With cooler temperatures and changing foliage, autumn is many people’s favorite season. Despite its beauty, this season also brings greater challenges for your immune system. It’s essential to take extra steps to protect your health.
Today, we will discuss seven ways you can boost your immune health and help you stay healthy throughout the season.
Incorporate Immune-Boosting Foods Into Your Diet
The strength of your immune system is directly tied to what you eat.
Take advantage of seasonal autumn produce such as sweet potatoes, apples, kale, beets, squash, and more to help boost your immune health. These foods are good sources of vitamins and minerals and rich in antioxidant vitamins, which help your system combat free radicals that can cause cellular damage.
In addition to eating these foods, you can also help support a healthy immune system by improving your gut health. Eating foods rich in probiotics, such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, or sauerkraut, promotes a strong gut microbiome and combats inflammation.
Prioritize Vitamin D
Vitamin D is essential for strong bones, healthy muscles and nerves, and helping your immune system combat pathogens. Most people can obtain adequate vitamin D through sunlight exposure, which can become challenging as the days get shorter during the fall.
You can increase your vitamin D intake through fortified dairy products, egg yolks, mushrooms, and fatty fish. You can also get over-the-counter oral supplements at your local drugstore.
Vitamin D injections are another way you can increase your vitamin D intake; however, note that this option should only be used after a consultation with a medical professional. High doses of vitamin D can have negative interactions with certain medications, and taking too much of this vitamin can cause toxicity.
Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated is a simple way to support your immune health. Drinking enough liquids helps your body remove toxins and waste and helps keep the membranes in your nasal passages moist, which may help keep out germs and bacteria that can make you sick.
In addition to drinking water regularly, consider including green tea, ginger tea, or echinacea tea in your daily beverage rotation. These teas not only warm you, but contain antioxidants that can help promote a strong immune system.
If you need to rehydrate quickly, you can get IV therapy in Salem, Oregon and many other cities. Treatments typically take less than an hour and can be administered at your home or office. Additionally, some IV blends contain vitamins that can support your immune system for an added health boost.
Indoors or Outdoors, Exercise Regularly
Although cold weather and cloudy days can dampen your motivation to get outside, it’s essential to stay active as the temperature drops because exercise can help keep your immune system healthy. Walking, jogging, or visiting your local gym at least five days a week can help keep cold and flu away. If the weather is bad, remember that you can keep moving with strength training, yoga, and other indoor exercises.
Manage Chronic Stress
Autumn can be a stressful time for many people, as it signals the start of school and early prep for the holidays. Left unmanaged, stress can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to illnesses. Meditation, making time for yourself, getting out to enjoy the fall weather, and exercise can help you manage your stress levels and keep your immune system functioning at its best.
Prepare for Seasonal Allergies
Much like springtime, the changing seasons bring seasonal allergies. Ragweed, mold and mildew, and grasses are some of the most common fall allergens.
Although allergies don’t make you sick, they still trigger your immune system and cause symptoms such as runny nose, coughing, congestion, or sneezing.
Prepare for seasonal allergies by restocking allergy medications, replacing indoor air filters or HVAC filters, and monitoring pollen counts. If your allergies tend to be severe, work with your allergist to develop an effective allergy management plan. They can determine the right medications, lifestyle changes, and/or avoidance strategies to help prevent allergy flare-ups.
Maintain Good Hand Hygiene
During the fall, people tend to spend more time indoors, where close contact with others increases your risk of getting ill. Washing your hands is an easy and effective way to help prevent sickness.
Regularly washing your hands with soap and water is ideal. If you’re on the go and soap and water are unavailable, hand sanitizer is a convenient way to kill germs and keep your hands clean.
Autumn’s beauty is fleeting, and it’s important to enjoy it while it lasts. Taking steps to boost your immune health can help you enjoy everything this season has to offer.
Increasing your immune-boosting vitamin intake, staying hydrated, exercising, managing stress, and regularly washing your hands work together to keep viruses and bacteria away. Stay well and embrace this season to its fullest!
Sources
- https://www.eatright.org/food/food-groups/vegetables/9-fall-produce-picks-to-add-to-your-plate
- https://www.uclahealth.org/news/want-to-boost-immunity-look-to-the-gut
- https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/micronutrient-malnutrition/micronutrients/index.html#vitamind
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/vitamin-d-toxicity/faq-20058108#:~:text=The%20main%20consequence%20of%20vitamin,the%20formation%20of%20calcium%20stones.
- https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007165.htm
- https://acaai.org/allergies/allergic-conditions/seasonal-allergies/
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