# You Build Your Autumn Immune System in August

> By the time the first colds arrive, it's too late for the fundamentals. Why your immune system needs weeks of lead time - and which nutrient stores you should be filling now.

Late summer is the time when nobody thinks about colds. Which is exactly why it's the most important month for your immune system. Because the defences that carry you through the first wave of viruses in October aren't built in October. They're built now.

## Why the Immune System Needs Lead Time

Your immune system isn't a switch - it's a storage system. Many of its tools depend on nutrient reserves that fill only slowly: vitamin D levels, for instance, decline steadily from September onwards, because at our latitudes the sun sits too low for meaningful synthesis in the skin. Start August with full stores, and you draw on them all autumn long. Start empty, and you spend the season chasing the curve.

The immune cells themselves have lead times too: T cells and B cells renew themselves over weeks, and the quality of that renewal depends directly on your supply of zinc, selenium, iron and protein. A deficiency today shows up as susceptibility to infection in six weeks.

## The Four Stores That Matter Now

**Vitamin D.** The single most important lever. In Switzerland, a large share of the population falls below recommended levels in winter. Soaking up sun now and supplementing from autumn onwards is the most effective combination - the evidence on reducing respiratory infections is remarkable.

**Zinc.** Central to the function of virtually every immune cell. The body has no real zinc store, so regular intake is what counts: meat, eggs, legumes, seeds.

**Gut flora.** Around 70 percent of your immune cells reside in the gut. Fibre and fermented foods are your defence system's training camp. Late summer, with its abundance of vegetables, is the easiest season of the year to build here.

**Sleep.** The underrated immune therapy. People who regularly sleep less than seven hours have a several-fold higher risk of catching a cold, studies show. The rhythm you establish now carries you through the winter.

## What to Do Now, Concretely

The formula is unspectacular: get outside every day while the sun still has strength. Five portions of vegetables and fruit in as many colours as possible. Legumes and fermented foods two to three times a week. Fixed bedtimes, weekends included. And targeted supplementation of the nutrients that are hard to cover reliably through diet alone.

For baseline coverage, we rely on [WOO® Vital Plus](/en/shop/woo-vital-plus-box) - a broad micronutrient profile from real food sources rather than isolated single vitamins.For the night and for recovery, zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 are the three nutrients that support sleep quality and immune function at the same time.

Autumn is coming, no question. Whether it catches you off guard is decided in the next few weeks.

## Quellen

Martineau AR et al. (2017), BMJ - Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Prather AA et al. (2015), Sleep - Behaviorally assessed sleep and susceptibility to the common cold.
Wessels I, Maywald M, Rink L (2017), Nutrients - Zinc as a gatekeeper of immune function.

*[WOO® Vital Plus](/en/shop/woo-vital-plus-box) - the micronutrient foundation in the NEMAPO Shop.*