You eat a good diet with no sugar, take your supplements and probiotics, get enough sleep, and avoid toxins, but you’re still getting colds. What gives?

Well you may be neglecting a crucial factor: exercise. Exercise is critical to the proper functioning of part of your immune system, the lymphatic system.

You probably haven’t given much thought to your lymphatic system. Most people don’t even know exactly what it is.

The lymphatic system is a network of vessels similar to the network of veins and arteries that make up the circulatory system, however its vessels carry a fluid called lymph. Like blood, lymph delivers oxygen and nutrients to tissues and cells, but the lymph vessels function primarily as the body’s drainage system. Waste products from cells and tissues are drawn into the lymph, which the lymph vessels carry to various “lymph nodes.” Here, immune cells destroy foreign particles, including infectious organisms like bacteria and viruses as well as environmental toxins and cellular debris.

Unlike blood, which is pumped through its vessels by the heart, lymph is propelled by the movement of muscles and lungs. When we walk, run, jump and perform other movements using our large muscles and breathing deeply, we pump lymph through our bodies. Without movement, the lymph becomes stagnant, and toxic wastes accumulate, like they would in your home if all your drains got clogged!

As you can imagine, these toxic accumulations have unpleasant consequences: edema (swelling), inflammation, pain, DNA mutations, an inability to ward off infections, and a whole range of diseases.

All but neglected by allopathic medicine, the lymphatic system is considered central by natural healers, who often recommend daily rebounding as the ultimate exercise for supporting lymphatic function. In rebounding, a hydraulic pressure is created by going from a state of weightlessness at the top of the bounce to landing at twice the force of gravity at the bottom. This propels lymph forward, while one-way valves in the vessels prevent it from moving back. Clogs are prevented, and there is an easy and efficient flow of toxins out of your body.

Natural healers have used rebounding and other lymphatic drainage techniques, especially massage, to treat arthritis and other pain syndromes, respiratory problems including pneumonia and chronic sinus infections, autoimmune illnesses, digestive issues, endocrine imbalances, candida and other infections, neurological problems and more. Improved eyesight and hearing have even been reported.