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Check nowHow to maintain your body’s immunity!
Keeping your immune system strong may be one of your top priorities at the moment! There are many things you can do to help achieve this, such as:
- Limiting alcohol consumption
- Not increasing smoking
- Eating well
- Getting fresh air where possible
- Getting regular exercise.
Read on to find out more about these factors and how you can incorporate them into your daily routine.
1. Limit alcohol consumption
When we are stuck indoors for long periods of time, it may seem tempting or easy to drink more alcohol than we normally would. If you are working from home and can be more relaxed with your drinking habits; for example, you may stay up later in the evenings and have a few drinks if you don't need to drive to work in the morning.
However, excessive alcohol consumption can not only leave you feeling groggy and unproductive the next day, it can also be detrimental to the function and health of your immune system, leading to a cascade of other problems. Even just an extra glass every night can quickly add up to more strain on the liver without us realising.
Alcohol can negatively impact the immune system through various means such as disrupting sleep and reducing the absorption of vital nutrients.
When it comes to keeping your immune system strong, sleep is so important! In technical terms, alcohol can impact your immune system by disrupting your circadian rhythm. When circadian clock genes are unsettled, this can disturb your sleep cycle, reducing the quality of your sleep and making you wake up more often.
Sleep deprivation can in turn suppress immune function, reducing your body's ability to fight infections, meaning you may be more prone to catching a cold or flu.
As well as this, alcohol can disrupt the body's ability to absorb and metabolise nutrients properly. The proteins, vitamins and minerals in your food are fundamental for all aspects of your health, including the function of the immune system.
When paired with a poor diet or decreased intake of food, excessive alcohol intake can lead to deficiencies of many vitamins, importantly vitamins C and D which are directly related to the efficiency of immune function. Deficiencies of minerals such as zinc and magnesium can also occur; both of which are strongly related to proper function of the immune system.
So, to keep your immune system fighting fit, perhaps limit alcohol consumption to certain days of the week. If you do enjoy drinking, try having smaller measures (small bottles of beer rather than pints, or use smaller wine glasses), lower-strength drinks and drink water alongside your alcoholic beverage.
There are also many interesting non-alcoholic drinks which you can enjoy instead, such as elderberry cordial with sparkling water, or hot berry juice! In addition to being really tasty, elderberry and berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, are supportive for immune function.
2. Don't increase smoking
Although it may be easier to take more cigarette breaks when you're at home, try to abstain from doing this!
As you may already be aware, smoking damages the immune system and can make the body less efficient at fighting disease. One way in which it does this is by depleting the body of vitamin C.
Studies have found that people who smoke have reduced amounts of vitamin C in their bodies1, and may require 35mg more vitamin C daily than non-smokers. Vitamin C plays a vital role in immune function, from helping to protect cells and keep them healthy, to maintaining healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage.
As well as severely affecting lung health, the chemical compounds in cigarettes can interfere with the immune system and worsen the likelihood of diseases including viral and bacterial infections (particularly those affecting the lungs such as pneumonia), gum disease, arthritis, Crohn's Disease and infections that occur after surgery.
If you are a smoker, make sure to include lots of productive activities and do things you enjoy throughout the day, to distract you. Also, try to stick to a routine, especially if you're working from home. This should allow you to stick to your normal smoking schedule, and reduce the chances of boredom smoking.
3. Eat well
If you're stuck at home and bored it may be tempting to eat lots of unhealthy snacks and mindlessly pick at food all day. But, continuing to eat a healthy, balanced variety of food is so important for numerous processes in the body, including immune function.
When it comes to feeding the immune system, fruits and vegetables are key; specifically, those containing vitamin C, such as oranges, strawberries, red and green peppers and broccoli, and those with beta-carotene (vitamin A), such as red peppers, carrots, spinach, and yellow fruits such as apricots and mango.
These nutrients help keep your respiratory tract healthy and strong.
Other nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, important for immune function, include potassium, magnesium and B vitamins. In addition to this, fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants, which also help to boost the immune system so that it can fight off invading bacteria and viruses.
Ensuring you include sources of zinc in your diet, such as meat, shellfish, cheese, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and fortified cereals, is also important for keeping the immune system strong, and is essential for wound healing.
Currently, it may be a struggle to get to the shops to buy the foods you like, or there may be limited stock to pick from.
If you find that you don't have to access to the same variety of fresh and nutritious foods as usual, you may like to add a supplement to your daily routine. Our Balance Mineral Drink provides a source of magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium and vitamin D and can help to maintain energy levels.
A.Vogel Balance Mineral Drink with Vitamin D3, Magnesium, Zinc, Potassium and Calcium.
£8.25 (7 x 5.5g sachets) In Stock Get it tomorrow, 16th August.
4. Get fresh air where possible
Although you may be spending a lot more time indoors just now, it is still important to get as much fresh air as possible, be it going for a walk or sitting outside.
Fresh air can not only help to improve blood pressure and heart rate, it can also strengthen the immune system.
In addition, fresh air can help to clean your lungs out. Fresh air helps the airways of your lungs to open up more fully, improving the cleansing action whereby you breathe out airborne toxins from your body.
In addition to keeping you healthy, spending time in fresh air is thought to lift mood and increase positive emotions. Also, spending time outdoors is thought to increase energy levels and make you concentrate better. This means it may be beneficial for your immune system and overall mood to go for a walk during your lunch time break!
Given current conditions, going for your walk or run in the morning might ensure you are less likely to bump into other people, which reduces infection risk for everyone. It also gets the day off to a good start and, if you live in a town or city, reduces your exposure to airborne pollutants.
5. Get regular exercise
Incorporating a regular amount of exercise into your routine can not only improve your heart health, but may also improve your mood, strengthen your bones, and even support the immune system.
Exercise can have a number of positive effects on the immune system, including the following:
- It slows down the release of stress hormones which can inhibit immune function
- It raises respiratory rate, which can help flush out bacteria from the lungs and airways
- It raises the temperature of the body, which can help fight infection by preventing the growth of bacteria
- It improves circulation and, since immune cells travel around the bloodstream, such activity will improve their ability to get to the site of infection.
Also, exercise releases endorphins ('happy' chemicals) which can help you to feel better; and it can help to relieve feelings of stress and tension and allow you to sleep better – another two factors which can help to keep your immune system strong.
Exercise also plays an important role in pumping lymph fluid around the body. The lymphatic system is a network of tissues and organs that helps get rid of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials from the body. It does this by transporting toxins in lymphatic fluid to lymph nodes, where toxins can be dismantled.
Exercise induces deep breathing and muscle contraction, and this is like a pump for lymph fluid. As you exercise, lymph fluid gets moved around the body where it collects all the unwanted material, thereby playing an important role in immunity.
Check out our blog on "Easy ways to exercise at home"!
What you said!
We recently ran a poll to find out what you plan to do to keep your immune system strong. We've crunched the numbers and here are the results.
Results: What do you plan to do to keep your immune system strong?
It's good to see that the majority of you are going to eat healthily to keep your immune system strong. Eating a healthy, balanced variety of food is so important for numerous processes in the body, including immune function. Vitamins C, A and zinc are especially important for the immune system, so make sure you include sources of these in your diet.
