As the coronavirus situation intensifies, you might be wondering: how can I keep myself healthy?  The answer lies in the following; the lastest guidelines on social distancing, proper handwashing, and your local stay-at-home directives.  But there are also ways to strengthen your own immune system. Keep reading to find out why those habits boost your immunity and how you can take advantage of their benefits.

Diet

Eating healthy food is part of an excellent daily regimen. We all need a balance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in our diets to sustain a healthy body. You don’t need to eliminate specific categories of food from your menu, but rather select the most robust options from each group.

Being healthy should be part of your overall lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent chronic diseases and long-term illnesses. Feeling good about yourself and taking care of your health is essential for your self-esteem and self-image. Maintain a healthy lifestyle by doing what is right for your body. Being physically active, meditating, and managing stress and getting adequate sleep helps, too.

Physical Activity

Engaging in regular physical activity is a great way to help manage stress and strengthen your immune system.  In fact, partaking in daily physical activity can lower the incidence of infection compared to inactive and sedentary individuals. What’s more, being physically active may help reduce the risk of chronic diseases, which and further weaken your immune system, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Physical activity helps to flush bacteria out o the lungs, decreasing your chances of getting cold, flu, or other illness. Exercise also reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.  Lowering the levels of stress hormones may protect against disease.  Exercise also stimulates the production of endorphins-chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators.

There are many ways to stay fit at home. Youtube has a variety of exercise routines you can do from cardio to yoga. You can search and pick what is right for you. Another way to stay fit is dancing, put some music on and dancing like no one is watching.  If you are looking for something a bit more structured, there are plenty of online physical activity options to choose from.

Meditate

If you haven’t tried meditation, now might be a good time to start.  Meditation may help keep our immune system functioning optimally.  A stressful circumstance like what we are all experiencing right now can negatively affect the immune system, but a consistent meditation practice can help us better respond to stressful situations.  There are many apps like Calm, and headspace that can help you start with a subscription. You can search for Youtube Meditation and follow along.  Once you have been practicing for about 3 to 5 weeks and have learned the breathing techniques, you will see some results and improve your immune system body and mind.

Feelings

It is also important to avoid judging your feelings and thoughts.  Acknowledge them with a sense of care and appreciation, and release the expectation that things should be healthy right now. Try practicing love and kindness. An excellent way to start is by reading affirmations and positive quotes. You can write them down and post them around your home. It is a unique way to train the brain to look a love and kindness words.  Another way to deal with feels is to talk to a trusted and loving friend.  Talk to someone who can just listen without judgment. This helps you release all the feelings you are holding inside in a friendly and calm way.

Sleep

Try to aim for seven to eight hours of sleep each night.  But if your mind has been keeping you up or you simply can’t get that amount, fill in the gaps with naps.  Taking two naps that are no longer than 30 minutes each -one in the morning and one in the afternoon- has been shown to help decrease stress and offset the adverse effects that sleep deprivation has on the immune system.  If that is not realistic, a 10 or 20-minute catnap during a lunch break or before dinner can help too.

Do what you can to improve your health and your immune system by slowing down the coronavirus. It is up to you to make healthier choices that could save your life.