Top Tips for Increasing Your Immunity Levels this Winter

With the global pandemic, we’ve all been thinking longer and harder about our health and wellbeing and how to stay well. But with winter here now, it’s not just COVID-19 to worry about, but also the added risk of getting sick with a cold, flu, or other sickness.

One fundamental way to avoid coming down with something, whether it’s mild or severe, is to increase your immunity level. Read on for some tips you can follow to help your body stave off illness over the coming weeks and months.

Eat Healthily

The first step is to eat healthily, so you get all the vitamins, minerals, fiber, iron, prebiotics, and other nutrients you need to stay well.

Consume a variety of fresh produce and eat meals containing a mixture of complex carbohydrates, protein, good fats, and vegetables. Eat some fruit, too.

It pays not to skip meals as this can put more stress on your body and impact your immunity levels in turn. Plus, it helps to wash fresh fruit and veg and blanch greens like spinach and kale to rid the items of chemicals and foodborne illnesses that may increase your chances of getting sick.

Take Supplements

You can take supplemental tablets or powders to boost your immunity, too. For example, many people like to take vitamin C, garlic, zinc, echinacea, and vitamin B during the winter months to stay healthy.

You might also want to shop online at a well-regarded CBD store for products made with quality CBD from hemp with the added benefits of turmeric, which supports immune function.

Another popular choice for many people is tablets or powders made from reishi and other mushrooms or those with elderberry, rosehips, astragalus, Siberian ginseng, and selenium. Test out different offerings to see what works best for your body.

Don’t Neglect Vitamin D

Another tip is to ensure you keep getting enough vitamin D during the colder months of the year. There’s less sunlight around at the moment, and you’re more likely to stay inside to keep warm, but it’s essential to find ways to get about 20 minutes of sunlight on average each day. Boosting vitamin D levels will help you avoid getting sick.

Keep Exercising

Similarly, even though the briskness outside might make you feel like staying rugged up and watching Netflix or reading a good book, don’t neglect your exercise. Staying active has numerous benefits for the body and mind, including increasing immunity.

You don’t have to go too hard with your activity to reap the benefits, though. Gentle to moderate movement such as walking, yoga, Pilates, and weights (including bodyweight exercises) will get your circulation working better, boost oxygen levels, and help your immune function.

Drink Enough Water

As much as the colder weather may not make you think about drinking as much water, don’t fall behind in this area. Stay hydrated as letting your system get dehydrated increases the likelihood you’ll pick up bugs and struggle to get well quickly. If you do come down with the flu or a cold, etc.

Ensure you have enough liquids in the form of filtered water, coconut water, fresh juice, herbal teas, green smoothies, hot water with lemon, raw apple cider vinegar diluted in water, and the like. These will boost your electrolytes and help alkalinize your body to stop germs from thriving.

Focus on Having a Clean Home

Having a clean home is essential for good health, too. Bugs abound around our properties, especially on light switches, computer keyboards, phones, toilet buttons, countertops, doorknobs, handles, etc. Clean regularly and pay attention to these surfaces in particular, since germs can live for hours or even days at a time on them.

Create a Proper Sleeping Environment

If you’re going to ward off illness this winter, your body needs its rest. To get quality sleep, stay healthy, and have a high-functioning immune system, you want a bedroom environment conducive to deep rest. To achieve at least seven to eight hours of sleep per night, you need a bedroom that’s dark enough, with blinds or curtains to block out light, and quiet, too. Use earbuds if necessary to ensure you’re not disturbed by sirens, traffic noise, and other sounds.

Pay attention to the temperature in your room, too, as you don’t want to get too cold during the night or even too hot, if you have heating up too far. It’s also wise to avoid blue light in the hour or two before you go to bed, so avoid looking at smartphones, computers, and television screens late at night. Many people find that some stretching, deep breathing and meditation before bed assists them to fall asleep and stay asleep, too.

Follow all of these tips to give yourself the best chance of making it through the rest of winter without having to suffer through a bad cold, flu, or another nasty bug.

Thanks to Tiffani Wroe