Winter months have less daylight hours, it’s colder, damper and effects our moods. It’s not the best combination. It can cause havoc within our immune system not just our moods, and can lead to us becoming ill. But, what can we do to help prevent this?
Suttons Seeds, suppliers of plant supports run through the best ways to help keep your immune system strong to minimise illnesses.
What is your immune system?
Your immune system is made up a number of elements such as organs, tissues and a network of cells that work together to help protect you. This ‘barrier’ helps destroy germs and parasites by trying to get rid of any unfamiliar bodies. If your immune system is healthy, then your body can fight off any harmful bacteria.
Immunisations
To give yourself the best chance of staying healthy over the colder months you may need to give yourself several immunisations. For people who are at a higher risk at catching an illness in the winter than others free flu jabs are available. Some workforces also offer this service to their staff to try to restrict sick days. If you don’t fall into either of those categories, you can still pay for the immunisation at selected pharmacies.
While the NHS recommends that you get your flu jab in October or November, you can still have the injection at any point of the winter.
Diet
Our immune systems are like any other fighting force and to perform to the best of its ability it needs nourishment, eating fruit and vegetables is an essential part of this. You should stock your daily diets full of foods enriched in vitamins to give yourself the necessary requirements throughout the year, not just in winter.
Certain micronutrient deficiencies such as iron, zinc and folic acid have been found to affect our immune systems. This means eating foods rich in nutrients is key to help the immune system keep up. Items you should be adding to your shopping basket over the coming months include citrus fruits, red bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, poultry and sunflower seeds. Each are packed full of nutrients to help keep your immune system in good condition.
Kick the habits
If you’re a heavy drinker or smoker, there’s never a ‘best’ time to quit. You should look to kick the habit today. If you’re a smoker, there are obvious health implications. However, did you know that the high levels of toxins in a cigarette can make your immune system less effective? Therefore, you are more likely to get sick. Stop smoking lozenges are a great way to help you fight the addiction.
Vitamin supplements
Health supplements are a great way to get enough vitamins into your diet if you struggle to enough vitamins in your diet through your food consumption. There are many vitamins in tablet and liquid form that can help you maintain a healthy and balanced diet.
Vitamin D can be a tough one to meet the required levels needed in winter through diet alone. Temperatures and a lack of sunshine mean that we don’t receive our natural dosage of the vitamin via the sun’s rays and need to receive our intake elsewhere.
Kale and oranges are very nutrient-rich foods, which is great as vitamin C is one of the biggest immune system boosters — be sure to take a supplement to help keep your levels high. After all, if you lack in this vitamin, you’ll be more prone to getting sick.
Even though supplements are really helpful it must be iterated that they shouldn’t be used as alternatives for food. It’s much more beneficial for your body if you get these nutrients through a food source as it’s easier to absorb.
Relax
Relaxing can sometimes be easier said than done but can be an important part to staying in good health including keeping an eye on your stress levels. This is an area in which scientists are actively working to discover the exact link as it can be difficult to pin down exactly what a stressful situation means to a certain individual. However, stress has been found to have a strain on your immune system as well as your personal or work life.
Alongside trying to avoid any stressful encounters, make sure that you’re allowing yourself a good amount of sleep. If you deprive yourself of sleep you’ll find yourself becoming run down and leaving yourself vulnerable to catching a cold. During sleep, your immune system releases cytokines proteins. Some of these proteins can aid your sleep, while others can fight off infections and inflammation, meaning it’s crucial to get a good sleep if you are to properly protect your body. It’s recommended that you aim for between seven and nine hours sleep each night.
Exercise
You might just fancy hopping back into bed and getting cosy when you see the dark and dull weather outside, but this isn’t really the best option for you. Exercising can help reduce your chances of getting a cold, flu or other illness as it can help flush bacteria from your lungs and airways.
Your body temperature changing can be a factor of helping prevent an in illness. This is because the rise during and straight after exercise can prevent bacteria from growing and ultimately fight any infection in a similar way it would if you had a fever.
Sources
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/3-vitamins-best-boosting-immunity/
http://whoami.sciencemuseum.org.uk/whoami/findoutmore/yourbody/whatdoesyourimmunesystemdo
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/expert-answers/lack-of-sleep/faq-20057757
https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/foods-that-boost-the-immune-system#sunflower-seeds