You may be vaccinated for COVID-19 but with the Delta variant spreading around and causing some breakthrough infections, you worry about how you will handle it. You already know that as long as you are under 65 or not immunocompromised, you will fare well and not need to be hospitalized if you catch a breakthrough infection, and with those getting booster shots, those who fall into those groups should be fine too. But you may worry still about how out of commission you will become if you end up with a breakthrough infection. There is also the flu and colds circulating now that people are getting together and everything is open. The bottom line is that you want to ensure that you keep your immune system strong for the winter. Let’s take a look at how to supercharge your immune system.
Vitamin C Helps
It is a no-brainer that the way to stave off a sickness or end up completely out of commission if you were to catch something is to load up on Vitamin C. That helps to keep your immune system strong and it helps to repair your tissues as well. Therefore, you will want to eat foods rich in Vitamin C such as citrus, leafy greens, tomatoes, and berries. These make excellent snacks.
Stick To A Diet Rich In Antioxidants
An antioxidant-rich diet will help keep you healthy as antioxidants not only strengthen your immune system and repair tissues but they help to kill off free radicals. Therefore, you will want to stick to foods such as berries, dark chocolate (in moderation), red wine (also in moderation), coffee, green tea, oily fish such as salmon, apples, artichokes, and kidney beans.
Take Probiotics
Having a healthy gut will keep you healthy as you want to have those healthy and helpful microbes in your intestines keeping your immune system strong. The way you can do that is by drinking a lot of water and eating fibrous foods such as whole grains as well as fruits and vegetables. You will want to also ensure that you take probiotics whether you eat fermented foods like saurkraut or yogurt, or take a supplement. Your gut health will also determine your health.
Garlic Is Good For You
If you are worried about eating garlic cloves because of the smell that you will give off after, then you can always take supplements that do not cause any odors. There is an active compound in garlic known as allicin which not only has antibacterial properties that will help ward off illnesses, but it has anti-inflammatory properties. That is what will help strengthen the immune system very well.
Ensure You Get Ample Sleep
You will want to make sure that you get enough sleep each night because lack of sleep on a continuous basis will unfortunately compromise your immune function. You want to ensure that you get no less than six hours of sleep but you also want to make sure that you don’t get more than nine hours either. Too much sleep can be as detrimental as not enough sleep unless you have a health condition that requires you to get a lot of rest.
Exercise
You will want to get your body moving each day as exercise is not just good to stay fit but it is good for your immune health. You only need to get in a half-hour of walking daily whether it is outdoors or on the treadmill. You can lift some weights as well to help keep yourself strong.
You also will want to cut down on sugar and alcohol to keep yourself strong and take supplements as well which will help you. Stay healthy!
