In a time when we are all aware of the health of our community, it’s great to step back and think about how we can help ourselves, and in turn help the entire community. Preventative medicine is something we should all embrace & practice each and every day, not just when winter rolls around.
It’s always good to bring it back to basics when we are overloaded with information from lots of different sources – so keep washing your hands, staying at home if you’re under the weather, and covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze.
Here are my Top 5 Tips below for some added help in keeping our community at its best!
1. Maintain a healthy diet
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- Specifically, lots of Vitamin C & Zinc. These vitamins give your body the best chance at being strong against any bugs this cold & flu season. Vitamin C not only increases antibodies, but it also increases phagocytosis and chemotaxis – essentially meaning it is the fuel for our immune system! Zinc is the mineral teammate of Vitamin C and can be found in lots of nuts & seeds, as well as meat sources.
2. Switch off when you can
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- Managing your stress levels allows your body to better regulate cortisol (our primary stress hormone), this protects our T cells – the soldiers of our immune system – from being destroyed or not produced properly. Stress can weaken our immune system and reduce its ability to keep us healthy. It’s okay to block notifications on our phone for the night or read a book instead of the paper sometimes!
3. Exercise – keep that body moving!
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- By being physically active you are able to increase your body’s ability to flush out the bad stuff especially from your lungs, as well as slowing the release of stress hormones which weaken our immune system. Exercise can also increase our fighter cells in our body, not only in number but in function too, allowing us to have better ability to fight off infections. Getting out in the fresh air is our best bet at the moment so dust off the bike or get the dog lead out and enjoy the movement!
4. Get a good sleep EVERY night
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- Sleep is the time where our body grows as a child, and as an adult its where our body gets to recover and restart for the next day. Sleep allows our brain to produce and circulate chemicals that have an impact on our hunger, muscle recovery and energy levels, and if our body has energy to be active we have energy to keep the bad guys out of our immune system!
5. Hydration
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- It’s vital to our body every single day for many, many reasons but when it comes to immunity it plays an important role in preventing bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites from growing in our body, keeping our skin moisturised to protect us from disease, lubricating our sinuses and mucous membranes to prevent infection & disease. Hydrating ourselves (especially with water) helps keep our metabolism and circulation be as efficient as possible.
I hope these tips give you some guidance and we look forward to continuing to helping the Surf Coast Community! The whole team at Torquay Sports Medicine is here to help, so please email or call if you have questions about keeping healthy, active & happy at this time!
Bridget Pledge
Osteopath