for your buck when taking beneficial bacteria supplements?

Probiotics can boost immune function if you find quality sources and don’t let them spoil.

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics are also commonly referred to as good or beneficial bacteria, but the term also includes some beneficial yeasts as well. These substances are called “good” and “beneficial” because they play a vital role in keeping your gut and entire body healthy. That’s because you’re a vessel of both good and not-so-good bacteria that are associated with disease and other health hazards. Taking probiotic supplements and eating foods rich in beneficial bacteria can help you keep the balance of bacteria in the healthy zone.

Probiotics fall into two general categories:

  • Lactobacillus, which is found in some yogurts, kefir, and other fermented foods. Dozens of strains of this bacteria can assist with digestion, diarrhea, and immune health.
  • Bifidobacterium, which is common in dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese. This genus of bacteria can help with irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions, as well as help with immune system function.

In the yeast category, we have Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, which may help with diarrhea and other issues associated with digestion.

What Are Probiotics Good For?

Probiotics have a number of health advantages. For example, you might try probiotics for problems affecting your digestive tract, such as irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, urinary tract infection, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Numerous studies have also found that probiotics can be helpful in supporting immune health functions and issues.

Probiotics and Immune System Function

Dozens of studies have demonstrated that various probiotics have the ability to boost immune functions or reduce symptoms associated with immune-related conditions. Here are a few highlighted examples.

A 2019 article review published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism looked at several previous studies and reported that probiotics “improve the behavior of the immune system and the host’s health.”

In a 2017 study, investigators reported that “there is high-quality evidence the probiotics are effective for acute infectious diarrhea, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, functional gastrointestinal disorders.”

Which Probiotics Are the Most Effective?

If you want to get the most from your probiotic supplement, then you need to choose ones that meet certain criteria. Taking the wrong probiotic is like flour through a sieve: It’s going to pass on through and leave little to nothing behind.

Your probiotic should be refrigerated. All probiotic strains are susceptible to heat, especially those in the genus Bifidobacterium. According to Consumer Labs, and independent test lab, “Many probiotic bacteria are naturally sensitive to heat and moisture. Heat can kill organisms and moisture can activate them within pills, only to die due to lack of nutrients and a proper environment.” Therefore, be sure to put your probiotic supplement in your fridge.

An enemy of all probiotics is stomach acid (aka, gastric acid). The job of this acid is to break down food, but it also destroys bacteria, both good and bad. To protect against the destruction of your supplement, be sure to buy those that have an enteric coating. The probiotic supplement should have been tested to guarantee the beneficial bacteria capsules will survive and make their way to your intestinal tract, where they can release their contents and aid the healing process.

Bottom Line

Probiotics can be a potent management and treatment tool when you want to support and enhance your immune system function. Be sure to choose a probiotic supplement that will provide the most benefit for the buck.

Maximize Your Probiotics for Immune Health

Posted by

0


(nata_vkusidey/iStock)

(nata_vkusidey/iStock)

Recent concerns about immune health have prompted many people to want to know how to boost their immune systems in the best ways possible. One of those ways is with good bacteria, or probiotics—but not just any probiotics. The big questions are: How effective are probiotics for immune health, and how can you be sure to get the most bang for your buck when taking beneficial bacteria supplements?

Probiotics can boost immune function if you find quality sources and don’t let them spoil.

What Are Probiotics?

Probiotics are also commonly referred to as good or beneficial bacteria, but the term also includes some beneficial yeasts as well. These substances are called “good” and “beneficial” because they play a vital role in keeping your gut and entire body healthy. That’s because you’re a vessel of both good and not-so-good bacteria that are associated with disease and other health hazards. Taking probiotic supplements and eating foods rich in beneficial bacteria can help you keep the balance of bacteria in the healthy zone.

Probiotics fall into two general categories:

  • Lactobacillus, which is found in some yogurts, kefir, and other fermented foods. Dozens of strains of this bacteria can assist with digestion, diarrhea, and immune health.
  • Bifidobacterium, which is common in dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cheese. This genus of bacteria can help with irritable bowel syndrome and other conditions, as well as help with immune system function.

In the yeast category, we have Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, which may help with diarrhea and other issues associated with digestion.

What Are Probiotics Good For?

Probiotics have a number of health advantages. For example, you might try probiotics for problems affecting your digestive tract, such as irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, urinary tract infection, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Numerous studies have also found that probiotics can be helpful in supporting immune health functions and issues.

Probiotics and Immune System Function

Dozens of studies have demonstrated that various probiotics have the ability to boost immune functions or reduce symptoms associated with immune-related conditions. Here are a few highlighted examples.

A 2019 article review published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism looked at several previous studies and reported that probiotics “improve the behavior of the immune system and the host’s health.”

In a 2017 study, investigators reported that “there is high-quality evidence the probiotics are effective for acute infectious diarrhea, antibiotic-associated diarrhea, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, functional gastrointestinal disorders.”

Which Probiotics Are the Most Effective?

If you want to get the most from your probiotic supplement, then you need to choose ones that meet certain criteria. Taking the wrong probiotic is like flour through a sieve: It’s going to pass on through and leave little to nothing behind.

Your probiotic should be refrigerated. All probiotic strains are susceptible to heat, especially those in the genus Bifidobacterium. According to Consumer Labs, and independent test lab, “Many probiotic bacteria are naturally sensitive to heat and moisture. Heat can kill organisms and moisture can activate them within pills, only to die due to lack of nutrients and a proper environment.” Therefore, be sure to put your probiotic supplement in your fridge.

An enemy of all probiotics is stomach acid (aka, gastric acid). The job of this acid is to break down food, but it also destroys bacteria, both good and bad. To protect against the destruction of your supplement, be sure to buy those that have an enteric coating. The probiotic supplement should have been tested to guarantee the beneficial bacteria capsules will survive and make their way to your intestinal tract, where they can release their contents and aid the healing process.

Bottom Line

Probiotics can be a potent management and treatment tool when you want to support and enhance your immune system function. Be sure to choose a probiotic supplement that will provide the most benefit for the buck.

How to take a power nap at work, even if your office doesn’t have nap rooms

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If naps are so good for us, then why are they so hard to take at work?
work nap station

A nap a day could keep the doctor, and therapist, away – so why are they so impossible to take at work?Sleep deprivation is linked to a lot of scary things, like Alzheimer’s disease, depression, memory problems, and cancer – and while a nap won’t completely make up for hours of lost sleep, scientists agree that a power nap can do wonders.

Studies have shown that naps improve immune health, energy, cognitive function, and emotional control – and all you really need is 10 minutes.

But while napping may be an effective strategy to counteract negative emotional, cognitive, and physical consequences, the problem with recommending that we take naps at work, as psychologist Dr. Ron Friedman previously told Business Insider, is that this isn’t entirely practical.

The author of “The Best Place to Work” has long been a proponent for on-the-job napping, but he said that he debated whether or not to recommend this in his book, since many struggle with office-space constraints and cultural attitudes about napping.

“Particularly in American culture, we like to believe that productivity is a function of effort, and that if we work hard we’ll produce,” he said. “But the reality is that we have a biological need for rest no different or less important than our need for food or water.”

So is there a way to reconcile our biological need for rest and napping constraints at work? Arianna Huffington believes there is.

“There will always be times when we don’t get enough sleep: we have a sick child, we have a big deadline, we just toss and turn. My advice there is, as soon as you can, get a nap,” “The Sleep Revolution” author tells Business Insider.

Huffington Post Nap Room

A Huffington Post nap pod.

She says:

The truth is, I predict in the next few years nap rooms are going to be as universal as conference rooms, because the science now is conclusive about the value of napping. Do you want exhausted employees being exhausted during the day, or do you want them to go have a 20-minute nap and literally have another day ahead of them? Because that’s how restorative a nap is.

For those who don’t have nap rooms in their office, Huffington suggests gathering your forces and lobbying for a nap room.

Until there is one, she suggests asking an office manager to ensure that couches are placed in as private a place as possible.

“Then have your kit with your earplugs and your eye mask and you can lie on that couch,” she says.

If there isn’t a couch in a private-enough space – pending manager approval – she suggests bringing a yoga mat to work, finding the most private space in the office, and napping on the mat.

“There are ways to make that happen if you believe that it will actually make you more effective, more productive, and happier,” Huffington says.

She also says:

Luckily, I think the stigma around napping is very fast being eliminated. I know when we launched our nap rooms at the Huffington Post in 2011, there was an enormous amount of skepticism and eye-rolling, and people were reluctant to be seen in the middle of the afternoon walking into a nap room. But that’s no longer the case – the nap rooms are always full, and I think in fact we need to open a third one.

Friedman says that eliminating the stigma around napping comes down to leaders modeling better attitudes about sleep. Huffington would agree.

She says:

I have a couch in my office, and I have a glass wall, so when I wanted to have a nap – I didn’t want to use the nap room so I wouldn’t take it away from others – I would nap on my couch and close the curtain. Now I no longer close the curtain. And that has helped eliminate the stigma, to show that you can nap publicly, and, actually, it’s a performance-enhancement tool, and it should be celebrated as such.