With the winds of winter blowing, staying healthy is harder. There’s less sunlight that nourishes your body with vitamin D and everyone is indoors with the windows closed. That close proximity can help spread bugs quickly. One of the top ways to avoid it is to make sure you wash your hands frequently and use hand sterilizer. Don’t forget to use it after using public bathrooms (plus washing your hands) or in areas where you’re touching items handled by others, such as after shopping.
Stick to a healthy diet.
Throw in lots of seasonal citrus fruit to boost your vitamin C. Spice up your food with cayenne pepper, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, rosemary, licorice, oregano and thyme, all of which give your immune system a boost. Get some healthy fat in your diet with avocados, coconut oil and butter from grass fed cows. Maitake and Shiitake mushrooms also give your immune system quite a boost.
Get plenty of exercise.
While it will make you tired, it’s a good tired and exercise also gives your immune system by stimulating the brain to create more antioxidants while you’re doing it. The side effect is the production of the antioxidants doesn’t stop when you stop. In our warmer weather, you can spend one day exercising outdoors and getting fresh air. Not only will your body be stronger, more flexible and more resistant to disease, you’ll have more energy too.
Get adequate sleep.
You need to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night to ensure you stay healthy. While lack of sleep is shown to affect the heart, it also affects the immune system and makes you more susceptible to disease. Overworking, whether it’s physical or mental, without giving your body a chance to recoup is asking for problems with your health. It’s one reason to make sure you don’t overwork yourself at the gym, doing hours on end seven days a week.
- Avoid stress. That’s easier to say than it is to do. Exercise will burn off stress hormones, but learning to relax with yoga or deep breathing exercises also helps.
- Supplement with vitamin D. If you’re seldom outside, particularly during the winter months, a little extra vitamin D won’t hurt.
- Make some healthy soups with bone broth. Not only will the soup make you healthier, making it will too. It puts moisture in the air that’s dried out from the furnace running.
- Take a zinc supplement at the first sign of a cold or after being exposed to a cold or flu. There are studies that shows it helps reduce the risk of illness.