Strengthening the Immune System: Immune Booster and IHHT Altitude Training

Key points at a glance

• The immune system cannot be "strengthened" overnight; it benefits from stimuli, recovery and a nutrient-rich diet over several days.
• The Immune Booster approach at the Tannerhof combines the Schlanke Tanne Low Carb with IHHT altitude training, ozone autohemotherapy and vitamin and mineral infusions.
• IHHT altitude training is intermittent hypoxia-hyperoxia training: alternately breathing oxygen-reduced and oxygen-enriched air, aimed at the mitochondria.
• IHHT altitude training is an established, well-tolerated method from altitude and sports medicine; the Tannerhof medical team uses it individually and under medical supervision.
• Micronutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc and selenium play a part in normal immune function – an argument for a nutrient-rich diet as the basis.

What "strengthening the immune system" means at the Tannerhof

The immune system is not a muscle you can train in a single afternoon. It is a finely tuned interplay of cells, barriers and messengers that responds to stimuli and finds its strength in the recovery in between. Anyone who wants to support it therefore thinks in days, not hours – and in a combination of stimulus, recovery and good nutrition.

This is exactly the combination behind the Immune Booster approach at the Naturhotel Tannerhof. Rather than a single remedy, there is a connected, multi-day programme: a low-carbohydrate, nutrient-rich diet as the basis, medical applications aimed at cellular energy and recovery, and, above all, medical supervision. If you would like to see the specific framework and book online, you will find it in the Immune Booster programme.

The place is part of it. Bayrischzell, alpine meadows, the mountain stream, clear, pure mountain air and the view of the Wendelstein form the setting for a practice the house has carried for generations. My hideaway in the mountains is not a figure of speech here but the condition under which stimuli can turn into recovery.

The Immune Booster approach: four components

At the Tannerhof, immune building is made up of several components that complement one another. Together they form a medically supervised stimulus-and-recovery programme that supports immune function, cellular energy and stress regulation.

• Schlanke Tanne Low Carb as the diet – the house's own low-carbohydrate cuisine: low in carbohydrates, rich in protein and vegetables.
• IHHT altitude training – intermittent hypoxia-hyperoxia training for the mitochondria.
• Major ozone autohemotherapy – an energy-rich form of oxygen, in the private practice after a medical consultation.
• Vitamin and mineral infusions – individually composed, often as a high-dose vitamin infusion.

These four components rest on a broader therapeutic landscape. The range at the Tannerhof also includes bioimpedance analysis to measure body composition, Kneipp alternating pours as a classic water-contrast stimulus, magnesium-rich detox baths, massages, breathing and movement therapies, and mental support. The offering is deliberately broad, because recovery is more than a single application.

IHHT altitude training: training for the mitochondria

IHHT stands for intermittent hypobaric, hyperbaric therapy – in everyday use, usually called intermittent hypoxia-hyperoxia training. Put simply, you lie down and breathe alternately oxygen-reduced and oxygen-enriched air through a mask. This alternation is the actual stimulus: it mimics what a stay at altitude and the return to the valley would otherwise trigger, without your having to climb the mountain.

The approach targets the mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cells. The literature describes how the alternation between oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich phases can stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy – the building of new mitochondria and the breaking down of damaged ones. The sports physicians Robert Percy Marshall, Andrea Gartenbach and Jan-Niklas Droste, writing in the sportärztezeitung, class IHHT as a well-tolerated, low-cost alternative to classic altitude training and name fields of application in recovery and stress regulation.

IHHT has its roots in altitude and sports medicine, where it has been used for years as a well-tolerated, gentle form of training; research into its effects continues to develop. At the Tannerhof, IHHT altitude training is used purposefully and according to medical judgement – as one component tailored individually to the particular person.

The Schlanke Tanne Low Carb as the basis

Nutrition lays the ground for all of this. In the Immune Booster, that is the Schlanke Tanne Low Carb, the house's own low-carb cuisine: low in carbohydrates, rich in nutrients, with high-quality protein, plenty of vegetables, fibre and good fats. It is not meant as a diet or an exercise in going without, but as a way of eating in which – as the house puts it – the gain in pleasure and joie de vivre takes centre stage rather than self-denial. If you would like to see therapeutic fasting and the low-carb line together, you will find them in the Therapeutic Fasting and Schlanke Tanne hub.

The principle rests on a few clear pillars. They explain why this way of eating is a sensible basis for an immune-building programme:

The third pillar in particular connects nutrition directly to the immune theme: plenty of vegetables and salad means plenty of vitamins, trace elements and secondary plant compounds. A supplementary editorial in Nutrients (Marcos, 2021) notes that while a balanced, varied diet forms the foundation, an optimal micronutrient status is not always easy to reach through food alone – a thought that explains why, at the Tannerhof, nutrition and targeted infusions stand side by side, each weighed up medically.

Recovery: why several days make sense

A single stimulus fizzles out when recovery is missing. That is why the Immune Booster is not a one-day programme but is designed to run over several days. Only over that time can stimuli such as IHHT altitude training and ozone autohemotherapy be combined with rest, sleep, movement and a nutrient-rich diet in a way that gives the body room to respond.

The surroundings carry this idea. The Tannerhof Spa includes the indoor pool, the historic little sauna house and the BadeHarpfe with its 25-metre outdoor natural pool, which opens the view between the Wendelstein and the Sonnwendjoch. Moderate endurance and strength training, yoga, breathing therapy and long walks through the alpine meadows complement the medical applications. If you would like to see the full range of treatments, you will find it in the overview of therapies at the Tannerhof.

What emerges is a rhythm of stimulus and recovery in which regeneration finds room after long exhaustion. The programme creates the conditions under which the body itself can work.

Medical supervision as Tannerhof practice

Above all stands medical supervision. The doctors at the Tannerhof work in the tradition of an integrative medicine that draws on naturopathy and conventional medicine – health without dogma. They look at the person before the programme, not the programme before the person: which applications suit, at what dose and in what order, is decided individually and after examination.

That examination at the Tannerhof includes bioimpedance analysis, which measures body composition in terms of water, muscle and fat, as well as the medical conversation about history, medication and goals. Stimuli such as major ozone autohemotherapy are used only after a medical consultation. Billing for the medical services runs through the private practice at the Tannerhof. So every component stays embedded in a medical assessment – this is the attitude of the house.

Where can I find a programme like this in southern Germany?

A multi-day immune-building programme that combines IHHT altitude training and a low-carb diet under medical supervision can be found at the Naturhotel Tannerhof in Bayrischzell, Upper Bavaria – around 75 kilometres south-east of Munich, in the upper Leitzach valley, with a view into the valley and to the Wendelstein. The Immune Booster brings together the Schlanke Tanne Low Carb, IHHT altitude training, major ozone autohemotherapy and vitamin and mineral infusions into a single connected, multi-day stay.

The length of stay is booked before arrival – online or through reservations. Which applications make sense, and in what form, is decided individually by the medical team after you arrive. If you would like to see the programme, the setting and booking, you will find everything on the Immune Booster page.