Prevent Sickness This Fall🍁

Getting sick certainly puts a damper on the path to achieving your fitness and health goals. Health is our greatest resource in life and staying healthy this fall is as important as ever. With the cold and flu season now approaching, it is important to keep our immune systems healthy and on the defensive. Following are some strategies to boost your immune system. We’ll start with health practices that you are already familiar with such as:

• Sleeping well.

• Exercising regularly.

• Eating a nutritionally sound diet.

  Readily engaging in these three physical practices is fundamental to overall health and wellbeing and so it should be no surprise that all three have a direct impact on the immune system, and in turn your likelihood of coming down with a cold or flu. We will then consider some mental strategies that promote a healthy immunity, which are often overlooked, but nonetheless important to our overall health as well.

Adequate Sleep

Sleep deprivation suppresses immune system function and makes you more likely to catch a cold or flu. As well, sleep loss negatively influences how we recover from illnesses once we come down with them. Getting adequate sleep (usually 7 to 9 hours for an adult) is vital in maintaining a healthy immune system. Restful, restorative sleep, helps boost your immune system and regulates the release of infection-fighting immune cells, hormones, and proteins.

Regular Exercise

Many studies have documented the benefits of regular exercise on the immune system. Physical activity increases heart rate, which circulates white blood cells and antibodies (the body’s defense cells and proteins) through the body at a quicker rate. As they circulate more rapidly, antibodies and white blood cells can detect invading bacteria or viruses sooner and activate immune responses more quickly. Exercise may also help by reducing the chance of infection from airborne illnesses (including the cold and flu) by flushing bacteria out from the lungs. Additionally, our immune system operates more optimally at a temperature a few degrees above the average body temperature (which is why we get a fever when we’re sick). The temporary rise in body temperature caused by exercise may provide the same brief boost to our immune systems that we get with a fever. Physical activity also reduces the release of stress-related hormones. Stress increases the likelihood of illness. Taking a daily walk or following a simple exercise routine a few times a week is enough to give your immune system that regular boost it needs. The point is to be active. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but if you enjoy the activity, that’s even better.

Healthy Diet

What you eat influences your immune system considerably. I could write an entire article alone on this topic as there is a plethora of information out there. For this blog, I’ll keep it to a couple of immune-boosting tips that you will want to consider this winter and all year round. Eating probiotics, which are found in some yogurts (check the label) and other dairy products, drinks, cereals, and energy bars, promotes a healthy immune system. Probiotics are “good” bacteria that help reduce inflammation and prevent infection. They may also reduce the severity of a cold or flu. There are also other health benefits to probiotics beyond maintaining a healthy immunity, such as aiding in regular digestion. These “good” bacteria are essential to maintaining overall health and there are trillions of them living in your body right now. Make sure the probiotic foods you buy contain “live active cultures”. Probiotics are also available in eating loads of brightly coloured vegetables and fruits that contain immune-boosting vitamins and minerals. Consuming vitamin C, found in high abundance in citrus fruits, promotes immune function due to its antioxidant activity, and anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties. Again, there are so many vitamins and minerals to talk about that I can go on for days. The important thing to note is that you can gain all the nutrients you need from what you eat. Stick to natural, whole, and unprocessed foods. Eat a healthy, balanced diet with a wide variety of foods in good moderation. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

Get The Flu Shot

Getting your annual flu shot is probably the most effective way to protect you from the flu virus. The vaccination exposes your immune system to weakened or dead versions of the virus strains. This builds antibodies and teaches your immune system to react and eliminate the real virus much more quickly if it is encountered.

Think Positively

So far we have talked about physical strategies to promote your immunity, such as getting adequate sleep, being active, eating right, and getting the flu shot. Other powerful strategies from a psychological approach that should not be overlooked include your mental processes.A positive outlook could make a difference in your susceptibility to becoming ill. In a study at Carnegie Mellon University, participants who rated themselves as less happy, lively, and calm were approximately three times more likely to become sick when exposed to a cold virus than those who rated themselves higher on those measures. This study suggests that happier people are less likely to develop colds.

Believe You Are in Control of Your Health

You can view your likelihood of catching a cold or flu this winter as a product of chance and being at the mercy of the microscopic germ world, or you can take another perspective. You can choose to believe that you are in control of your health, and also your likelihood of becoming ill. This second perspective is also known as possessing an internal health locus of control. It is associated with various health benefits and a lower susceptibility to becoming ill. It is possible that holding this viewpoint directly increases immune functioning, but it is more likely that people with an internal health locus of control engage in active steps to prevent illnesses, such as getting regular check-ups, participating in health screenings, and other healthy behaviours. If you believe that control over illness is in your hands, you may be more likely to engage in health practices that promote your immune system, like those already discussed in this blog. Perceiving to be in control of our health, whether it is true or not, appears to reduce the risk of becoming ill over our lifetime.

Written By: A Wasser