Boost Your Immunity With These Easy Tweaks!

If you’ve been feeling sniffly and tired easily these days, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at your immune system. Many times, we get caught up with work, life, and everything else, and the one thing that gets really affected is often our immune system. Notice how you fall sick easily when you’re working hard at a deadline or trying to juggle a super busy work life with a super exciting social life? That’s your immune system saying, hey I need a break!

You know what else you need? A good look at your daily routines. One of the biggest impacts on your immune system is the things you do regularly. A lot of what we do could trigger a weak immune system and put you on a downward spiral to bad health. The good thing with habits, you have complete control over many of them! With just a few simple tweaks to how you lead your day to day, you can start building a strong immune system in no time. Sniffles, be gone!

#1 Improve indoor air quality
Are you sneezing more often than usual? Take a good look at your workspace or your room. Dust is one of the worst culprits for releasing toxins into the air, causing your sinus to act up. Make it a habit to clear clutter and keep your surroundings neat. A less cluttered area is also easier to clean, which means you can dust frequently to remove other contaminants like mould spores and bacteria. If you have a pet at home, it’s a good idea to vacuum regularly to remove dander. Or invest in a good air purifier to keep your air quality healthier.

#2 Go green!
And by this we mean cut out the snacks and processed foods, and go for more fresh fruits and veggies! We know it can be tough to eat well when you’re busy but your immune system will thank you when you’re looking out for it with healthier meal options. Besides, taking time off to properly eat and nourish yourself with good food is a great way to look after your immune system. Do yourself a favour – pack your meals with excellent immunity boosting foods such as red bell peppers, broccoli, ginger, turmeric, leafy vegetables. Really no time to eat properly? Why not make it a habit to eat an orange a day to pump in Vitamin C for real immune-boosting properties.

#3 Wash your hands
Remember the cardinal rule for Covid-19? Frequent hand washing. It works even now with the pandemic behind us! It’s really no brainer – this simple but important task will protect you from germs that are waiting to pounce on your immune system. Anytime you’ve been out and about, touching things, it’s a good idea to scrub your hands clean with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to eliminate the germs. Also, make it a habit to wash your hands before you eat – you never know what else you might be putting in your mouth if you don’t practise regular handwashing!

#4 Create a self-care routine
Repeat after us: Me time! One of the most important things you can do for your immune system and mental health is to make time for self-care. We often forget our own needs and when we neglect to schedule in some TLC, our immune system takes a beating – no thanks to the accumulated stress! Self-care plays a super important role in lowering your stress levels and creating a healthier, happier version of yourself. Whether it is setting an hour a day to read or taking a nice long warm shower, your body will thrive on this self-care to renew and rejuvenate, giving your immune system a boost. Go on – you deserve it!

#5 Sleep!
We mean it – get yourself some serious shut eye. Our immune system often gets blasted when we scrimp on our sleep hours. This is because sleep is when the body repairs itself, and by the body we also mean your immune system. When you cut short the hours it needs for a full recharge, you’re literally robbing your body – and immune system – of what it needs to perform at optimal level. How much sleep? Experts say at least seven hours for a full tank. But let’s face it – not everyone's the same, so a great way to figure out what your magic number is by tracking how long you sleep and how you feel the next day. Increase if necessary. What’s important is to create a sleep routine that will give your immune system a boost.

Photo by Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash.