On my rounds with the interns and residents, I stumbled across a stocky woman who was quite ill with raging diarrhea. Her name was Melanie, and she was running a fever and had abdominal pains that felt like she was being punched in the gut every 5 minutes. A burst of watery diarrhea would follow that. She was ill and had suffered these indignities for days.

Smell has a direct path to the brain. It plays a role in the taste of food, sexual attraction, and pleasure. It is said that humans have never appreciated the role of the sense of smell, which is just as crucial as other senses, such as taste, vision, hearing, and even disease detection. There is even data to suggest that we all smell at different ages.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to effortlessly look young as the years go by and others show more visible signs of immunosenescence? Since we know that everyone ages differently on the outside, it is logical to conclude that everyone ages differently on the inside, too.

New Year Resolutions are often ambitious promises about how to live longer that fade out by the end of January - no closer to learning how to boost immunity. Boosting the immune system is at the center of many new year goals. Some people hit the gym, go on diets, overdo Google searches to find the fountain of youth, but the simple truth is that age is relative for all of us. Aging depends on your individual immunosenescence. Immunosenescence is the gradual decline of our immune system that comes with age.

Getting sleep is important as part of a weak immune system treatment plan to boost immunity. About 35% of American adults report insufficient sleep, which is less than seven hours per night, according to the Sleep Foundation. Stress, overstimulation, and electronic devices interfere with healthy resting, but it is common to develop insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, narcolepsy, and even sleepwalking in extreme cases. Why is sleep a key ingredient in boosting immunity?