Most immune advice arrives in November and consists of buying something. The things that actually hold up are duller than that, and they work on the months either side of the season rather than the week you feel it coming on.
Short sleep measurably reduces how well the immune system responds, including how well it responds to vaccination. Adults generally need seven to nine hours; school-age children need more, and teenagers need considerably more than they get. If one thing on this page is worth fixing first, it is this one, and no supplement substitutes for it.
Five to seven servings of vegetables and fruit a day is the unglamorous target, and the reason is coverage rather than any single nutrient. Vitamin C, vitamin A, zinc, selenium and folate all participate in immune function, and eating a range of plants covers them without arithmetic.
Protein matters more than people expect. Antibodies are proteins, and older adults in particular tend to under-eat it. Where status is genuinely low, testing is more useful than guessing, because vitamin D, B12 and iron deficiency all produce vague symptoms easily blamed on something else.
Sustained stress alters cortisol rhythm, and cortisol modulates immune activity. That is measurable rather than metaphorical. What helps is individual: some people need movement, some need company, some need a genuinely empty hour. The useful question is what you will actually keep doing.
Exercise sits in both columns here. Moderate regular activity supports immune function and helps with stress. Sudden heavy training on top of poor sleep does the opposite for a while, which is worth knowing before starting a January programme.
We would not tell you a supplement prevents infection, because that is not something the evidence supports and it is not a claim this practice makes. Nor is any of this a reason to skip care you need. Persistent fevers, infections that keep returning, or illness that takes far longer to clear than it used to are worth proper medical assessment, because recurrent infection can be a signal in its own right.
Our disease prevention page covers the wider groundwork, and the patient education library has short explainers on immune support, allergies and autoimmune conditions. If you are run down more often than seems right, call (770) 674-6311 or request an appointment and we will look at what is underneath it rather than at the last infection.
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