A: Great question! When we are busy, busy focusing on everything but ourselves our bodies go into a fight or flight mode. The fight or flight mode was created to help us run away from the lion that was chasing us. Only now our lion is called stress. The body doesn’t really know the difference between lions and stress because the same signals and chemicals are released in either siutation. The immune system weakens when we are in that state because it is more important to run away from the lion chasing us rather than fighting off a virus. The lion will eat us way before the virus so the body sends signals to the immune system to leave their post and help in other ways to run from the lion. This is why we often get sick when we are stressed. Long term stress = more significant illnesses.
Let’s focus on some immune boosting tips…
- Make time to breathe and slow down! Seriously. Don’t get sucked into all the hype of the season and stay focused on what really matters and yes, your health is at the top of the list.
- Exercise – even 10 minutes of getting your heart rate up will boost your immune system.
- Go outdoors – studies show taking a walk outside and noticing nature will boost your immune system
- Sleep – this is very important. Our immune system declines when we are sleep deprived.
- Take key supplements. There are so many that are good for the immune system. Scroll below to learn about a few of them.
