The Five S’s refer to five things you can do to maintain optimal immune health. In my book, these measures will also impact many other health areas, including weight, cardio, skin and mental health.

The are:

Sustenance – Meaning diet and nutrition. A diet tilted toward fruits and veggies, less processed sugar, moderate lean fresh meat consumption, healthy fats, a good amount of water and maybe a red wine or dark beer here and there, can help feed healthy gut bacteria essential for immune health while also addressing cell inflammation that damages health. Think Mediterranean.

Sport – Moderate exercise can improve immune function. The science is there.

Stress – Managing stress helps impact gut health, where stress can upset the balance of immune-controlling beneficial bacteria.

Sleep – A solid 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night can do wonders for immune health.

Supplementation – Nutritional support with EpiCor can help optimize immune health, especially during stretches when diet, stress management, sleep or exercise might be lacking.

Keep these Five S’s at the fore. See how things go during the year. You may be surprised.

I’m as guilty as anyone. Just when I was doing pretty good throughout the fall with nutrition and exercise, suddenly it’s Thanksgiving, and since then, wow. I’ve abandoned a lot of discipline. Someone brought a pile of holiday treats to our office a couple days ago. Did I eat one or two and bow out? No. I had to take three or four back to my office, fearing the rest would be gone in an hour.

My wife and kids took most of a Saturday to bake up a storm Of course, I had to sample everything as it came out of the oven or off the wax paper. And of course, a sample means more than one.

Sugar may not necessarily lead to severely reduced immune function. But if obesity, cardiovascular damage, cellular inflammation are some direct outcomes of  long-term processed sugar intake, those conditions right there are enough to wreak havoc on immune function. Others make a strong cell-based argument that sugar can compete with and displace vital nutrients needed for proper support of immune cell structure, leading to weakened immune function.  Too much sugar can also trigger overreaction of immune response, feeding proinflammatory cytokine cells that lead to chronic inflammation, a fundamental driver of many serious diseases. Such imbalance within immune response results in immune cells frenetically going after healthy tissue, leaving depleted immune capacity to fight real pathogens that may enter the body (bacteria, virus, etc.)

So now that I’ve made sugar enemy No. 1, are you scared to eat even one more cookie?  Don’t be. After all, a little sugar does provide some short term energy. But remember to keep the sweets at a reasonably low level, while getting good exercise, sleep and a good dose of fruits and vegetables. That would be a sweet deal all the way around.

But one of them decided that it would be cool if we could jog together several days a week. She’s wanting to build some extra stamina for when her fall university marching band starts up. She’s a drum major and wants to be able to run around the field like drum majors have to do without getting gassed. And I just want to try to keep from having to increase my belt size. And so we run. Just 1.5 miles for now, and we’re not setting any land speed records. I’m working up to being able to run that distance without any stopping to walk. I’m almost there. She is there. When ever I do have to stop, I try to do it on a stretch of road where no one is outside to see me.

We all know that running is great exercise and can have many benefits: heart health, muscle tone, respiratory conditioning, weight control, stress management, you name it. What about immune health specifically? Well, a lot of data point to enhanced immune function (demonstrated by fewer colds, flu and URI incidence) with moderate exercise. See the chart of p. 3 of this article. It appears that either no exercise or heavy, extreme exercise can actually result in diminished immune function, as prolonged stress on the body can actually trigger release of stress hormones that send your immune balance levels way off kilter.  This isn’t to say don’t exercise hard, but if you do, an immune supplement (EpiCor anyone???) may help support immune health when your heavy-duty workout might normally zap it.

The latest thing I’ve read on this are some very persuasive thoughts from Joe Robinson, an advocate for stress reduction and improved health through better work/life balance and more fulfillment at work.  He recently wrote a column that makes a lot of great points about vigorous participation in something as a leisure-focused, life balancing, life extending solution.  He writes:

“Passions and the active leisure skills that create them work wonders for your health and outlook because they satisfy core psychological needs for autonomy, competence and connection with others. This makeover show happens where it matters: inside. Yet this power of this health resource doesn’t filter down to us because of the ingrained notion that recreation and leisure are little removed from outright vagrancy, since they don’t produce anything (unless you want to call living a productive endeavor).

We concentrate all our skill-building and education on the work side, where we believe all the value is. Work skills — getting results, micromanaging, staying in the comfort zone — get you nowhere when it comes to activating your life, which is about input, not output, experience over results, letting go and getting out of the straitjacket of habit.”

This connects with something I’ve theorized about over the years but have never really spoken or written about: the idea that we are becoming a “spectator society.” After high school or college years, we tend to spend more time watching others do things, rather than doing things ourselves. Examples: parents who live for their kids’ recitals and games but don’t “perform” anything themselves. And relaxation. Today, most adults define relaxation as viewing or reading something in a sedentary position. Movies, TV, books, naps, Facebooking, etc. Too many don’t view walking, jogging, playing a few holes of golf, dancing, yard work, chopping woods, kickboxing class, etc. as relaxation or healthy diversions. If they do it, it’s more like, “quick, I need to get that pilates class out of the way so I get home in time for American Idol.”

Many times, people don’t initiate a new endeavor because they fear risk, as Robinson wrote in his essay. Risk of failure: “what if I’m no good at this?”  Risk of embarrassment “what if my friends or neighbors see me doing this?”  Risk of upsetting the routine and the comfort zone. “Do I really have time for this?”  Or, “How can I keep all my other obligations (America Idol watching, shopping, etc.) if I have to do this every other day?”

That takes me back to a quote by the Rev. Robert Schuller, whom I generally would not have much in common with (I’m not a televangelist fan). But I did read one quote from him I thought was right on the money. It pertains to risk, fear, and trying new things. “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”  His point was that nearly all the time, the fears that hold people back are self-imposed and imaginary, and not derived from reality. If people approached new challenges with the mindset that failure isn’t in the cards, we might have a far different life.

Now we find out this week about some new research showing that non-alcoholic wheat beer may help support the immune health of highly trained athletes by balancing immune function. Huh?

According to story on the reseasrch:

“The study shows that after running a marathon race, athletes experience intensified inflammatory reactions. The immune system is thrown off balance and runners are much more likely to suffer from upper respiratory infections. This heightened susceptibility to illness following strenuous sport activity has been identified as an “open window.”

Furthermore it was shown that non-alcoholic wheat beer containing polyphenols has a positive, health promoting effect on the human body: inflammation parameters in the blood were significantly reduced, and there was a lower frequency of infection with milder symptoms.”

I understand EpiCor may have some research findings to release soon regarding athletes, EpiCor intake and inflammatory response changes . We’ll be watching. And drinking. Just a little.

The point is, stress is everywhere and it seems to be intensifying.

The American Psychological Association recently came out with a comprehensive treatise on stress in America.  The APA’s Stress In America Survey is summarized on the APA Web this way:

“America is at a critical crossroads when it comes to stress and our health,” said psychologist Norman B. Anderson, PhD, APA’s chief executive officer and executive vice president. “Year after year nearly three-quarters of Americans say they experience stress at levels that exceed what they define as healthy, putting themselves at risk for developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and depression. Stress is hurting our physical and emotional health and contributing to some of the leading causes of death in this country. People are also saying they have difficulty implementing the changes they know will decrease their stress and improve their health. Yet, our health care system is not adequately addressing this issue or providing the behavioral health treatments that can help Americans. All of us, including the medical community, need to take stress seriously since stress could easily become our next public health crisis.”

With the body’s immune system performance so intricately linked with stress, anything and everything that can help balance and manage healthy immune function in times of stress should be a no-brainer for nearly everyone.

We sent a short survey form to the email subscribers last month, asking them to answer 8 questions. We also offered the first 50 respondents a 3-month sample of EpiCor. We got our first 50 within a matter of a few hours. Some of the survey data we gathered is pretty interesting:

• Over half of the readers take EpiCor. Nearly half take Vitamin C, while one-third take another immune health supplement.
• 65% say they take immune supplements to help mitigate cold and flu during the winter, while nearly 60% say they take them for general immune support needed for life’s stresses.
• 62% buy their supplements online; 50% buy them at a retail store.
• 67% take their immune supplements every day without fail. Yay!! 13% take them once or twice a week.
• As for other things these people do for immune health, 79% say they eat a healthy diet, 71% say they get 7 or more hours of sleep each night, and 52% say they exercise regularly. 24% say they do stress-relieving activities such as yoga.

Wow! I’m impressed. All in all, that’s a pretty healthy crowd.

I generally don’t like to use sports analogies on this blog because this health information is for all people, not just jocks and fans. But this is special for a couple reasons:

1) Feller was a physical specimen. Not a body builder or someone with an elite physique. Rather, feller excelled throughout a 20-year career where he threw baseballs harder and faster than anyone in the game; fastballs that were clocked at nearly 107 mph (compared to today’s high range of 97-99 mph). He pitched a complete game–a full nine innings–300 times. Today, hardly any pitcher throws nine innings. 6 or 7 is about it for a starter. Gotta preserve the arm. In other words, Feller had a physical endurance and career longevity that was nothing short of astounding. People recall him taking the mound when we was 70 and 80 years old and still slinging it across the plate with some major zip.

2) Feller grew up on a farm. He was around hay, corn, pollen, hogs and all the bacterial and allergenic exposure that goes with the farm life, and, as research shows, can significantly define your immune system for the rest of your life. The Hygiene Hypothesis. Feller said his arm really wasn’t sore during his career. He didn’t ice it. “Ice is for cold drinks,” he said.

I would wager that Feller’s immune system–shaped by exposure to immune-shaping microbes on the farm–may have played a big role in his success and long life; balanced to the point of evading any major joint and muscle inflammation, and helping him live to a ripe old age without major illness (that is, until he succumbed to complications from leukemia), and, at least in part, enabling his physical durability for all those years.

That’s just my theory. Genes may also have played a big role. Who knows. If I’m wrong, please God, don’t let a Feller fastball strike me down!

I attended a health ingredient business conference a couple months ago, and one of the items I heard at an excellent presentation comes back to haunt me this time of year.  The freezing time of year here in the Midwest. The presentation was by Dr. Pamela Peeke, a health and nutrition researcher who achieve a lot of popularity but also has some very strong science chops as a former NIH researcher.

Peeke talked about how exercise or even just movement, doing something that makes you move about and frees you from the computer desk or the couch, actually has been show to create brain cells (neuroregeneration), even in old age.  Regular exercise has also been shown to improve and strengthen immune function. See video above.

So while the winter freeze sets in, I’m not gonna be going on the long walks I usually do with my wife in the warmer weather. And, by God, I’ll be danged if I’m gonna  become a mall walker. I’m still a young man, for goodness’ sake. So, what’s a guy to do?  Maybe a fitness club is the answer, but that makes it tough to get home at night in time for Glee or Fringe on TV. And I absolutely cannot get to the gym at 6 in the morning. I need my sleep (also necessary for good immune health).

So, maybe some homemade push-ups and sit-ups might be the answer.  We’ll see. Somehow, during the long winter evenings, I doubt the kind of six-packs that will appear are the ones involving muscles.

They were lining up for their addictive substance: Black Ops

If so, I would not be surprised, as this game generated $360 million in sales over the weekend. That’s more than a blockbuster movie opening. I’m not a gamer, but I’ve had a couple experiences observing hardcore gamers. And it is fascinating, even a bit frightening.

One is a college student, a son of family friends of ours who was accepted into a top-flight private college, only to nearly get the boot or lose his financial award package because his World of Warcraft habit kept him away from class too often.  Another is a husband and wife we know who spend weekends doing group gaming with other couples. Who takes care of the kids, we don’t know.

I hope that the rise in gaming interest doesn’t portend a rise in addictive gaming behavior, for which there are treatment programs far and wide.  But that’s Pollyannish thinking. I’m sure addiction is rising.

As for immune health, the obvious fallout stems from the fact that playing video games on an intense basis (other than the physical Nintendo Wii workout games) means sitting for hours on your sedentary butt, getting little physical activity, probably not eating well and also probably not getting enough sleep. This all can combine for an out-of-balance immune system.

But wait, maybe it’s not all bad. The Brits are launching a study to see if playing video games, at least at a reasonable proportion, might actually improve immune health. What??!!