2. Exercise

Although common sense suggests that exercise is good for you, very strenuous work-out can lead to suppression of natural killer cell function and a reduction in the number of lymphocytes in the blood. Moderate and regular exercise, on the hand, appears to have a much more positive effect, enhancing cell repair and antibody replenishment.

3. RELAXATION

The relationship between mental state and physical state is undisputed. The studies produced evidence that psychological factors are linked to several conditions including peptic ulcers, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and asthma. German scientists recorded how emotional disturbances could prompt the recurrence of the herpes simplex virus - cold sores.

So if you want to stay healthy, it’s important to take time out to relax. Just sit, breathe deeply, slowly and evenly. A Mediterranean diet and the tradition of siesta could be two of the reasons why men from countries such as Spain and Italy suffer fewer stress-related illnesses than their UK counterparts.

3. SLEEP

There is much anecdotal evidence that lack of sleep makes you more vulnerable to illness, but only recently have scientists been able to prove it. In a study sponsored by the American Institute of Mental Health, laboratory rats that normally slept for 40 to 50 per cent of the time were kept awake constantly for two weeks. The rats became septosemic - they developed potentially deadly levels of bacterial toxins in their blood - even though they were exposed to no more bacterial than usual.

Natural killer cells of healthy people are more active when they sleep - suggesting that sleep itself may help fight infection. Among men, insomnia, nightmares and the inability to switch off are common. Try lying in bed and concentrating on relaxing your body, muscle by muscle, from the toes up, breathing deeply and evenly as you do so.

Of course, this isn’t a cure-all for every disease, but to avoid being laid low by those conditions that are truly avoidable: eat well, sleep well, exercise and stay cool.

Notes:

jaded - изнуренный, измученный

tier - ряд

to trap - улавливать

dragnet - сеть (здесь)

acquired - приобретенный

to wipe out - уничтожить

fluid - жидкость

intruder - незваный гость

troops (pl.) - войска

suppression - подавление

vulnerable - уязвимый

2. Answer the questions:

1. Do the millions of germs inhabit the air we breathe and our food?

2. Did the immune system work well in the past?

3. How do scientists describe immunity?

4. Are we born with non-specific immunity?

5. What does the first tier include?

6. What can you say about the second tier - specific immunity?

7. What types of white blood cells constitute our specific immune system?

8. Is every man the builder of a temple called his body?

9. What is healthy food?

3. Complete the following sentences using suitable words from the box and translate them:

immunity to relax cells energy

effect nutrition nutrition

1. Researchers describe ____ as a “two-tiered filtering system” that rids the body of everything which isn’t a natural part of it.

2. The health of the majority of human beings depends more on their ___ than it does on any single factor.

3. Muscular ____ is depleted very rapidly if you don’t have the right ____ to back you up.

4. Moderate and regular exercise appears to have a much more positive ___.

5. If you want to stay healthy, it’s important to take time out ___.

6. Natural killer ___ of healthy people are more active when they sleep.