Is Your Immune System Quietly Burning Out? Read This Before the Holidays Hit

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By Jennifer Tardy

You know the feeling…

You’re exhausted but wired.
Your throat feels scratchy, but a full-blown cold never arrives.
You drag through the day — yet your labs come back “normal.”

It’s not in your head, and it’s not always “just a virus.”
This is what many practitioners call immune depletion — the stage before illness, when your body is working harder than you realize.

What’s Likely Happening Inside Your Body

From a functional nutrition perspective, your immune system doesn’t suddenly fail. It responds to your total stress load (also called allostatic load), which builds up from:

  • Emotional stress

  • Poor sleep

  • Blood sugar swings

  • Highly processed foods

  • Environmental toxins

  • Hormonal shifts

  • Chronic inflammation

  • Holiday overwhelm

When stress stays high for too long, the body shifts into conservation mode:

  • Cortisol remains elevated

  • Mucosal immunity (IgA) can weaken

  • Natural killer cell activity may decline

  • Gut barrier function may become more permeable

  • Inflammation can rise

You aren’t sick yet — but your defenses may be more vulnerable.

Why This Matters During the Holidays

This is often the internal environment where people experience:

  • Lingering post-viral fatigue

  • Reactivated viruses such as Epstein-Barr

  • Shingles

  • Autoimmune flares

  • Digestive issues

Your immune system doesn’t only need supplements — it needs signals of safety and recovery so it can repair itself.

A Simple 2–5 Minute Daily Reset

This short routine helps interrupt the stress–immunity feedback loop.

1) Nervous system cue (3–5 minutes)
Try humming, 4-7-8 breathing, or gently splashing cool water on your face.

2) Sensory anchor
Pick one song you only use during this reset to help your body associate it with calm.

3) Blood sugar stabilizer
Choose a protein + fat + fiber snack, such as:

  • Boiled egg + olives + carrots

  • Bone broth protein smoothie

  • Almonds + berries

Setting a 3 p.m. timer can help make this a daily habit.

Tool of the Week: The “Physiological Sigh”

This technique is one of the fastest research-backed ways to calm the nervous system.

How to do it:

  • Inhale slowly through your nose

  • Take a quick second sip of air at the top

  • Exhale slowly through your mouth

  • Repeat 3–5 times

Why it helps:

  • Lowers stress hormones

  • Improves oxygen–carbon dioxide balance

  • Signals safety to the brain

  • Supports immune resilience

A Note on Supplements

Immune-support blends can be helpful, but they aren’t a replacement for sleep, nutrition, and stress regulation. If you choose a supplement, look for one that supports:

  • Gut and mucosal immunity

  • Balanced (not overstimulated) immune response

  • Antioxidant and antiviral botanical support

Always check with a qualified healthcare provider before starting new supplements.

When to Pay Attention

If you’re:

  • Getting sick more often

  • Taking longer to recover

  • Feeling run down for weeks

  • Unable to bounce back like you used to

…it may be time to look deeper at what your body is asking for.

The goal isn’t perfection — it’s resilience.

Jennifer is a IPHM, Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Integrative Health Coach and a Personal Trainer. Eating for Healing Nutrition and Wellness transforms lives through the power of holistic nutrition.

She can be reached at 803-556-2593. Her website is www.eatingforhealing.org.

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