Give Your Body The Best Fighting Chance With These Immune Boosting Tips

Being cooped up indoors can sometimes make us feel helpless and isolated. Lockdown was never something that we even considered and honestly, could there ever be enough time to plan for being at home for 21 DAYS?
With no cure for COVID-19 and the infection count rising, everyone seems to think that you just need to keep washing your hands, wearing gloves and a mask and waiting, and that’s all you can do. Well, that isn’t necessarily true.
The World Health Organisation describes Corona as the following: “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease which causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with symptoms such as a cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty breathing.”
The fever that infected patients experience is a sign that their immune systems are fighting the virus that has entered their system. Boosting your immune system means your body has stronger soldiers to fight against infections. Here are a few ways that you can actively help keep yourself, your family and your friends in good fighting shape!

Immune Boosting Food

A healthy, balanced diet is important in maintaining good physical and mental health (believe it or not). Below are some eating habits you could work toward forming to keep you strong and well.
• Consume foods from the five required food groups: vegetables, fruit, grains, protein and dairy
• Eat junk food in moderation
• Avoid sugar-rich food and drinks
• Maintain reasonable portion sizes
• Avoid processed foods

Immune Boosting Supplements

Getting vitamins through a well-balanced diet, as mentioned above, is always the best option when it comes to strengthening your immune system. However, it is not always possible to get the quantities required for certain benefits and it is difficult to measure. For example, trying to gauge how much Vitamin C an orange contains. Well, this is where supplements can be a friend.
Your three main immune-boosting vitamins are:
• Vitamin C – also known as the immunity superstar, helps with a wide range of bodily functions, from helping your body cope with stress by supporting your adrenal gland, to working as an anti-oxidant and fighting pollution and free radicals that enter your body through the air and food you consume.
• Vitamin B6 – increases the immune response of patients
• Vitamin E – a potent antioxidant that can help control the functioning of immune cells
Getting a consistent dose of these 3 vitamins will do your immune system a world of good!

Immune Boosting Habits

• Get adequate sleep
• Exercise regularly
• Don’t smoke
• If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Practice good personal hygiene
• Minimise stress
Although some of these seem difficult to achieve over a short period of time, they can become a goal that you work towards so you can build a healthier lifestyle, and, with everything going on at the moment, it may cause some anxiety and stress. With this in mind, the World Health Organisation has put together some tips on “Coping with stress during the 2019-nCoV outbreak“.
So, take care of yourself and your family during this lockdown period and for more information on how COVID-19 affects your immune system, have a look at the clip below.