Help Your Immune System Naturally This Cold and Flu Season
Cold and Flu season is upon us our friends. What can you do to help boost that oh-so-important immune system and kick it in high gear? Well, outside of washing your hands and not standing in front of someone as they sneeze or cough with your mouth hanging open (which is just one more great reason to breathe through your nose and not your mouth) we have some ideas! The biggest one is to decrease stress. Did you laugh or snort while reading that one? We know this has been a rough, well, year and a half and it’s difficult to decrease stress when there’s just a ton of it out there right now.
Not to stress you out, but chronic stress can lead to increased cortisol levels (hello inflammation) and decreased lymphocytes (these little guys are the white blood cells that help fight off infection). If you decrease the fighters of the cold, the cold is more likely to win the battle. So, to help ramp up your defenses, here are a few ideas:
Find something active that you love to do.
We love recommending exercise to decrease stress, but while Jimmy might LOVE going to the gym to lift some heavy weights and getting a good “pump”, the thought of going to a gym might create anxiety and extra stress for Jerry who just LOVES chatting with his beloved Grams on the phone while walking the neighborhood or chasing his kiddos around in a park. The point is, doing something you love releases those feel-good, happy hormones which can decrease cortisol (stress hormone) and put your nervous system in a better place to fight off whatever germ that random person in the grocery store just spread around by touching every can in the aisle. As with everything, there is a balance. When you are trying to decrease stress levels, it’s likely not a good time to start doing two-a-days and training for a marathon while hanging out in a calorie deficit. Your body sees stress (whether physical or emotional) as stress and will react the same so we want to feel more pepped up and relaxed after activity, not more drained and exhausted.
Eat well and take your supplements.
When we say eat well, we mean take out sugars, eat healthy fats (extra virgin, cold-pressed coconut/ olive oil for example), and eat the rainbow of veggies (aim for around 8 servings a day)! Boost that immune system by offering your body healthy fuel, don’t douse it with immune-suppressing sugar and cruddy foods! Vitamin D is also a key player in preventing the flu and can be achieved through supplementation or by choosing foods containing it naturally. Optimal levels are around 50ng/mL for most. If you don’t know your levels- test! Buffered vitamin C is a great addition to any flu/ cold-fighting regimen and 500 to 1,000 mg throughout the day with food is the standard recommendation.
Get great quality sleep and maybe even some meditation.
Sleeping repairs and heals the body which is kind of a big deal when it comes to immune system health. So naturally, we are ALL about a great sleepover here. Easy way to increase your “sleep productivity?” Get a great pillow that supports both you and some healthy sleep habits. Check out our blog on what to look for in your perfect pillow mate.
We’ve all heard it before, but cutting out the blue light (tv, cell phones, tablets) before bed and instead, switching to meditation or gratitude journals are great options. Our absolute favorite? BREATHING! This helps to calm the nervous system, reduce stress, decrease inflammation, and can even boost your resistance to infection. Meditation is beneficial for all the same reasons and is a great way to decrease susceptibility to viral infection.
Help your immune system and get adjusted!
Now to be clear, we are in NO way claiming to boost immunity, promising that you won’t get sick this cold and flu season by getting adjusted or any of that jazz. We ARE saying that studies have shown a decrease in cortisol levels. Once again, if we can: decrease stress levels, allow for better sleep, and the ability to move without discomfort, we are in a better starting position if our bodies are introduced to a bad bug! Read more about the benefits of chiropractic adjustments here!
While there’s a high likelihood that we didn’t throw anything too incredibly novel your way in this gem of a blog post, but it hopefully served as a reminder and maybe a kick start to some healthier habits or just gave you a little extra nudge in the right direction. We wish you the best out there and see you soon!
XO, The Well Spine Team
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