It’s cold and flu season once again.  No one wants to catch pneumonia, bird flu or even a cold.  Therefore, it is important to listen to good advice regarding health and wellness, as well as listening to your body, especially this time of year.  Read on to keep yourself vibrantly healthy into the New Year.

A healthy immune system is the key to staying healthy during flu season.  Immunity is the condition that permits resistance to disease. ¹ A person with strong immunity will not only have a higher resistance to sickness, but also an easier time getting over sickness. ²  Increasing your immunity can help you experience greater health and vitality all year long.

Diet and lifestyle have a huge influence on immunity. ² To help you understand how diet and lifestyle can affect immunity we have created two lists. The first list contains items that hurt immunity. The second list contains items that help immunity.

Helps Immunity

• Exercise in moderation
• Plenty of rest
• Drinking adequate amounts of pure water
• High quality vitamin/mineral supplements to complement a healthy diet (taken in correct amounts)
• Good personal hygiene

Hurts Immunity

• Stressful lifestyle
• Lack of sleep
• A diet high in processed foods and low in fruits and vegetables
• Poor personal hygiene
• A lack of water and/or drinking polluted water
• Lack of exercise
• Use of drugs and/or alcohol

While it is not always possible to do everything on the helpful list, it is a good idea to keep these factors in mind as you go through your day, to keep your immunity strong and prevent illness.  Hippocrates, the father of medicine said that prevention is preferable to cure. ³

However, sometimes the factors that are hurtful to immunity tend to add up.  Stress, poor diet, lack of sleep and a lack of exercise can happen.  This is where supplements, taken in proper amounts, can help to increase your immunity.  It is also important to understand that supplements should not be used in excess.  To achieve truly great immunity, a balance of items on the helpful list is essential.  Excessive consumption of supplements can be harmful.

When it comes to supplements, the concept of synergy is important to understand.  This basically means that certain vitamins and/or minerals work much better when taken with each other. ⁴  One example of this is vitamin c and zinc.  Studies have shown that the combination vitamin c and zinc is very helpful in getting rid of the common cold. ⁵

As a guide, use the lists above to increase your immunity as necessary. Remember that each person is unique; what is helpful for one person may not work for someone else. Listening to your body can be very helpful in determining what works best. Remember that supplements, when used properly, can provide a great boost to your immunity.

Sources:

1. Dictionary.com
   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/immunity
2. 10 Ways to Boost Immune Health.  Suite101.com
   http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/10_ways_to_boost_immune_health
3. Prevention Before Cure.  Natural Life Magazine.
   http://www.life.ca/nl/53/naturopathy.html
4. Dictionary.com
   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/synergy
5. Getting Rid of Common Cold Symptoms (Facts about Zinc and Vitamin C)  Ezine Articles.
   http://ezinearticles.com/?Getting-Rid-of-Common-Cold-Symptoms-(Facts-about-Zinc-and-Vitamin-C)&id=307174

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Disease. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.