Stress Recovery: Bouncing Back to Wellness

Written by: Dr. Joy Irobi, from the Health Sciences Advisory Board

Do you sometimes wonder why some people recover quickly after a serious stressful challenge while others do not? How do these people bounce back so quickly and remain healthy and productive even in the face of continuous stressful triggers? Have you ever wondered how the successes of some people increase as they age?

The answer lies in how Immune Resilience (IR) affects stress recovery, which in the long run, influences the aging process. In a report at the White House Conference in 1961, John F. Kennedy said, “Life can indeed be added to years, rather than just years added to life.”¹

With this quote in mind, how do we benefit from an optimal lifetime while also aging well? IR is crucial to maintaining the balance between rapid stress recovery and wellness.

1. What Is Immune Resilience (IR)?

IR is a measure of how one’s immune health bounces back after a stressful event. IR measures the response capacity of your immune cells to protect and/or rapidly restore your body’s functions. In other words, IR refers to your body’s ability to effectively defend itself against harmful elements and to quickly recover from stress. IR assesses how the body responds and overcomes challenges while maintaining lifetime productivity.²

Understanding your IR capacity helps you manage stress factors better and make smarter choices that will benefit the aging process. Ingredients and products that support IR are readily available here at 4Life. Many 4Life products help you effectively manage daily stress and support healthy aging, like 4Life Transfer Factor^® Collagen, 4Life Transfer Factor Renuvo^®, and more. Knowledge is power, and our 4Life Research & Development team has provided you with additional knowledge and tips for coping with everyday stress.*

2. How Does IR Help You Cope with Stress As You Age?

Well-functioning immune health can distinguish between a fit and a frail cell. Your body needs to be able to recognise and circulate positive, strong cells and get rid of cells that could cause harm. The unique ingredients in many 4Life products provide positive nutrients for healthy cells, which can support IR and the recovery process. IR can differ from person to person depending on lifestyle. A positive lifestyle includes a healthy diet, adequate sleep, regular exercise, positive thoughts, and mindset management.

3. What Unique Products Help You Maintain IR and Cope with Stress?

4Life products with unique ingredients support different body functions to achieve a healthy, educated immune function.* Here are our product suggestions and their targeted immune function and response:

IR and Coping with Everyday Stress

4. What Decreases Your Ability to Cope with Everyday Stress?

While you are on your journey to maintaining IR, watch for habits that can get in the way of your progress. These habits include:

• Internal and external stress
• Lack of sleep
• The modern diet (which includes too much processed food and frequent snacking)
• A frail gut
• Nutrient deficiency

5. How Can You Improve Your Ability to Cope with Everyday Stress?

People are subjected to stressful events from continuous daily strain, distressing life-changing experiences, and the resulting damage. The following 4Life products can help reduce everyday stressors and boost your wellness.*

Support for Coping with Everyday Stress

Your body’s ability to recognise stressors, respond positively, and remember helps you preserve and rapidly restore immune resilience activity.

6. What Nutrients and Behaviors Help You Cope with Everyday Stress and Boost Wellness?

Nutrients for Stress

Berries

Berries, especially dark blue ones, contain vitamin C to clear unhealthy particles, produce immune cells, and support barrier function.³

Raw food

Raw or crushed garlic has antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties and boosts microcirculation in the cardiovascular system.^4,5 Vitamin C is destroyed by cooking of any kind. Choose raw foods like salads, fresh or frozen fruit, and raw veggies when you can.

Seeds

Seeds contain zinc and other minerals needed for IR (pepitas, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, and chia seeds).

Mushrooms

Mushrooms have been shown to impact IR.⁶ Good mushroom varieties to include in your diet include: Lion’s Mane shiitake, oyster, enoki, and portobello.

Broths

Bone broth contains amino acids that strengthen IR. Broths like chicken soup also help revive the gut.

Vitamin A and Betacarotene

These two vitamins are essential for immune resilience⁷ You can get them from foods like sweet potatoes, organic butter, carrots, pumpkins, and squash.

Lifestyle Habits That Help You Cope with Everyday Stress

Reduce inflammation:

Try to avoid inflammatory foods: sugar, white bread, processed meats, and too much coffee and alcohol. Sources recommend that healthy adults stay under 400 mg of caffeine per day for coffee and limit alcohol intake to two drinks or less a day for men or one drink or less a day for women.⁸

Sleep:

Get at least eight hours of sleep a night. Sleep is such a critical part of health, so if you are not getting enough, your #1 goal should be to fix that and start getting more sleep.

Stress management:

To manage your stress in healthy ways, develop a plan, get support, and organize your life. Make time for sports, meditation, healing, and shock recovery. Also, try supplements from 4Life like 4Life Transfer Factor Renuvo^®.

Intermittent fasting:

Intermittent fasting can be good for weight loss and have stress resistent effects.⁹ Restrict eating and fasting time per day as you choose (14 hour fast/10 hours no fast; 16 hour fast /8 hours no fast; 18 hour fast/6 hours no fast) if approved by your medical professional.

Supplement your immune health:

Take 4Life nutritional supplements according to your needs. The following 4Life products support immune wellness: RiteStart Women, RiteStart Men, 4Life Transfer Factor Plus Tri-Factor Formula, 4Life Transfer Factor Immune Boost, 4Life NanoFactor Glutamine Prime, and 4Life Transfer Factor Riovida Burst.*

7. How Do You Support Wellness?

Make small improvements to the key areas that shape your IR. Setbacks are one of life’s realities and part of our human experience. Even the best use of resilience strategy techniques won’t fully prevent emotional and physical discomfort. But the good news is that 4Life Research has provided a holistic approach with products that target key areas including nutrition, gut health, movement, sleep, stress, and well-being. These products can help reshape your IR and help support wellness.

Key Improvements to Supporting Wellness

Conclusion

A good understanding of IR will help you improve your health. You can make changes, improve the ways you cope with everyday stress, and support healthy aging!

There are effective stress-reduction techniques and products out there; the key is to find the right 4Life products to support your immune health. Your lifestyle also contributes to optimal well-being and includes factors like regular exercise, deep sleep, controlling your thought patterns, and having a positive mindset. Create opportunities to enjoy yourself, reduce overall stress, and strengthen your stress recovery to achieve better wellness.*

References:

1. Due, Verna E. "Report on the White House Conference on Aging." (1961). Proceedings from the Kirkpatrick Memorial Conference. Muncie, IN.
2. Immune resilience despite inflammatory stress promotes longevity and favorable health outcomes
3. Review of Functional and Pharmacological Activities of Berries
4. Medicinal and therapeutic properties of garlic, garlic essential oil, and garlic-based snack food
5. Garlic: A systematic review of the effects on cardiovascular diseases
6. A concise review of mushrooms antiviral and immunomodulatory properties
7. An Updated Comprehensive Review on Vitamin A and Carotenoids
8. Caffeine: How much is too much?
9.. Fasting Interventions for Stress, Anxiety