Ways to Boost your Immune System for Cold and Flu Season

We are now going into cold and flu season and as well as Covid-19 still lingering around, it's more important than ever to keep our immune systems healthy. This doesn't just mean keeping ourselves free of germs and bacteria, but perhaps making healthy changes to our lifestyles to support our immune systems too!

Here are some of our top recommended ways to keep your immune systems and you healthy this Autumn and Winter:

1. Limit Takeaways and Bad Food

First step in changing our lifestyle to a more healthy one, is of course limiting the bad foods! And this always starts with the treat of a takeaway!

We all love a takeaway night either during the week or at the weekends, some of us even opt for a couple of them throughout the week, but this isn't the best for our health or our immune systems. It doesn't mean you need to completely cut out takeaways and unhealthy foods but just cutting down and perhaps opting for a more simple, nutritious meal that you may already have in the house to help support your immune system from allowing any bad in.

2. Exercise More Regularly

Another way we can help to support our immune systems from becoming weak from the Autumn and Winter chills is ensuring that we are exercising reguarly.

Perhaps you’ve been neglecting your gym membership since lockdown lifted, and one very good reason to get back into a regular exercise routine is to boost your health and immune function. If you don't like the normal running or gym workouts, it can be anything from yoga to dance classes! Research has shown that regular exercise increases the circulation of white blood cells which have the purpose of killing any sickness.

3. Try Eating More Immune System Boosting Foods

A great way of keeping you more healthy is definitely eating more foods that help to boost your immune system and keep you away from catching any viruses easily.

Some of these foods include dark chocolate which contains antioxidents, garlic which is often used as a home remedy to treat colds and illnesses, oranges which are a great source of Vitamin C and much more! Check out our recommendations of the Best Foods to Boost Your Immune System Here!

4. Limit Socialising to De-Stress

As we approach the winter months, we can become overwhelmed with opportunities for socialising and overworking. While this is fantastic after being locked in for so many months in lockdowns, we need to be aware of the negative impact of oversocialising and stress on our health and our immune function.

Limiting these opportunities for that to happen can really boost your immune system and health as you will feel revitalised by only doing these things little and often rather then every week.

5. Make Subtle Changes to Your Lifestyle

Making changes to your lifestyle to help support health and immunity is a great way to avoid this cold and flu season. These include:

• Decreasing your exposure to bacteria, viruses and germs by washing and sanitising hands regularly.
• Aiming for at least 7 hours or more sleep every night. If your sleep is interrupted, try a 30-minute nap during the day.
• Reduce stress by taking time to do things you enjoy such as spending time with family, spending time outdoors or reading.