Health & Fitness Blog

With the cold and flu season upon us we are all looking for ways to keep from getting sick. Here are a few simple tips to boost immune system.

Sleeping is your body’s time to heal itself. If you don’t get a proper number of hours of sleep each night it can hinder this process. It is recommended that each person get at least 8 hours of sleep each night. Getting enough sleep also gives your body more energy to fight illness. On average, most Americans only sleep about 6 hours per night, those extra two hours can make a big difference in weather or not you stay healthy.

Food gives your body energy as well. The nutrition you get from that food also helps to fight disease. One of the biggest problems is that fast food and junk food don’t provide proper nutrition. Also for all of you who like to diet you may not be getting enough nutrition to fight off illness. You should eat three meals a day and at least 2 of those should be good meals that won’t leave you feeling hungry and that have enough nutrition to give your immune system enough power to keep you body well.

If you simply can’t get enough nutrition from your meals or even if you can, extra vitamins during this time of year are a great idea. They have good multi vitamins you can take plus drinks like V8 juice. Even with all of this vitamin C is very important. You can get vitamin C through fruit juices and most citrus fruit or you can buy pills. During cold and flu season I try to drink more juice and still take a vitamin C pill at least once a day.

Doctors always recommend flu and pneumonia shots; these are great for most people but personally I have never taken them. If your immune system is already a bit low then you run a risk of getting sick just from the shot. I have known several people that this has happened to. While I would never suggest anyone skipping this I do recommend caution.

There are new products out that promise to boost your immune system. I know people who swear by these but I have not actually tried them myself. You could be wasting your money or you could get that little extra something that will help to keep you well during the cold and flu season. I suggest reading the labels and making sure they don’t contain anything you shouldn”t be taking or consulting your doctor.

You will want to wash or sanitize your hands often. Hand washing is just an all around good idea. This is especially a must after going to the bath room and before eating. In public places where you are touching items such as doors or merchandise that others are handling a lot and can’t always wash your hand then I would recommend a hand sanitizer. These are cheap and come in bottles small enough to put in your purse.

Lastly, if you are sick then try to stay home if you can. If you can’t stay home then please be considerate of others and try to help stop the spread of germs to others.

Try also using anti oxidant vitamins like acai berry or maqui berry.