With the winter chill setting in, we’re in need of taking steps to support our immune system to keep our health anxieties in check and raise our chances of staying healthy throughout the biting cold. It’s quite easy to feel run down and like your day has whizzed past because of the shorter daylight hours available to us for these few months which can in turn make us more susceptible to picking up the sniffles and other bugs. Beat the cold and keep up a healthy routine despite the darker days with Models Direct’s tips to support your immune system this winter.
Eat to support beneficial gut bacteria
It goes without saying, eating a varied and balanced diet of fruit and veg to support a healthy gut flourish with good bacteria is one essential way of supporting a healthy immune system. A ‘food first’ approach is key to getting the essential vitamins and minerals within and then supplementing with pro- and prebiotics. Models know how important this point is when they’re on the go and stamina is one ingredient for assignment success.
Health trends claiming that one vitamin or mineral can supercharge your immune system can be misleading as all nutrients are important and balance out their benefits. It’s useful to know what the role is of each vitamin and mineral is.
Vitamin A is essential for embryo development and growth, for maintenance of the immune system, and for vision.
Vitamin B complex (a group of 8 types of vitamin B) allows your body to turn food into energy, creates new blood cells and maintains skin and brain cells along with other body tissues.
Vitamin C contributes to the normal functioning of your immune system, maintaining healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage.
Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in your body keeping bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant which is important for vision, reproduction and the health of your blood, brain and skin.
Vitamin K is important for helping wounds to heal.
Minerals such as calcium, iron, selenium, zinc, magnesium and so on, also part vital roles in helping our body to function.
Be kind to you
We get swept away with the grind of everyday life so it’s important to check in on yourself and see how you are feeling from within. Be kind to yourself, who you are as a person, your passions, your dreams and inspirations and your mental well-being. If your stress hormones like cortisol and norepinephrine get the better of you, your immune response will be affected. Stay happy, smile, laugh, be around positive people, people you care about and who care about you, to give you a lift.
Keep on moving
Moving around will help increase white blood cells (which like to zap infections) and slow down the overall age-related deterioration of your immune system. This doesn’t mean you have to work up a sweat, moving around to clean the house, going up and down the stairs or walking around can be great ways of getting physical activity in. You can then start to incorporate movements such as squats, jogging on the spot and lunges every so often during the day till they become part of your daily routine. The more you move, the better you’ll feel, and the overall health of your immune system will feel it too!
Sleep well
We might feel more rundown during the winter with the illusion that the whole day has gone past as soon as the sun goes down. One way to help is to sleep well since this is one of the most important things we rely on as humans. Sleep helps us to shut down, gives our minds and bodies time to relax, detox and repair. Having poor sleep will do the opposite and impair our immune function which isn’t something we want to encourage.
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