Let me begin just by saying that most people think the immune system is only the white blood cells defending you from external threats and invaders. And indeed, that is true, but actually, it’s more than that.
Actually, the immune system comprises of many of your body’s systems.
One of the examples of systems that are key and really important to your immune system is your skin because it acts as a barrier, and it prevents germs and bacteria from getting in. So, even your skin and body surface is a part of your immune system.
That’s why we keep emphasizing having to clean everything with soap.
Washing your hands with soap and water, making sure that you’re not hugging and being in close contact with other people is important because that is how germs and bacteria get into your body, and we want to prevent that with your immune system.
It's really quite interesting because most people are not aware that you actually have a microbiome on your skin to protect your skin and give it a healthy immune response.
If you wash your hands too often - which is a good practice - it can have consequences.
On one hand, especially the use of alcohol can dry your skin. So, if you are washing your hands quite frequently, make sure you use moisturizers that are water-based. Otherwise, they can crack. That’s number one.
Number two is that if you keep washing... We’re not talking about one or two or three days; we’re talking about months if this thing continues forward... Then the alcohol in these disinfectants can accumulate in the liver, and they can be quite toxic.
So, soap and water as you say, Dr. Jeremy, is the right way to go.
Then make sure you get foam. The reason is you have to make foam - and that’s why the 20 seconds is critical - is that if you don’t foam, you don’t really breakdown the fat layers of these proteins of all the pathogens that are going to be around you.
So, any soap would work. You just make sure you’re not just washing like this, rubbing your hands palm to palm. You have to go in between the fingers and make sure you get your thumb.
So, there’s a lot of good ways to make sure you do 20 seconds.
The soap, what it does is actually pull apart the ions on the bacteria, on the virus, and so you need the 20 seconds to actually pull apart those cell walls.
On average, people touch their faces at least twice every five minutes.
Imagine you’re touching things and then you’re touching yourself, and that’s how you can transmit a lot of these things to yourself.
So, that’s why building your immune system is important, and I love that you talked about the microbiome because where else is your microbiome found?
In your gut.
Your gut is a big part of your immune system. It secretes acids to help digest food, but it also breaks down and destroys unwanted guests. Any of those foreign bodies that come in.
So while your immune system does consist of the white blood cells, antibodies, eosinophil, basophils, and everything else, it also has the gut. In your small intestine, there are things called Peyer’s patches which actually produce a lot of the antibodies to things that it comes into contact with. So a lot of your immune cells concentrate in your gut.
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