This article is part of a brand collaboration.
There are people who seem to have been blessed with a highly efficient immune system. They can seemingly avoid getting sick even after attending every social event in the neighborhood at the height of the cold season.
Unfortunately, their ability to avoid exhibiting symptoms of contagious illnesses is not shared by everyone. This, however, doesn’t mean that one’s chances of avoiding sicknesses rely entirely on luck and genetics. People have little control over the things that they have been born with, but there are still things that can be done to ensure that a person can have a better chance of avoiding common illnesses.
If you want to boost your immunity or at least lessen your chances of getting sick days, consider incorporating these habits into your lifestyle:
Follow Health and Safety Guidelines
As the most recent pandemic has demonstrated, it takes more than one person to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. You can do your part in limiting the spread of flu and colds as well as avoid being infected yourself by following health and safety guidelines during periods when infectious cases are on the rise. Before you need it, buy antibacterial facemask that you can wash, wear, and bring with you wherever you go. In case someone around you starts exhibiting symptoms of illness, you can easily whip out your mask and wear it to protect yourself. Or if you start feeling ill, you can wear it to protect others.
Make a Habit of Washing Your Hands
Your hands come into contact with a lot of things over the course of the day. They may look clean to the naked eye, but the hands harbor plenty of microorganisms, some of which can harm the human body. The fingertips, especially, can host a lot of dangerous bacteria, which you can then pass on to other parts of your body as you touch your face, eyes, or mouth. Protect yourself from illnesses that are caused by the bacteria on your fingertips by making a regular habit of washing your hands.
If you don’t have reliable access to soap and water, such as when you’re using public transportation, you can bring a bottle of sanitizer. Use it to clean your hands after touching contaminated surfaces like countertops, doorknobs, and even your digital devices.
Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
While too much stress doesn’t exactly introduce harmful microbes to your body, it can suppress your immune system and make you more susceptible to getting diseases. If you want to stay healthy, you must stay on top of your stressors and find ways to unwind after a hard day’s work. One way to do this would be to engage in meditation and mindfulness. You can practice meditation every day, but you can also do it to counteract the effects of stress on your body, especially when you’re starting to feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities. Now, meditation not only helps you avoid diseases. According to a study, those who practice mindfulness also suffer fewer symptoms and shorter periods of illness due to colds.
Get Enough Sleep and Rest
Sleep is an important component of a healthy lifestyle, and it’s imperative that you get enough hours of it every night if you want to minimize your chances of getting ill. At least 6 hours of sleep per night should be the minimum. If you have a hard time sleeping, how about improving your sleep hygiene and setting a particular bedtime that will enable you to get enough snooze hours? By sleeping at a set time every night, you’re training your body to start going to rest mode whenever your bedtime arrives. This, in turn, can help you sleep faster and better.
Add Variety to Your Diet
To stay healthy and to make your immune system more efficient, you need to eat well and consume different kinds of foods. Adding variety to your diet will give you a better chance of supplying your body with the complete array of vitamins and minerals it needs to stay healthy, active, and strong. You can add more vegetables to your diet if you haven’t done so yet. The addition of vegetables to daily meals can help build up your immune system and make it more effective at keeping sickness at bay.
Keeping Illnesses Contained: What to Do When It Gets to You
In case you still fall sick after consistently practicing all these strategies, you can still do your part in ensuring that you will not spread the illness to other people. If you’re feeling under the weather, for example, you can be kinder to yourself and take a day off work. This will allow your body to rest and perhaps even prevent the disease from spreading in your workplace. Covering your face when you cough or sneeze and disinfecting the surfaces you come in contact with also go a long way in containing the transmission of illnesses.
Sticking to these habits will help you keep the people around you safe and healthy and will also make you less likely to catch and transmit viruses, bacteria, and other vectors of disease in the future.
