1. Hello, and welcome to this Essential Wellness Education presentation on Immune Support. Today we’re going to talk about a subject that gets a lot of attention during this season, but should really be something we think about year round. I’m talking about the health of our immune system: one of the most critical systems in our bodies.
IMMUNE SUPPORT

2. What Does the Immune System Do?
Let’s talk first about what the immune system does. The immune system is the body’s defense system. It is designed to protect against threats known as pathogens from outside the body such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses. This requires cellular machinery that allows the body to differentiate between foreign particles and “self.” When functioning normally, the immune system is able to identify, target, and destroy disease-causing pathogens without damaging native body tissues. The immune system also has the complex ability to improve its capacity to protect against disease by acquiring a memory of pathogens that have already been introduced into the body. In this way, the immune system is always increasing its ability to respond to environmental threats.

3. Immune
System
To perform its crucial functions, the immune system has diverse organs throughout the entire body. Some of the organs people are most familiar with are the tonsils and adenoids, lymph nodes, the thymus, spleen, and bone marrow. All of these organs support or produce the essential cell of the immune system: the white blood cell. The different types of white blood cells roam the body, making protection against pathogens possible. The immune system is one of the most critical systems in the body; without a healthy immune system, we cannot expect to enjoy long-term, whole-body wellness.

4. Factors of Immune Health
A number of factors contribute to immune health
Exercise
Feelings of stress
Nutrition
Essential oils*
Now that we have a better understanding of what the immune system is, what it does, the organs that comprise it, and its importance to our overall wellness, you’re probably asking, “What can I do to promote the health of my immune system?” At its core, promoting a healthy immune system is simple, but it may require you to be more conscientious of certain lifestyle choices. In fostering healthy immune function, exercise, stress management, proper nutrition, and supplementation with essential oils all play important roles.*
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

5. KEY POINT:
To best promote immune health, it is necessary to focus on multiple aspects of a healthy lifestyle.
This brings us to a key point. In order to best promote immune health, it’s important to live a healthy lifestyle. While following any of the tips in this presentation can help you maintain the health of your immune system, neglecting any major area of a healthy lifestyle will likely hinder your efforts to achieve your best immune health. For instance, if you improve your diet but don’t learn to manage feelings of stress, you’ll likely still find it difficult to achieve optimal immune health.

6. Exercise
You may have heard that exercise is important to maintaining the health of your immune system. It’s true. Research has shown that regular exercise, performed at a moderate level or higher, can help increase immune response. And for those of you who don’t feel like you have time to exercise regularly, recent research shows that short bursts of high-intensity activity three times a week can give you many of the same rewards enjoyed by longer, traditional workouts. To learn more about the science of high-intensity exercise, go to the dōTERRA Science blog. And if your challenge is consistency, just make sure you apply Deep Blue® products to the desired area after exercise. Or, try Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex® to sooth occasional aches and discomfort, just 1 capsule in the morning and evening.*

7. Stress Feelings of Stress
Stress limits the health of our immune system
Next, let’s talk about managing and reducing feelings of stress. How does stress factor into the health of our immune system? Stress increases levels of cortisol in our bodies. Cortisol is commonly known as the stress hormone; it helps the body deal with stress. But, just like all hormones, it has far-reaching effects throughout the body. One of the effects of cortisol is to depress the function of the immune system. When cortisol levels remain high for prolonged periods of time, this depressive effect on the immune system can leave our bodies vulnerable to infiltration and attack by harmful pathogens. Learning to manage and reduce feelings of stress can reduce cortisol levels and help our immune system flourish. While a number of different approaches can be used to effectively reduce feelings of stress, they often vary in effectiveness from person to person.

8. Stress
Many essential oils and blends such as Arborvitae, dōTERRA Balance®, Geranium, PastTense®, Patchouli, Sandalwood, and Vetiver are useful in grounding emotions. These oils can help reduce feelings of stress, which can help keep cortisol at a healthy level, thus supporting healthy immune function. When experiencing feelings of stress, massage PastTense into your temples or at the base of your neck. A blend of Patchouli, Sandalwood, and Vetiver can help when diffused aromatically. While inhaling a grounding fragrance, be sure to focus on your breathing and take long, deep, slow breaths. It can be especially useful to diffuse these oils or a blend such as dōTERRA Balance when you know there may be circumstances that will cause feelings of stress before you even begin to have those feelings. For instance, if you have a big meeting or presentation, diffuse dōTERRA Balance an hour before to help ground the emotions and diminish feelings of stress. If there’s a certain place where you feel stressed, such as in your car during rush hour, plan ahead and place a drop of dōTERRA Balance or PastTense on a car ornament to enjoy the grounding benefits as you drive. The opportunities to experience the emotionally grounding influence of essential oils are endless.
(TIP: Have the oils mentioned in this slide on hand to pass around the class so they can feel their grounding effect)

9. Sleep Inadequate sleep can decrease immune health
Inadequate sleep can also have an impact on immune health. Research has shown that inadequate sleep increases levels of cortisol in the body, just like stress can. Just like with feelings of stress, cortisol goes on to decrease immune health when elevated for a prolonged period of time.
For many though, developing good sleep habits can be excruciatingly difficult. Many different choices could help promote better sleep such as reducing exposure to blue light before sleep, not eating late at night, and avoiding strenuous exercise several hours before bed. dōTERRA also offers a number of natural products that help improve your sleeping routine.
Blends such as dōTERRA Balance®, dōTERRA Breathe®, and dōTERRA Serenity®, as well as single oils such as Clary Sage, Dill, Lavender, and Sandalwood promote feelings of calmness and can help create an ideal environment for achieving a good night’s rest when used aromatically. They can also be applied to the feet. Try placing a few drops on your blankets or pillows. Diffuse for 30 minutes before going to bed, or while going through your nightly routine. A few drops of Lavender in a cup of hot water makes a relaxing tea that may help you at bedtime.* If a loved one occasionally struggles to get a good night’s rest, consider applying a blend of Clary Sage and Sandalwood in a relaxing massage at bed time.
(Feel free to share personal experiences of using essential oils to help yourself or a loved one sleep.)
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

10. Nutrition
Now let’s turn our attention to another very important lifestyle factor: nutrition. Every function of the body benefits from proper nutrient intakes. Essential nutrients, including carbs, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, give the body the energy and materials it needs to carry out cellular functions and continue the production of key cells in the body. The immune system is no exception to this rule. By eating mostly whole, unprocessed foods as part of a balanced diet, we can help support our immune function. However, even with a well-balanced diet, getting proper nutrition can be difficult. For this reason, I recommend everyone use dōTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack® supplements on a daily basis.
Contained within the dōTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack are three products that can have a profound impact on immune health. First, Microplex VMz® provides a foundation for immune health with key vitamins and minerals in a revolutionary glycoprotein matrix that boosts bioavailability.* Alpha CRS®+ is formulated with potent levels of polyphenol antioxidants known to help support immune function.* And finally, xEO Mega® contains the crucial omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA that are deficient in the majority of western diets. Research has shown that healthy levels of omega-3 fatty acids support a healthy immune system among other things such as supporting cardiovascular health.*
Taking the dōTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack supplements is easy, just take two tablets of each formulation, Microplex VMz, Alpha CRS+ and xEO Mega, in the morning and the evening with meals. Taking these products with meals helps increase absorption of key nutrients. And remember, almost all bodily functions rely on proper nutrition, so the dōTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack is truly an indispensable part of wellness. As an added note, I recommend using doTERRA a2z Chewable™ and IQ Mega® supplements with children to promote lifelong wellness.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

11. dōTERRA PB Assist +
When speaking about nutrition, we often forget to address the importance of healthy gut microflora. Gut microflora is a term that refers to the trillions of friendly microorganisms that live within our digestive tract. Research has shown again and again that our gut microflora plays a larger role in overall health and wellness than we’d ever previously suspected! Surprising as it may be, healthy microflora may play an important role in maintaining a healthy immune system. Why is that? Gut microflora performs important functions in facilitating the breakdown and absorption of key nutrients within the digestive tract. A thriving gut ecosystem helps ensure better absorption of nutrients needed for the health of our immune system. Furthermore, when healthy colonies of friendly bacteria are present in the intestine, they help maintain a positive balance and proliferation of beneficial bacteria, while preventing the adherence and colonization of other “bad” microorganisms that can challenge our health and wellbeing. Without a thriving probiotic environment that fosters the growth of these microbiota, less-friendly microbes have free reign to stress the gastrointestinal tract.
dōTERRA PB Assist®+ is recommended for anyone considering the health of their gut microflora. dōTERRA PB Assist+ is a proprietary blend of six active strains of friendly probiotic microorganisms that support healthy colonies of friendly microflora in the gut.* Each of these proprietary strains has been demonstrated to have superior propensity for intestinal adhesion and colonization.* PB Assist+ employs a unique double-layer capsule delivery system that provides a short-chain FOS pre-biotic fiber in the outer capsule and a time-release inner capsule providing active probiotic cultures. These cultures (FOS, or fructooligosaccharides,) are indigestible fibers that are found in fruits and vegetables that have the ability to selectively promote the growth of friendly bacteria. Inside the outer capsule delivering the pre-biotic FOS is a small inner capsule with 6 billion CFU (Colony Forming Units) of six active strains of lacto- and bifido-probiotic cultures. The time-release inner capsule is designed to help protect the probiotic cultures from the harsh environment of the stomach, delivering the active benefits of the cultures to the site of adhesion in the intestinal tract. The combination of pre-biotic FOS and active probiotic cultures in a single delivery system represents a comprehensive intestinal flora support system that is safe and effective.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

12. Internal Use Safety
Finally, let’s talk about how essential oils can be used to support healthy immune function. A number of essential oils can be used to help support the immune system when taken internally. When used appropriately, internal usage of essential oils is a very powerful and effective route of application. Because of the way our bodies metabolize the compounds found in essential oils, it is safer and more effective in the internal use model to use smaller amounts of essential oil, spread over consistent time intervals, rather than a single, large application. For instance, rather than taking six drops of a given oil in a single, large application, it is safer and more effective to divide those six drops across two or three internal applications, separated by several hours in between.
Also, it is important to remember to exercise caution and practice sound principles of safety when the immune system is fighting off an invasion of any sort. Even though these instances seem like a good time to use huge amounts of oils, it is safer and still more effective to use smaller quantities of oils, even when in need of a boost. Just because our immune system is under attack doesn’t mean that our body can suddenly metabolize a larger amount of essential oil. A general rule of thumb: we should not use a greater quantity of essential oils when not feeling well than we would use on a daily basis in good health.
Now that we understand some of the principles of safety regarding internal use of essential oils, let’s talk about some single oils that can help support the health of our immune system.* Cassia, Cinnamon, Lime, Marjoram, Melaleuca, Oregano, Roman Chamomile, Tangerine, Thyme, Vetiver, and Wild Orange essential oils all help maintain and support the immune system when taken internally.* Taking them is simple, just add a few drops to a glass of water or other beverages, or place a few drops in a Veggie Cap. Some like to use the oils in a Veggie Cap when taking them internally because they’re not fond of the strong flavor of some of the oils.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

13. dōTERRA
On Guard
In addition to single oils that support immune function, dōTERRA offers a blend formulated specifically to support the immune system: dōTERRA On Guard®. dōTERRA On Guard, a proprietary essential oil blend, provides a natural and effective alternative for immune support.* As one of dōTERRA’s best-selling blends, dōTERRA On Guard protects against environmental and seasonal threats with essential oils known for their positive effects on the immune system.* dōTERRA On Guard can be taken internally on a daily basis to maintain healthy immune function. Just add a few drops of this oil blend to a Veggie Cap and take it, or add to water or a drink of your preference. For convenience, dōTERRA On Guard is also offered in a pre-made softgel. doTERRA On Guard+ Softgels combine the proprietary blend of doTERRA On Guard Protective Blend with Black Pepper, Oregano, and Melissa essential oils for additional immune support.* dōTERRA On Guard+ softgels are also a perfect opportunity to share oils with friends and family who might not like the taste of essential oils but could use an immune boost.
dōTERRA On Guard may be taken regularly but is especially helpful during occasions when the immune system may be working overtime to fight off threats from pathogens. It’s during those times that I make a special effort to take a couple drops of On Guard every 4-6 hours throughout the day.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

14. On The Go
Even with the convenient nature of dōTERRA On Guard®+ softgels, we might not always carry a whole bottle of dōTERRA On Guard+ softgels with us wherever we go. On the go, dōTERRA On Guard Beadlets represent the ultimate in portable, convenient immune support. Each beadlet contains ¼ drop of oil and can be taken wherever and whenever an immune boost is needed.* Just as convenient, and fun to use, are dōTERRA On Guard Protecting Throat Drops. These throat drops feature all the immune-supporting qualities of dōTERRA On Guard essential oil blend and are easy to pack into backpacks, purses, and briefcases for a delicious immune booster without any mess.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

15. Recap: The immune system battles infection to keep us healthy
Numerous factors contribute to immune health
Exercise
Feelings of stress
Nutrition
Essential oils*
So let’s recap what we’ve learned today. First, we learned that the immune system is a diverse system with organs spread throughout the body. Its primary function is to defend the body against attacks by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The immune system benefits from a number of lifestyle factors in maintaining its optimal function, namely regular exercise, managing feelings of stress, adequate sleep and nutrition, and the use of certain essential oils.*
Thanks for taking the time today to learn more about how to support your immune system through a healthy lifestyle and by using the wonderful products offered by dōTERRA. I hope you’ll use the links on this page to further familiarize yourself with the products we talked about and download this presentation to share with others. Good luck in maintaining and improving your immune health!
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.