Living in the Countryside Improves the Immune System

I recently came across a study providing an interesting new view on the increasing incidence of eczema, asthma and allergies in the developed world. In the paper, researchers explained that those born and raised on farms tended to exhibit reduced immune response to harmless factors.

Our body's natural defenses rely on regulatory T-lymphocytes to damp down and limit its response. When low numbers of such cells are available, the immune system overreacts to the slightest stimuli, even if no harm actually comes to the body.

This is the primary source of allergic diseases, a class of conditions whose incidence in those who were raised in the countryside, exposed to the elements, is minimal. Many experts today believe that allergies appear partially as a consequence of everything being too clean and disinfected.

I find that this explains why people who grew up on farms are so healthy with perfect elegance. I too played in the dirt, and got wounded as a child, and did not die on account of it. Parents nowadays pamper their children way too much, leaving the young one's immune system without any channel to vent.