Boost Your Immune System Before Winter

 

By Cynthia Taylor

 

• How well do you stand up to winters onslaught?

• We are close to winter is your body prepared to be able to prevent the usual winter colds and flu?

 

Sometime common lifestyle habits contribute to you getting ill when winter takes it grip, infections such as colds, flu and chronic illnesses are usually much worse when the weather is unfriendly to us.

 

Does your lifestyle need a tune up? You need to look closely at what you eat to help you to be able to fight those winter-born infections.

 

By Replacing bad habits with good habits will help you to improve your overall health and boost your immune system to effectively fight off illness and remain healthy throughout winter.

 

How much exercise do you get a week?

 

Exercise is one of the best ways to kick-start a sluggish system, many people sit behind a desk the whole day with no exercise in between. It need not be high-powered cardiovascular exercise, a daily brisk walk of 30 minutes can do wonders to get everything moving. Just 30 minutes will increase the level of your leukocytes, this is an immune system cell the helps to fight infection. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risks of infections. Exercise also help you to sleep better which is necessary for health and healing.

 

You are what you eat

 

Food plays an important role in a person's health and eating too much of the wrong foods will play havoc with your ability to fight off infection and contribute to making your immune systems sluggish.

 

One of the biggest culprits is foods that are high in sugar and added sugar to drinks such as tea and coffee helps suppress the cells that are responsible for your immune system to fight bacteria. A 75-100 grams of a sugar solution such as a soda drink, has the effect of reducing the power of your white blood cells ability to destroy the bacteria in your body. Studies have shown that the effects can be seen only a few hours after the consumption of a drink high in sugar.

 

Overweight can be a contributing factor

Being overweight will place you at risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and that dreaded C (cancer). Excess fat cells cells can affect your immune system.

If you have a high number of cells that contain fat it will trigger the release of chemicals that are pro-inflammatory which in turn leads to chronic inflammation. This then attacks healthy cells and causes damage. If you are overweight your body will make less antibodies that fight off infection.

 

How much stress can you handle

 

Short terms of stress is healthy for the body and helps boost the immune system, but when it there is chronic stress then the body becomes highly vulnerable to illness. Too much stress releases a stream of cortisol and adrenaline and thus suppresses the immune system.

 

A good social life boosts the immune system

 

Isolation does not help your health, everyone needs strong relationships as well as a good social network, this is not only good for your health but also boosts the immune systems.

 

In studies done it was found that people who are socially connected to friends and family helps their body's immune system. Another study found that people who were isolated from society and were lonely found that the immune system was changed at cellular level. Loneliness also increases the level of stress in the body, thus weakening the immune system contributing to the inability to fight infection.

 

Essential vitamins and minerals to help fight infection

 

For the body to be able to fight infection it needs a strong immune system and having the best immune boosting properties increases the white cells that do a stirling job of fighting infection.

 

• Vitamin C a top immune fighter

• Vitamin E another good booster to the immune system

• Beta carotene increases infection fighting cells – orange coloured vegetables especially carrots are high in beta carotene

• Zinc increases the production of white cells

• Garlic a powerful immune booster

• Omega 3 fatty acids – fish and supplements

 

A good strategy to boost your immune system

 

• Stop smoking or cut back

• A diet that has low saturated fats, whole grains, plenty of fruit and vegetables

• Regular exercise

• Maintain a good weight

• Good blood pressure control

• Alcohol in moderation

• A good nights rest.

• And adopt a clean lifestyle, bath regularly and wash hands frequently.

 

Good healthy living is the key to keeping your immune system in good shape.