As COVID-19 spread across the globe last year, great hygiene practice has been ingrained in us—you probably spent the last year and a half constantly washing your hands, wearing face masks, and potentially even isolating in your independent senior living residence. Although New Zealand has a better grip on the pandemic now, it’s still important to keep up the good hygiene habits to keep away the nasty illnesses that winter can bring. To help you further boost your immune system and energy over the winter, we’ve put together some extra tips to help you keep healthy.
Stay Mindful of What You’re Eating
Maintaining healthy eating habits is crucial to keeping your immune system working effectively. There are some ridiculous diets out there that claim to have life-changing benefits, but realistically, a few small adjustments to your eating habits is all that is needed to improve your immunity and energy levels dramatically.
You’re likely familiar with the way vitamin C can improve your immunity, so including lemons, oranges, and other citrus fruits—high in vitamin C—in your diet is a great starting point. Vegetables should be a key part of your diet too. Capsicum, for example, has a much higher vitamin C content than citrus fruits, while broccoli is full of other vitamins, crucial to keeping your health intact.
Some studies have shown that fibre can have great benefits to the immune system as well, by increasing anti-inflammatory proteins. Foods such as oats, nuts and grains are high in fibre and should be incorporated into your diet to ensure you’re getting your daily intake.
You don’t need to follow strict diets, it’s just all about remaining mindful of what you’re putting in your body, making sure you’re getting enough vitamins, and maintaining a good balance of food groups.
Drink Lots of Water
We all know how important water is—it’s the fuel for the body, and not enough of it can hurt your immune system and bring down your energy levels, making you more susceptible to winter illnesses. Staying hydrated is crucial, and for good reason, as hydration has a huge number of benefits for your health.
Water doesn’t just help break food down, but it helps to dissolve the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that your food carries, allowing your body to easily absorb them. Some studies have linked water to the activation of your metabolism, which has shown positive effects on energy levels.
Due to how often we drink it, it’s easy to overlook how important it really is. Improving physical performance, digestion, nutrient absorption, blood oxygen circulation, and generally improving your overall immunity and energy levels is only a fraction of what it can do for us!
Keep Active
No matter how cold it is, or how hard it may be to get out of your bed in the morning, there is no excuse for being inactive! Exercise is equally important as food and water. Physical activity keeps our bodies warm, and aids in keeping away sicknesses such as cold and flu. Exercising allows for white blood cells to circulate through your body at a faster rate, helping fight off infections.
You won’t need to run a marathon or go to the gym twice a day, but simple exercise such as yoga or walking can do wonders for your body and general health, as long as you make it a regular part of your schedule.
Sleep Well
At night, most people will plug in their devices to charge up, ensuring they have the power and energy to support you through the coming day, and this is just what sleep does for humans! We need to charge up to keep our immune system healthy and working to fight away the nasty infections winter brings. Higher stress levels can negatively impact your health, but sleeping works to help us eliminate the stress hormones in our bodies while rejuvenating energy and allowing us to start the day at full battery, so long as you get your full 8 hours.
Studies surrounding sleep and sickness have shown that those getting insufficient sleep are much more likely to catch a cold or flu after being in contact with an infected person, as well as needing more time to recover. The relationship between sleeping and immunity comes from the production of infection-fighting antibodies, which is why adequate sleep is mandatory to maintaining a healthy life.
Leave the Stress to Us
Stress plays a huge role in getting sick and weakening the immune system, so leave the stress to us! Fairview Lifestyle Village is a positive community, where we take care of housekeeping, safety, and provide 24/7 medical support, so you can relax and focus on living your best life. If you’re interested in joining our North Shore retirement villages, come and have a chat with our friendly staff today to organise a visit today.
