Fortify the Immune System: 19 Biohacks for Staying Healthy this Winter

'Tis the season to feel a little under the weather.

Every year as the seasons pass and the leaves change colors most people anticipate getting sick but getting through it anyway...

* They will be sniffling and dabbing their runny nose frequently.

* Their stomachs will grumble with nausea.

* Their sinuses will get blocked up with mucus.

* They'll toss and turn in bed for hours before finally sleeping badly for a few hours.

* They'll be tormented by migraines.

* They'll cancel their weekend social plans so that they can sleep extra.

* If they get sick they'll double or triple dose on the DayQuil, NyQuil, or Paracetamol.

* They'll maybe even spend some long hours kneeling before the porcelain throne.

I'll suggest you can avoid this suffering this winter if you spend a bit of attention (and money) fortifying your immune system.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

In this article, I'm going to give you some effective Biohacks for staying healthy this winter. If you hate getting sick during the winter and losing productive days, you're going to want to implement these Biohacks.

Immune Biohacks

The most effective, most economic supplements are toward the top of this list. I really, really hate getting sick and losing days feeling miserable so I use all of them to stay healthy. If you have a limited budget and time get the ones towards the top of this list.

Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero)

Siberian ginseng (which I think is a cooler name than Eleutherococcus senticosus) is probably my favorite immune biohack because of its effectiveness, safety, and low cost along with pleasant taste and aesthetics. The Soviets in Russia utterly failed to build a socialist utopia but luckily for you, they managed to do some good herbal science and identify this immunity-promoting supplement which was badly needed in a country where the weather sometimes gets as cold as on the surface of the moon. It worked so well that they gave it to everyone from their Olympic athletes and soldiers fighting in Afghanistan to cosmonauts and supersonic aviators.

But its research is not limited to the Russosphere, you can find over 20 human clinical trials done all around the world on Pubmed.

Usage and Dosage: I take this almost daily, personally I enjoy taking it as a nice tea. I just dump a few hundred milligrams of Eleuthero powder into steeped hot water.You can vary the dosage, if you feel like you're going to get sick take up 900 milligrams daily but the immune maintenance dosage is going to be 250 - 500 milligrams.

Ashwagandha

Staying healthy or getting sick during the wintertime has a lot to do with your levels of stress and testosterone. Your testosterone will naturally lower during the cold months when you are spending more time inside and getting less natural sunlight. As your testosterone lowers you're much more likely to get sick.Chronic stress is testosterone's biological nemesis. Probably the most effective way of optimizing your testosterone is to be vigilant about your stress management; Ashwagandha is an Adaptogen that powerfully modulates your autonomic nervous system to better manage stress.

It's frequently praised by Biohackers for the productive state of relaxed arousal and modicum of tranquility it delivers.

Usage and Dosage: The research indicates that it is a medium-term biohack for stress and testosterone - taking 8 weeks - 3 months for the benefits of supplementation to really take effect. So you want to make a little more of a long-term commitment to it. Although, a lot of Biohackers do report an instantaneous effect on their mindset and subjective stress level. The recommended daily dose is 300 - 1500 milligrams daily.

Zinc

An essential nutrient for healthy immune function. A publicly published 2008 American paper exhaustively documents its essential role

The zinc-deficient patients had severe immune dysfunctions, inasmuch as they died of intercurrent infections by the time they were 25 years of age. In our studies in an experimental human model of zinc deficiency, we documented decreased serum testosterone level, oligospermia, severe immune dysfunctions mainly affecting T helper cells...Zinc affects multiple aspects of the immune system... Zinc is crucial for normal development and function of cells mediating innate immunity, neutrophils, and NK cells.

Usage and Dosage: Take about 25 milligrams of Zinc with a meal every day. If you feel a cold coming on Zinc lozenges are a great idea and you may want to up the dosage to 45 milligrams.

Vitamin C

Another VERY affordable vitamin that belongs in your Biohacker cabinet. From the research of Linus Pauling

...in comparison with a placebo, [vitamin C is effective] in decreasing the incidence and integrated morbidity of the common cold for subjects exposed to cold viruses in the ordinary way and without colds when the test period began.

It's an especially good idea to supplement if you do high-intensity or endurance exercise frequently.

Usage and Dosage: The recommended daily dose is 100 - 200 milligrams but it's fine to mega-dose to avoid illness, as much as 2000 milligrams.

Vitamin D

During the winter months, it's especially important to supplement Vitamin D, specifically D3. Over a hundred clinical trials have been done in the past 10 years researching the connection between this crucial vitamin and the immune system.

However, for it to effectively biohack your immune system and keep you healthy it requires an essential cofactor; sunlight.

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she explained that when UVB light hits your skin, it converts vitamin D into its activated, sulfated form. Thus it’s not enough to just pop a vitamin D3 supplement. You have to activate the vitamin, and that requires exposure to real sunlight (or a high-quality UVB lamp). (p. 159)

So if you can bundle up and get 10-15 minutes of sunlight during those short winter days, it will make that Vitamin D3 all the more effective. If you can't you may want to consider a tanning salon membership or investing in an