Boosting your immune system is vital if you want your body to be capable of fighting off illnesses. As a personal health coach in London, I advise my clients to make certain lifestyle and dietary changes to strengthen their body’s natural defences so that they can better fight disease-causing organisms and harmful pathogens. Here are just a few of the natural ways you can boost your immunity.
Get Sufficient Sleep
Any life coach will tell you that immunity and sleep are closely linked to each other. If you don’t get enough sleep, or your sleep is poor quality, you’re more likely to become ill. Evidence has shown that people who sleep for under 6 hours per night have a greater chance of catching a cold than people who slept for longer.
You should try to get a minimum of seven hours sleep every night to boost your wellbeing. If you struggle to sleep, limit your screen time for 60 minutes before going to bed since blue light disrupts your body’s natural circadian rhythms.
Eat Plant-Based Foods
Whole plant-based foods such as vegetables, nuts, fruits, legumes and seeds are packed with antioxidants and nutrients to help you combat harmful pathogens. These goods contain antioxidants to decrease inflammation and so help to protect you from heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s among other conditions.
Fibre in plant-based foods also feed the gut microbiome and keep it healthy. This also boosts your immunity, keeping dangerous pathogens from getting into the body through the digestive tract.
Do More Exercise
As a personal trainer in Mayfair, I encourage my clients to do more exercise to boost their immunity. Intense, prolonged exercise is known to suppress the immune system, however moderate exercise is beneficial. Working out regularly reduces inflammation so the immune cells can regularly regenerate. You should try to do moderate exercise for a minimum of 150 minutes per week.
Manage Stress Properly
Anxiety and stress can harm your immunity significantly. In the long-term, stress can promote inflammation and cause imbalances in the way the immune cells function. Activities like journaling, meditation, and yoga can be very helpful to manage your mental and emotional wellbeing, while seeing a health coach can also be beneficial.
Take Supplements Effectively
Some supplements are known to strengthen the immune response in the human body. For example, vitamin C can help reduce the duration of a cold by 8% when taken in daily doses of 1000-2000mg. Vitamin D supplements can also help to prevent you from becoming sick if you’re already deficient and 75mg or more of zinc each day can reduce the duration of colds by 33%.
Nevertheless, not everybody needs supplements. It’s far better to include these vitamins and minerals in your daily diet to improve your wellness.
As you can see, there are a number of dietary and lifestyle changes you can make that will boost your immune system. The ones that I’ve listed here are a good place to start, and with the help of a health and lifestyle coach, you can maximise your wellness.
