Immune resilience in the age of COVID-19 and beyond– A Lifestyle Medicine approach

Abstract

: Immune resilience is the ability for the human body to adapt and respond to adverse conditions, such as bacterial patho-gens, viral infections, and abnormal or cancerous cells. Our ability to mount an appropriate response against such illness re-lates directly to our level of immune resilience, which in turn is impacted by our lifestyle choices. Nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress management are powerful influencers of mucosal immunity, the first line of defense against pathogens, and the exposome, exogenous and endogenous factors affecting our overall health. Lifestyle medicine offers evidence-based recommendations on how to optimize our immune system to withstand and thwart infections and disease.