How to keep healthy and avoid the flu and colds this season
It seems to me that people are more scared than ever this year after the hype of the swine flu that so many of my patients are telling me they are getting the flu vaccine. Although it may seem to be the answer, the flu vaccination does not guarantee avoiding the flu or the many different cold viruses that are going around. Instead, using your body’s amazingly strong defense mechanisms might be the safest and most effective way to fight off the bugs and viruses.
The following are a few tips that can help you stay healthy:
- Optimize your vitamin D. Vitamin D is actually a “pro-hormone“. I am sure you have heard about it for bone health, but it is also a powerful immune modulator. Spend 20 minutes a day in the sunshine without sunscreen. If this isn’t possible due to your weather or work schedule then you will want to supplement with Vitamin D. A good maintenance dose is 2000 iu daily and if you are working to raise your level the recommendation is 10,000 iu daily for 1-3 months and retest.
- Stress Less! Stress lowers natural killer cell activity and depletes vitamin C. What to do? Bust a gut…a little laughter daily raises natural killer cells and interferon.
- Sleep Deep! Just one night of poor sleep raises stress hormones and impairs immune function. Step one is making sure that you are MAKING TIME 7-9 hours of high quality sleep nightly.
- Kick the sugar habit. 75 grams of sugar(ie 300 calories or the equivalent of most desserts…) can lower the ability of white blood cells to kill germs by as much as 40%. Time to make a lateral shift to fresh berries with some slivered almonds on top!
- And speaking of berries, be sure you are getting in your rainbow of fruits and veggies dailyfor the natural antioxidants, anti-viral and anti-bacterial effects, ant-inflammatories and Vitamin C.
- Supplement your fruits and veggies with some extra Vitamin C. It takes 18 small oranges to reach the 1000 iu dose that is optimal during cold and flu season. Vitamin C boosts your body’s ability to produce antibodies and other immune system cells, is antiviral AND reduces the severity of the common cold. The easiest and tastiest way I have found to get my daily dose is by using Emergen-C packets or their new Emergen-C shots(try the Immune+ one).
- Burst to blast fat AND boost your immune system. Steady state endurance training creates more oxidative stress on the body AND has been found to lower immune system functioning immediately post exercise. Not so with high intensity interval training(ie all out burst for 30-60 seconds, recover for twice as long and repeat to accumulate 4-8 minutes of all out bursts). This type of exercise teaches your body how to handle stress better and raises growth hormone so incorporate it into your schedule three days a week(and don’t use the “time excuse”, you only need 4 minutes to make a significant difference!)
So don’t just rely on drugs and vaccines to stay healthy this flu season, make lifestyle changes that will keep you healthy and strong for whatever comes your way!
For more information on this topic, email me at drhaque [at] haquechiropractic [dot] com
