{"id":498,"date":"2014-10-29T13:59:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T18:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/?p=498"},"modified":"2019-02-28T09:44:30","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:44:30","slug":"optimism-boosts-immune-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2014\/10\/29\/optimism-boosts-immune-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditation Boosts Immune System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reprinted from Web MD <a href=\"http:\/\/www.webmd.com\/cold-and-flu\/10-immune-system-busters-boosters\">6 Immune System Busters and Boosters<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-499\" src=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/files\/2014\/10\/meditators.jpg\" alt=\"h\" width=\"241\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/files\/2014\/10\/meditators.jpg 241w, https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/files\/2014\/10\/meditators-150x99.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px\" \/>Everyone has some stress; it&#8217;s part of life. If stress drags on for a long time, it makes you more vulnerable to illness, from colds to serious diseases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"node\">Chronic stress exposes your body to a steady stream of stress hormones that suppress the immune system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"node\">You may not be able to get rid of your stress, but you can get better at managing it.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"node\">\n<li>Learn to meditate.<\/li>\n<li>Slow down.<\/li>\n<li>Connect with other people.<\/li>\n<li>Work out to blow off steam.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"node\">Counseling is a big help, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"node\">Easing stress lowers levels of a stress hormone. It also helps you sleep better, which improves immune function.<\/p>\n<p class=\"node\">People who meditate regularly may have healthier immune system responses, some studies show. In one experiment*, people who meditated over an 8-week period made more antibodies to a flu vaccine than people who didn\u2019t meditate. And they still showed an increased immune system response 4 months later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"node\">*<em>Psychosom Med<\/em>. 2003 Jul-Aug;65(4):564-70<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reprinted from Web MD 6 Immune System Busters and Boosters Everyone has some stress; it&#8217;s part of life. If stress drags on for a long time, it makes you more vulnerable to illness, from colds to serious diseases. Chronic stress exposes your body to a steady stream of stress hormones that suppress the immune system. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-musings"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meditation Boosts Immune System - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2014\/10\/29\/optimism-boosts-immune-system\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meditation Boosts Immune System - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reprinted from Web MD 6 Immune System Busters and Boosters Everyone has some stress; it&#8217;s part of life. 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