Boost your immunity with these simple DIY tips!

When it comes to fighting any kind of disease or virus, you already know that handwashing and avoiding those who may be sick are key precautions! But did you know that boosting your immune system gives you an edge in fending off viruses and staying healthy? A healthy body is dependent on a strong immune system. Rather than just strengthening our immune system we want to train our immune system to do its job correctly. Work, school, sports and other outdoor activities all take a toll on us. Many of us lose sleep which can lower our resistance to all kinds of things. Illness abounds, but if you know what to do, you can prevent them and or shorten their duration. So, here are the best ways you can boost your immunity from the comfort of your own home!

Consume ample quality and healthy fats

Healthy fatty acids play an important role in the inflammatory process in the body. Inflammation, when doing it’s job correctly, serves an important role in our bodies, especially within the immune system. The purpose of inflammation and why we even have the ability to do it at all, is healing. The immune system creates heat to kill infection. It creates swelling to contain said infection, and then delivers healing nutrients to the area. Quality fats are precursors to prostaglandins, which are the hormone-like substances that allow the body to inflame and anti inflame, as needed. And once again, digestion has to be working properly so that our body can properly emulsify fat to assimilate and utilize it, as needed. It’s the balance of these two abilities that keeps us fighting disease and illness. It’s really important to note that by incorporating a variety of healthy fats, we are fueling our body’s ability to do its job. Some good sources of quality and healthy fats include;

• Avocados
• Cheese
• Dark Chocolate
• Whole Eggs
• Fatty Fish
• Nuts

Get a good night’s sleep

Sleep is a natural immune system booster. Your immune system is like your computer — it needs moments of rest so it doesn't become overheated. When you're sleep-deprived your body churns out stress hormones like cortisol to keep you awake and alert, which can suppress your immune system. People who got a full eight hours of shut-eye have shown to have a much stronger immunity to diseases than those who slept less, according to a 2019 study. Try to get at least seven hours of slumber a night, as a 2015 study, published in the journal Sleep, found that people who did so were four times less likely to come down with a viral infection than those who clocked less than six!

Keep that sweet tooth in check

Regular consumption of sugar can weaken your immune system enough to impair its ability to fight off infections. Sugar is not only a major disruptor and destroyer of our immune system, it also becomes food for the nasty bugs that make us sick. Flooding your blood stream with sugar can temporarily impair the functions of white blood cells even in the healthiest of people. Additionally, Vitamin C (a powerful ally for immune function as it is used by the cells of your immune system to carry out their attacks on pathogenic microbes) and glucose have similar molecular structures and chemical makeups. Because refined dietary sugars lack vitamins and minerals, they naturally draw upon the body’s micronutrient stores in order to be successfully metabolized by the body. What mediates the entry of Vitamin C into white blood cells is the same thing that mediates the entry of glucose. As such, both molecules end up competing against one another upon entering the cells. Thus, the more sugar that becomes available for uptake in the body, the less Vitamin C that is allowed into the white blood cells.

Stay active

With the current COVID-19 situation, the WHO has advised the general public that gyms may be highly susceptible to spreading the disease. 

Movement and adequate daily exercise is an important factor in building a strong and healthy immune system along with improved cardiovascular health, moods and weight management. While it’s not fully understood why, it may be that exercise contributes by promoting good circulation, which allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job efficiently along with improving our antibody response to infection.  Exercise can also boost your body’s feel-good chemicals that will help you sleep better. Which is also great for the immune system, as you read above. With the prevailing situation, we recommend working out at home. There are numerous exercises you could do from the comforts of your own home! However, if you can feel that your immune system is working to fight something off, be sure to reduce your output and opt for exercise or movement that is more restorative and not stressful to the body.

There we have it, some of the best ways you can boost your immunity from home. Dealing with viral infections can be nasty business, so please ensure that you do everything you possibly can to keep your immune system functioning at 100%! We realise that following every single one of these tips at this point of time may be a challenge, so consider natural immunity boosting products, such as Tipson’s Immune Booster!

In addition to following these steps to boost your immunity, ensure you frequently wash your hands, always cover your sneezes and cough, and follow any instructions or guidelines put in place by your health professionals and government during this tough time.