Why It Pays to Boost Your Immune System This Summer
Why It Pays to Boost Your Immune System This Summer
Summer is all about having fun under the sun with friends and family! Find out how boosting your immune system can help you avoid common summer illnesses.
Why It Pays to Boost Your Immune System This Summer
Summer is all about the outdoors, which is why people take advantage of the sunny weather to engage in various sports and physical activities. Some go on vacation and focus on sun, surf, and sand before fall makes it too cold to go for a swim. While this is definitely the perfect season to enjoy nature and the outdoors, it is very important that people remember the risks that come with leaving the house. Spending time outside can make your immune system become more susceptible to germs and allergens, not to mention cause various illnesses.
Three Simple Tips to Keep Your Immune System in Excellent Condition
So how do you keep yourself healthy and illness-free this summer? Below are a few tips that can help strengthen your immune system and help it fight the bad bacteria, viruses, and germs, that threaten to make you sick.
1. Adjust Your Diet
Your body cannot take any credit for being healthy and devoid of sickness, it relies solely on what you eat. All the vitamins and nutrients your body has come from what you consume. It only makes sense that the healthier your diet is, the better you feel about your body.
Now there are certain foods that are particularly known for boosting the immune system, which is your body’s ultimate defense. Knowing what food to eat can go a long way in avoiding common summer ailments, so you better start eating the following:
Antioxidants – They are the key to wiping out all those free radicals, reactive oxygen species, and other harmful molecules that are in your body and preventing certain types of cell damage. You
can get antioxidants from colorful fruits and vegetables, so eat as much carrots, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and tomatoes.
Vitamin D – You need vitamin D for healthy bones. They can enhance your body’s absorption of iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and zinc. Where do you get Vitamin D? Eat plenty of canned tuna, salmon, mackerel, oysters, low-fat milk, yogurt, and mushrooms.
2. Stay Active
Nothing beats summer as the perfect time to exercising and getting enough physical activity outdoors, as the sunny weather is made for it. People have both indoor and outdoor options to getting in shape, so there is no excuse to staying active.
Exercise helps stimulate your body’s blood flow as well as cardiovascular activity. It also helps flush out any excess bacteria that is in your lungs. In addition, the process of exercise can send your antibodies and white blood cells quicker to various parts of your body, so they can protect your body faster than normal. Another good reason to do jumping jacks and what not is that doing so can help you sleep better, not to mention the fact that it helps manage, if not reduce, stress.
30-minute walks in the park
One hour bike ride
Biking instead of driving to work
Jogging with your pet
18 holes of golf
An hour or two hours of tennis every week
3. Sleep Well for Eight Hours
The National Sleep Foundation recommends eight hours’ worth of sleep to be able to call your visit to dreamland a proper night’s rest. You see, sleep does more than prepare you for the day ahead. In fact, sleep is crucial when it comes to fighting disease. When a person is asleep, his or her immune system is releasing specific proteins that are called cytokines. These proteins are responsible for fighting symptoms of infection. This is why people who lack sleep often find themselves getting sick more easily and more frequently.
If you need more guidance on taking care of yourself, visit http://www.freddabranyon.com/ for more health-related articles.
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