Even if you wash your hands religiously, and try to steer clear of people at home or in the office that are hacking and sneezing, fighting against all the germs and illnesses that seem to proliferate in winter is an uphill battle. While we can’t promise these natural immunity boosters will keep you from needing to take a single sick day this winter, incorporating them into your life may improve your chances of less severe sickness, a quicker recovery time, and even avoiding “catching” a bug in the first place.
Eat More Garlic
Garlic is one of the most potent of all superfoods! Not only does it go back thousands of years for treatment of sickness, but recent studies back up the legendary claims for garlic boosting your immune system. Start including garlic powder or fresh chopped garlic in meals, and take a garlic capsule or two each day.
Sleeping
Staying up all night can wreak havoc on your immune system, making you more likely to catch a virus and making it even harder to fight it off. If you are having trouble sleeping, you can try these tips to improve your sleep. Do your body a favor: Ditch the late-night screen time and get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
Drink Herbal Tea
There is evidence that green tea and chamomile tea can help strengthen the immune system. It is proven that Herbal Tea can offer a lot of benefits. Even if the effect is minimal, you can’t go wrong, since both are loaded with powerful antioxidants unique to each tea. For that reason, I try to drink a couple of cups of green tea with a small bit of raw honey early in the day, and then at night, I have a couple of cups of chamomile or mint tea.
Get Some Sunshine
Vitamin D is produced naturally in your body when your skin is exposed to UV radiation from the sun. Vitamin D acts more like a hormone than a vitamin. You should ensure that you have sufficient levels of vitamin D in your body. Vitamin D is thought to play a role in regulating the immune system.
Easy Exercise
When you feel sickness coming on, a super-high-intensity workout isn’t a good idea. You can even try this easy 4-minute office workout. Hard training forces the body to do a lot of recovery at a time when your body needs all of its energy to try and fight off the oncoming sickness. For this reason, if you think you may be getting sick, switch to light-intensity exercise.
Stay Away From Sugar
Just 10 teaspoons of sugar, the amount in two 12-ounce cans of soda or carbonated lemonade impairs the ability of white blood cells to deactivate or kill bacteria. Opt instead for a natural sweetener, such as one made from the stevia plant to boost the immune system.
If you are seeing the first signs of sickness, try this strong home ready courtesy of nouveauraw.com
Ingredients
- 1 pint Jar
- 1 cup of peeled garlic, separated into cloves
- raw honey to fill your glass jar of choice
Preparation
Fill the jar with garlic cloves and then pour the honey over the garlic. Allow mixture to infuse for a couple of days before using. Then store it in the refrigerator where it can be used for a year or more.
At the first sign of illness, start eating a clove every hour or two