Benefits of Collagen for the Immune System
When you hear the word collagen, most likely, you think of beauty products that smooth your skin, maintain your hair’s beauty and help grow your nails long and strong.
Those are some powerful benefits for sure, especially for anyone trying to fight the signs of aging and maintain a youthful appearance.
However, collagen does not just improve your looks. You might not hear as much about it, but collagen offers some serious health benefits too.
After all, collagen is more than just a beauty treatment; it is essentially the glue that holds everything together and working as it should--this includes much more than your skin, hair, and nails.
When you discover how collagen can benefit your body and especially your immune system, you may consider making it part of your daily routine.
Why Do You Need Collagen?
Because it is the glue in your body, collagen is a substance your body makes naturally.
So, why would you need to take a collagen supplement?
When you are young, most people find that their body makes plenty of collagen. However, around the time you turn 35, the production of collagen in your body will naturally slow down.
Eventually, collagen starts depleting faster than you are able to produce it on your own. When most people are around age 60 or so, over half of the collagen in their system has been depleted.
Other factors can play into depletion of collagen too, including sun exposure, pollution, smoking and nutritional deficiencies, so some people experience a slowdown even faster.
Supplementing the body’s natural stores with extra collagen will help make up for your body can’t make on its own.
Benefits of Collagen on Your Immune System
Repair a Leaky Gut - Did you know that a vast majority of your body’s immune system is located throughout your digestive system including the stomach, intestines and other areas?
Having a leaky gut means that infections and toxins that would normally pass safely from your body will instead transfer from your intestine directly into your bloodstream.
This leaky gut can cause inflammation, fatigue and even lead to autoimmune diseases.
Many people who have received a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease may find that if they can resolve their leaky gut that they have fewer symptoms of their disorder.
Collagen helps improve a leaky gut by sealing leaks and promoting tissue growth in the walls of the intestine.
Plus, it helps support overall cellular health throughout the body.
Improves Joint Health - Many people who are facing issues with their immune system may suffer from moderate to severe joint pain.
Plus, joints can become stiff, tired and achy just as a result of ageing.
Some forms of arthritis are actually autoimmune diseases.
One of the most noticeable benefits of collagen occurs as it works with the body’s joints.
Because collagen contains two specific amino acids that support joint health and mobility (glycine and proline), it can provide considerable benefits to those people who suffer from joint pain, whether it is from an autoimmune disorder or not.
Weight Management - While many people consider their weight strictly from how it makes them look, keeping at a healthy weight is one of the best ways to stay well and healthy.
In fact, those people who maintain a healthy weight are less likely to suffer from general problems with their immune system.
Those who have sufficient collagen will find it easier to maintain their weight because the body will more easily turn calories and fat into muscle.
Lack of collagen is one reason (among many) that it becomes more difficult to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight as a person ages.
Improves Detoxification and Helps the Liver - As mentioned before, toxins in the body can wreak havoc on the immune system.
The liver is one of the key players in keeping the body free of toxins.
That’s why drinking alcohol can harm the liver--massive amounts of alcohol are a toxin that the liver has to work to remove.
A sufficient amount of collagen in the body will help the liver to do its job in removing toxins from the body naturally, improving immunity as a positive side effect.
Aids in Sleep - There has been much talk that one of the amino acids found in collagen (glycine) can help support a calm and restful sleep.
Although it may be obvious, it bears repeating that when you can get plenty of restful sleep at night, your body is able to work at repairing itself and fighting off disease.
Many older people find it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep at night--lack of glycine from collagen could be a factor in this.
A good night’s sleep is vital to staying well, so taking a collagen supplement may factor into this.
With all of the benefits that collagen can bring you, including those boosts to your immune system, it might be time to investigate adding this to your health and beauty routine.
The two most common ways to take collagen are to either take a daily supplement or use a powder that you can add to a smoothie.
It’s also worth noting that Vitamin C enhances the synthesis of collagen and so it is recommended to take both supplements together.
Both of these are easy to implement, with just a little effort on your part.
When you take collagen daily, you are sure to notice many positive effects on your immune system, as well as your overall health and appearance.
