If you’re reading this, chances are you are looking to avoid catching coronavirus (COVID-19) or other illnesses such as the flu or the common cold. Take every piece of advice here with a grain of salt and see our disclaimer at the bottom of this article.
How to Keep Your Immune System Functioning Properly:
Get Adequate Sleep
Sleep is an important time for your body to rest, repair, and detoxify. Getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep will give your body more time to produce infection fighting antibodies. Have a hard time getting sack time? Here are some tips to fall asleep.
Eat Healthy
A general rule of thumb is to eat more whole foods (or foods in their original form) vs highly processed foods. And of course, avoid most snack foods and drink that are loaded with excess salt and sugar. Getting the proper nutrients insures that you’re giving your body all the tools it needs to keep your body and immune system running at top capacity. It may be tempting to order takeout or delivery during your time at home, but try to cook more often or blend up a smoothie with fruits and veggies.
Immune Supporting Supplements
If you see news about a supplement treating or preventing COVID-19, it’s either completely untrue or at least not properly tested. Taking a vitamin supplement won’t help you unless you’re already deficient in that nutrient. However, some supplements have shown promise supporting immune system function and may be worth looking into such as probiotics, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, oregano oil, elderberry, echinacea, and garlic. If you decide to give any of these a try, make sure you buy high-quality supplements (being 3rd party tested by NSF, USP or ConsumerLab is a good sign). In general, more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of supplements.
Stay Hydrated
60% of your body is water, so obviously getting properly hydrated is key to good health. Staying hydrated helps the general function of our bodies as well as flushing out illness causing toxins. If you feel thirsty, chances are you’re already dehydrated. And sometimes when you think you’re hungry, it’s actually your body’s signal that you need more water. Use this urine color chart to get a general idea if you’re hydrated enough.
Lower Your Stress Levels
The stress hormone corticosteroid can inhibit the effectiveness of your immune system, reducing the number of lymphocytes (disease fighting cells) you produce. It can be hard to reduce your stress at a time like this, especially if you’re feeling any symptoms of illness. Have an attitude that even if you get sick, you’re going to beat it no problem. Worrying about the pandemic isn’t going to help one bit. This may be a good time to cut back on your news consumption. Certainly stay informed (especially of new national, state, and local guidelines), but only to the degree you need to and can psychologically handle. Keeping tabs on the death or infection count isn’t going to benefit you on a personal level. Remember that, this too shall pass. Here are some great tips for reducing stress.
Avoid Unhealthy Habits
There’s no time like the present crisis to try quitting smoking. Cilia are one of the first parts of your lungs to heal after quitting. These are like tiny hairs and can help you clear out mucus (which traps the virus). Quitting smoking in particular can be tricky since it’s both a physical and psychological addiction. And if it helps, you can tell yourself that quitting is only temporary while this pandemic is still happening. Here are some tips to quit smoking.
Get Vaccines and Flu Shots
Vaccines expose your immune system to deactivated, weakened, or altered versions of pathogens. A flu shot can protect you from a disease that causes 10s of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations in the US every year.
Keep Warm
There are several reasons we’re more likely to get sick during the winter months. When our extremities are cold, we produce fewer disease fighting white blood cells. Also, when we breathe in the cool dry winter air, our mucous membranes dry out, making us more susceptible to foreign invaders. A study has been done showing that the common cold virus can multiply better in cool nasal cavities. And while the weather is still wintry in Nevada and other parts of the country, consider keeping your house temperature warm and use a humidifier.
Exercise
During a time such as this, it’s best to practice moderate exercise (training not to the point of exhaustion) rather than completely exhausting our bodies. It’s theorized that intense exercise can temporarily weaken immune function while the body repairs itself, leaving a window where an infection can take hold. Moderate exercise is beneficial to general health and circulation. Exercise helps activate the flow of lymph (lymph doesn’t have a pump like the blood has the heart to pump it). It allows your body to transport toxins and infected cells to our lymph nodes, where they are destroyed by lymphocytes. Exercise is also a great stress reducer, which as mentioned above, is great for immunity.
Get Sun
Vitamin D aids in the production of antibacterial peptides, which can help you fight off infection. Our skin manufactures vitamin D when exposed to UVB rays from the sun. You can also get vitamin D in the form of a D3 supplement or by eating fish. How much direct sunlight you need is dependent on where you live and how much melanin is in your skin. In general, exposing your arms or legs for 5 to 15 minutes is sufficient. People with darker skin tones require more direct exposure, perhaps up to 30 minutes. People at higher elevations (like Nevada) require less sun due to the more powerful rays. If you’re getting a sunburn, you’re definitely getting too much sun.
Don’t Be a Germaphobe
Just like a vaccine exposes your system to pathogens, exposing yourself to small amounts of germs can give your body practice in fighting off a variety of pathogens. Not giving your immune system this training, a drawback to being “overly clean”. If your immune system doesn’t get exposed to a variety of germs, you may be less able to fight off large amounts of germs when they attack you. So maybe eating that chip you dropped on the floor isn’t so gross after all. Even kissing another person can be a great way to expose you to all sorts of new germs. Though, be cautious if you think someone may be infected with COVID-19 or another illness.
Have Good Health Insurance
This won’t boost your immunity, but if you do happen to get sick, you want to make sure you’re prepared with good insurance to help you foot the bill. As of 4/6/20 there is no special enrollment period announced for healthcare.gov, however through Nevada Health Link there is a special enrollment period that runs through April 15th, 2020. A and H specializes in health insurance & benefits packages through employers, but we also can insure individuals if you’ve had a “qualifying event” (like loss insurance through job loss or divorce) in the last 30 days. If you’re interested, give us a call at 775-829-2600 or submit your information into the quote request form on the right of this page.
How do you stay healthy and disease free? Let us know on Facebook. This blog is comprised of information from a wide variety of sources and studies. If you see any information you believe to be incorrect or misinterpreted, please provide a link to a reputable source in your Facebook comment so that we can fix it.
DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or health provider.
