Immune-Boosting Habits

Are you someone who rarely gets sick, or you do you feel like every bug going around chooses you? While the odd snuffle is almost inevitable, there are a few immune-boosting habits which can help keep you in good health. Even during the colder months when illnesses are most prevalent, try the following:

Sleep well

When you’r tired, your immunity can become compromised. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that people who slept less than seven hours a night were three times more likely to catch a cold or other bug than those who clock more than eight hours. Seven to nine hours of sleep seems to be the optimum to boost your immune system.

No smoking

There are no real benefits to smoking, but one proven benefit of kicking the habit is that you’ll stay healthier. Cigarette smoke appears to damage the mucus membranes, which act as the frontline barrier to infectious agents, making smokers twice as likely to catch a cold, and several times more likely to develop the flu.

Smoking suppresses your entire immune system as well as contributing to a slew of cancers. Just say no!

Eat well

Lots of fresh whole foods, fruit, vegetables and water, with a minimum of processed foods in your diet keep your immune system strong and ready to ward of illness.

Sweat it out

Another study from Seattle found that subjects who exercised regularly lowered their risk of colds, compared with their sedentary counterparts. Physical activity boosts levels of immune cells in the blood and saliva, and the exercisers had about half the number of colds over the course of the year.

If you do get sick however, rest and allow your body to use its energy to repair – that’s not the time to run around madly!

Wash well

It’s alarmingly simple – remember to wash your hands, particularly after being out. Plain soap and warm water does the job beautifully to wash away microbial threats, lowering the risk for illness. Research showed that people who used antimicrobial cleansers had no fewer colds than those who wash with regular soap.

Keep social

A healthy social life can help you stay physically healthy. Those with a diverse social network, exposed to a cold were found to be the least likely to succumb to the illness. Having six or more such ties (book clubs, bridge groups, church for example) gave people the greatest edge against illness. People with three or fewer such relationships were almost four times as likely to succumb to the bug. Researchers chalk up the results to friendship’s stress-buffering effects.

The same goes for having an active sense of humour – healthy people who watched funny videos showed significantly greater activity of their body’s infection-fighting NK cells than people who saw a tourism video in the same study.

A drink in moderation

Doctors aren’t suggesting that patients start drinking to prevent colds, but they do concur that the odd glass of red wine is protective against colds, probably due to the anti-inflammatory action of the phenol, resveratrol. Drinking a glass or two of wine has been shown to be good for your heart health. But it’s also associated with a lower risk for respiratory illnesses, says Dr. Cohen, who has studied the effect, at Harvard University School of Public Health. Keep in mind that drinking more than two glasses a day can actually raises the risk for infections.

Look on the bright side

are three times more likely to avoid a cold than those who were depressed, anxious, or angry. Positive attitudes lower stress hormones like cortisol that make people more prone to illness. Try cultivating a more optimistic outlook to keep illness at bay.