During these challenging and unsettling times, it is vital to keep your immune system strong and healthy to fight any germs or viruses off and keep your body safe.
In This Section
Here are a few simple yet effective ways to boost your immune system;
Physical Wellbeing:
- Be Active: Go for walks, runs and mini workouts, try yoga. Try and take time out of your day to focus on being active to release the positive endorphins in your body. You will automatically feel so much better after being active.
- Maintain a healthy and well-balanced diet: Avoid sugary foods and focus on fitting protein, fruit and veg into your meals. Eating healthy foods and getting your 5 a day will strengthen your body as a whole. You are rewarding your body by providing the correct vitamins and nutrients into your body as this will strengthen your immune system and help fight off infections.
- Herbal Supplements/vitamins: Ensure you are getting a daily intake of vitamins and herbal supplements to strengthen the immune system. For example, Vitamin C and Vitamin D are known to help your body fight off infections and flu. Herbal teas such as Green tea, Lemon tea and Chamomile tea provide vitamin and mineral supplements that are necessary nutrients for a strong immune system.
- Hydrate: You must keep your body hydrated throughout the day by drinking at least 2ltres of water a day. Drinking water removes all the negative toxins from your body preventing the toxins from building up and attacking your immune system. Water also helps carry oxygen to your body cells.
- Fresh Air: Fresh air provides the immune system of the body with oxygen to minimise infections. Fresh air improves your lungs and cleanses them by releasing airborne toxins. Fresh air can increase the positive endorphins in the body therefore, resulting in an increased positive mood. It also provides greater brain functioning and gives you more energy.
Mental Wellbeing:
- Sleep patterns: It is vital that you get into a sleep pattern/routine so that your body adjusts to it and you get the recommended hours (8 hours) a night. Sleep allows your body to respond to your immune system and strengthen it, making it stronger to fight germs. If you are not getting enough sleep this can also cause stress which leads to the immune system breaking down even further. Therefore, it is vital that you get enough sleep to ensure your mental and physical state stays strong.
- Managing stress: when your body feels that it is under stress/anxiety it can overwhelm and weaken the immune system. It is important to manage your stress levels and, by doing so, your immune system can stay strong. There are many ways to manage stress, for example, get enough sleep, introduce meditation into your life and practice mindfulness. Exercising for 30 minutes can lower stress hormones.
- Laughter is the best medicine: Laughter is natural medicine that boosts your immune system and decreases your stress levels and helps your body relax. Laughter throughout the day helps strengthen the immune cells and helps fight negative antibodies. There are various ways of getting your feel-good hormones working. For example, watch a funny movie, read a funny book, play games, call family or friends and reminisce on good memories.
Home Hygiene:
- Cleaning: Cleaning your home environment can prevent you from breathing in any bad germs/toxins that can damage the immune system. It is crucial that you wipe down all surfaces/bathrooms/bedrooms and places that germs gather. You can use simple household products like bleach and hot water. You can create a cleaning schedule to make it fun for example Bedroom Mondays, Toilet Tuesdays etc.