Is your immune system ready for winter?
Our immune system is amazing, it’s made up of cells, tissues, and organs all working together to help keep our bodies in tip-top condition. It’s the body’s defence against illness and works by destroying any unfamiliar cells and pathogens – so maintaining the health of your immune system is important, especially with Winter just around the corner.
How can I support my immune system?
Filling your plate with greens, grains, and healthy fats can help support the body’s immune defences and help keep you healthy. Maintaining a varied, balanced diet is the first step to great immune system health – the food we eat every day contains nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are essential for keeping us up and running.
Think about vitamin C
Protecting your cells is important when it comes to a healthy immune system, and vitamin C is great for helping to do just that. Foods such as oranges – or orange juice – red peppers, broccoli, potatoes, and spinach are all good sources of vitamin C, which also helps to maintain healthy skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage.
A vitamin C supplement can help boost your daily intake if you feel you’re not getting your five-plus a day. Vitamin C can’t be stored in the body, so it’s safe to take a supplement every day – but no more than 1,000 milligrams.
Are you getting enough vitamin D?
Helping to keep your bones, muscles, and teeth healthy by regulating the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the body, vitamin D is also great for supporting our immune systems. The main source of vitamin D is sunlight, and with the sun still shining– now is the perfect time to make sure you are getting the right daily dose of the sunshine vitamin.
It’s difficult to get enough of your daily recommended amount of vitamin D from food, but you can find small amounts in oily fish, red meat, egg yolks, and mushrooms.
Supplement support
Eating a balanced diet should provide you with the vitamins you need. But if you can’t get hold of food with essential nutrients or don’t get enough in your diet, taking a multivitamin or mineral supplement may be a good idea if you feel you’re lacking vitamins from your diet.
A good night’s sleep
It’s not just food that’s great for the immune system. Giving your body the rest it needs to reboot the body and mind is one of the essential ways to help keep your immune system healthy. A lack of sleep can increase stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline which also stresses your immune system at the same time!
Work it out
Whether it’s a walk or a workout to start the day or some gentle yoga in the afternoon, exercising regularly once a day can have a positive effect on your general health and well-being. It also helps maintain the way the immune system works.
Wash your hands
It’s important that you wash your hands thoroughly, remembering not to touch your mouth, eyes, and face with unwashed hands. Keep a bottle of hand sanitiser with you when you’re out and about.