Boosting your immune system at home during the pandemic

Our immune systems are a complex structure of antibodies, blood cells, and organs. Some parts of the system can act as barriers to viruses and bacteria, they can help to prevent the diseases reaching organs and can remove any unwanted invaders from your body.

It is important to have a strong immune system to help us in our fight against diseases, although even the very strongest of immune systems cannot prevent us from contracting Covid-19. But we can do things to try and help by washing our hands regularly and keeping good hand hygiene and by social distancing and wearing a mask when we must go out.

Tips to help your immune systems

Taking steps to improve your immune system can help to keep you healthy and can aid the fight in combatting other common bugs such as flu or cold viruses.

It is believed that exercise and eating healthily can benefit your immune system and let us face it anything we can do to help that now; we should be doing to give us the best chance of fighting any infections that we may catch.

Nutrition can be a good foundation to boost your immune system, so eating healthy is key to keeping your body healthy.

• Vitamin C has antibodies that help against bacteria and infections, try to eat more oranges, broccoli, strawberries, and tomatoes to get a boost of vitamin C.
• Vitamin D is great for maintaining strong and healthy bones, it can be found in mushrooms, salmon, milk, and cereals.
• Vitamin A protects against infections and can help to regulate our immune systems, the best foods this can be found in is carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach.

Another thing we suggest for keeping healthy and something that is vital for your immune system is getting enough sleep! It is recommended that adults get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.

Exercise is believed to help you gain better immune function, de-stress, and lower levels of anxiety, not to mention feeling fitter and healthier in general. It will also help you sleep better each night.

Even if you do not want to do an actual exercise class or home gym session, just getting outside for a walk for 30 minutes a day will help, if you cannot manage 30 minutes straight away you can build up to it. Every minute really does count so do not worry if at first, you can only manage 10-15 minutes, every little helps!

While we cannot completely avoid getting sick, a good immune system can be the first line of defense in giving us the best chance of recovery if we do.