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Hey there! Have you been having a tickling throat as of late? Or maybe you have a cough of some sort? Possibly the chills or a fever occasionally? If yes well honestly, it’s no surprise. The cold and flu season is upon us after all, and that means for some of us our immune systems are at risk!
Every year I always manage to get sick during this time of year. Thankfully it has always just been the common cold, and occasionally strep throat (which really sucks), but never the flu. In my defense though I usually only ever get sick after someone else in my household has been sick.
This year my nephew caught the bug first. I’m not sure where he got it from, more than likely from school, but he got sick bad. When I took him to the doctor, he said that he was in the beginning stages of pneumonia. Shortly after that learning of that I began to get sick. I too thought that I was going to be in the beginning stages of pneumonia, which would not have been fun because I’ve had pneumonia before, and I promised myself that I would never put myself in a position to get that sick every again!
Thankfully I wasn’t. My throat just ended up being really sore, I had a really hard, thick, and dry cough, and every time I ate something, I would end up just throwing it up.
Of course, stubborn little old me never went to the doctor to find out what was wrong with me. Instead, I decided to take a more natural way of curing myself from this cold. After making sure that my nephew had his medicine and was good to go back to school the following week, I started to focus on some small changes I could make in my daily health and wellness routine to beat this cold.
More on that in few but first, let’s talk a little bit about the importance of our immune system.
Our immune system
As we all know the health of our immune system is very important. Our immune system works together with all our cells, tissues, and organs to protect our body from infections. These are infections such as the common cold, bacteria, viruses, and even the flu. Basically, our immune system is a defense mechanism that helps to keep the bad germs out of our body to prevent us from getting sick.
What makes a weak immune system?
Even though our immune system is designed to be our defense mechanism, it doesn’t always do a good job at it. When we get sick it is the result of a weak immune system, which more time than not is the result of being sick.
However, it’s important to note that if you are showing signs such as persistently catching colds, having repeated infections, swollen lymph nodes, and constant fatigue, then the weakness of your immune system may be something more than just the cold itself.
The good news is that having a weak immune system doesn’t mean you can’t make your immune system strong.
What makes a strong immune system?
So, what makes a strong immune system? Signs of a strong immune system, believe it or not, are colds and infections of the like that you may experience when you are sick. When I was younger, I use to think that not getting sick meant you were in the best shape of your life.
I was wrong and I’m here to tell you that, that is a very common misconception. We are human, which means that we get exposed to things and most of the things that we are exposed to, we cannot control the way in which our bodies will react to them.
The fact of the matter is every time we get sick, we are giving our immune system a chance to become stronger. Remember, our immune system is our body’s defense system. So being exposed to the many different colds and viruses that can and will make us sick can actually be a good thing. What makes our immune system strong is the way we assist it when we are sick.
Medicines help tremendously, especially for strong viruses where medication is absolutely necessary, like the flu. However, the more we engage in natural ways of healing, the stronger we are encouraging our immune systems to become. This means that when we do get sick, we will be able to recover from it a lot faster than we would be if we only relied on medication.
Plus having a strong immune system will also mean that you will not get sick as often as some throughout the year.
With that being said, continue reading to learn what small changes I decided to make in my daily wellness routine to beat the common cold naturally this year.
10 natural ways to boost your immune system
- Get plenty of sleep
Something that is extremely important when you are sick is getting plenty of sleep. Naturally our bodies will want to do nothing more than just rest. While our immune system is hard at work with fighting off any sickness we may have, our body is not intaking the necessary amount of energy to be as active as we usually are during the day. As a result of this we may find ourselves spending more time in bed resting, rather than out and about and having the time of our lives.
This is completely normal. Sleep is important when you are sick because our immune system releases a protein called cytokines, which increases when we are sick. Sleep is extremely important when you are sick because a lack of it can lead to an increase in heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and even diabetes. When we are sick our immune system becomes slightly weaker, putting us at a greater risk of these diseases should we not get enough sleep.
Small change I made: I usually always try to get anywhere from 6-8 hours a sleep every night. However, when I’m sick, despite what I just said above, it’s very hard for me to sleep consistently throughout the night. So I started to go to bed 2 hours earlier than what I normally do, so that when I do wake up early in the middle of the night and am not able to immediately fall back to sleep, I’m not missing out on any necessary hours of sleep that I need to be able to function properly during the day.
- Eat your fruits and veggies
Fruits and veggies are a great way to boost your immune system. Has anyone ever told you to eat a colorful plate of food? Especially during dinnertime? If so, there is a reason for this. There are many fruits and vegetables that contain a lot of vitamins and minerals that are necessary for our bodies to be as healthy as it can possibly be. Below you will find a list of some fruits and veggies that are great for boosting your immune system.
Fruits, Veggies, and Other foods that are good for your immune system:
- Grapefruit
- Oranges
- Lemons
- Kiwis
- Red bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Spinach
- Chick peas
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Almonds
Small change I made: I always make a point to eat vegetables with every meal that I have for dinner, so this wasn’t going to be a challenge for me. However, as much as I love fruit, I have to admit that 85% of the time I’m only eating fruit if I’ve made a fruit smoothie. So instead of letting this be my only source of fruit intake I started to eat more fruit throughout the day. Usually this would be for a snack between breakfast and lunchtime, and after dinnertime.
If you’re curious in learning more about foods that will help you create a strong and healthy immune system, you may want to look into clean eating. Hungry Girl Clean & Hungry: Easy All-Natural Recipes for Healthy Eating in the Real World is filled with a ton of delicious clean eating recipes for everyday foods that you already eat. It’s the perfect place to start with your clean eating journey.
- Exercise regularly
It’s no secret that having a regular exercise routine is good for your overall health and well-being. So why wouldn’t it be good for boosting your immune system as well? When we exercise, we are flushing out bad bacteria in our bodies. While any type of a consistent workout routine will work well for the body, to target the immune system you are going to want to focus more on aerobic exercises or any type of cardiovascular activity.
This includes exercises such as walking, swimming, cycling, or running.
Small change I made: Usually I try to do a full body workout for anywhere between 15-30 minutes a day. However, with this cold I was finding it very hard to catch my breath let alone find the energy to even get through 5 minutes of the workout. So, I decided I would take it slow and focus areas of my physical health that I wanted to improve the most. Instead of doing a full body workout, I focused on working out one area of my body every day, for at least 10 minutes a day.
Related Posts: The Positive Health Benefits of Doing Yoga
- Minimize stress
We all know that stress isn’t good for our health. It can lead to high blood pressure, obesity, and thoughts and behaviors that can have a negative impact on our life. Chronic stress can cause serious mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and in some cases personality disorders.
More importantly, stress has a direct link to our respiratory and cardiovascular systems. When not managed effectively it can make it hard for you to breathe and increase your chances of having a stroke. When we are stressed our immune system is extremely weak and our ability to fight off viruses is greatly reduced. This puts us at high risk of being more susceptible to infections of any kind.
Small change I made: I focused more on the things that I could control in the moment and less on the things that would require a lot more effort. For example, because I have asthma when I’m sick it stamina becomes a huge challenge for me. Since I wanted to avoid putting myself in a position where I would be challenging my breathing, I avoided participating in any activities that would get my heart rate going, like for my dogs for 1 hour three times a day. Instead I settled for walking them for on average 20 minutes that way my breathing would not be a problem for me throughout the day.
- Drink plenty of water
It’s no secret that I love water, and there are plenty of reasons why. Drinking water has so many health benefits, especially when it comes to our immune system. Water helps in ensuring our systems are functioning properly by carrying oxygen to our body cells. It also helps to remove toxins from the body, which keeps our bodies clean from the inside out, and our immune system strong and healthy.
Small change I made: Drinking water isn’t really a challenge for me, but I am guilty of having some sort of juice or tea during my meals throughout the day. So instead of doing so I stuck to only drinking water. Nothing else. Usually I aim for anywhere from 6-8 glasses a water a day, but with only allowing myself to drink nothing but water I found that I was consuming anywhere from 8-11 glasses of water during the day. And yes, I peed a lot.
Interested in learning more about wellness and how it can have a positive impact on your life? If so, sign up today for the free Live Well Health and Wellness Email Course where I’ll teak you how to create a personal and effective wellness routine for your everyday living.
- Vitamins, vitamins, vitamins
Vitamins are good for our health. Naturally there are more vitamins that work better in our favor than others, but none the less they are essential to a healthy immune system. Perhaps the most important vitamin we can give our bodies is Vitamin C.
Vitamin C can be found in many different foods (such as the ones listed above). Our bodies do not store this vitamin, so it’s essential that we are intaking it whenever we can. Other vitamins that are essential for a healthy immune system include Vitamin B6 and Vitamin E.
Vitamin B6 supports the biochemical reactions in our immune systems. There are foods that are rich in Vitamin B6, such as chicken, salmon, and tuna. This vitamin can also be found in vegetables. Vitamin E helps the body fight off infections and can be found in foods such as nuts, seeds, and one of my favorite vegetables, spinach.
Small change I made: There really wasn’t a change I made here. To ensure I was getting as much of these vitamins as I could I just continued to eat more fruit during the day and made sure to have vegetables with every dinner serving.
- Consider taking supplements
While they are not my first choice supplements can be very helpful in strengthening the immune system. Some supplements that are good for your immune systems are Zinc, Echinacea, Vitamin B12, and Black Elderberry.
Zinc is a nutrient that is found in cells throughout our bodies and helps the immune system fight off bacteria and viruses and makes proteins. Echinacea increases the number of white blood cells in our bodies that help fight off infections. Vitamin B12 increases your immunity all around by assisting with the production of white blood cells. Black Elderberry helps in fighting off colds, flu, and other respiratory infections.
Small change I made: Nothing. I don’t take supplements and didn’t feel the need to as a result of getting sick.
**Fun fact: Elderberries is a herb that is commonly used among Native Americans and Europeans due to their health benefits, such as boosting the immune system.
- Practice good hygiene
Good hygiene is essential to good health overall. The best part about this natural way of strengthening your immune system is the fact that it’s all already a part of the daily activities that you engage in. All you have to do is be more conscious of the way you interact with your environment.
For example, whenever you make food make sure that your hands are clean. Keep the surfaces of where you may place foods and drinks clean, ensure that all dishes you use are clean, and most importantly try to keep your house as clean as possible.
Small change I made: I’m naturally a neat freak and am cleaning all the time. So, nothing really changed here for me either.
- Spend some time in the sun
The sun is good for you. Yes, spending a lot of time in the sun without the proper protection can lead to an increase in skin cancer. However, so long as you are using SPF 50 spending time in the sun can be very beneficial for your immune system. The UV light from the sun, when directly exposed to your skin, produces Vitamin D. This vitamin has a very potent antimicrobial effect that is good for your immune system.
Small change I made: I ended up staying indoors a lot of the time while I was sick. The few times that I was outside I did take pre-caution to put on sunscreen even though I didn’t spend a lot of time outdoors.
- Drink a cup of tea
This is one of my favorite ways to naturally boost my immune system. Drinking tea can boost your immune system by increasing the body’s defense against infections. While all tea is good for you there are some teas that are BETTER for your overall health.
Those tea include green tea, which is high in antioxidants and can help in preventing illness to take over. Also, chamomile tea is a great choice because it contains compounds that can increase the production of white blood cells.
Small change I made: I try to drink at least one cup of a tea a day. Usually my go to tea is Vanilla Chai, but due to my cold that I was having a hard time shaking, I made sure to drink at least two cups of green tea until I started to feel better.
**Side note: adding honey to your tea can really help with colds. It coats the throat which allows it to soothe your throat and act as a cough suppressant. It can also improve your sleep.
While there are plenty of ways that you can naturally boost your immune system, I have found these to be some of the easiest and most effective ways. Not only do they start working immediately, but these resources are literally right at your fingertips. You don’t have to go searching far and wide, just to your nearest grocery store or right in the comfort of your own home.
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Keep these in mind the next time you feel a tickle in your throat. Not only may it turn out to be more cost effective in the end, but over time you may also see a change in how often and severe you get sick.
Until next time love bugs.
Do you know of any natural ways to boost your immune system?
-Xo
Kimora