Make sure your immune system stays in good condition by following these tips.
- Berries are the best antioxidants
Full of antioxidants, berries of all kinds are excellent for promoting healthy immune response. Put a handful with your cereal for breakfast, snack on them throughout the day, or add them to a smoothie.
Fancy a berry good breakfast?
- Beat cold and flu symptoms
That old wive’s tale about catching a cold if you get wet in the rain isn’t exactly true – you’re not more likely to catch a cold but a dormant cold virus in your body may flourish in the time your body temperature is a bit lower, leading to a full-blown cold. Keeping your body at normal temperature will allow your immune system to fight off illness.
- Try to avoid insomnia
Like exercise, restful sleep is absolutely essential for your health. When you sleep certain protective cytokines in your body increase in levels, and inflammatory cells decline, which means that less sleep could result in a deprived immune system.
- Holiday in the sunshine
You need vitamin d for a strong immune system and sunshine is the best way to get it. Just 15 minutes of skin exposure is all that’s needed per day.
- The health benefits of garlic
Good for scaring off vampires and with it any colds and flu or other viruses that might be going around. If you don’t like the taste, go for capsules instead, which will have the same effect.
- Aerobic exercise boosts your immune system
Researchers from the University of North Carolina, USA, found that people who were active and fit were less likely to suffer with illnesses during the winter months. What’s more, when they did have a cold or some other illness, they had fewer symptoms that were less severe.
- Laughter is the best medicine
Laughing gets your heart racing to nearly the same levels as when you exercise and that helps keep your body in good shape. But laughter also helps you de-stress and stress is a major factor in reducing your immune response. So watch a funny film, go to a comedy show or spend the afternoon with some kids – they tend to laugh more often than adults, and it’s contagious!