1. Exercise
This one might seem like an obvious one, but I think it’s important to add it to the list. Whether you are already exercising on a regular basis or you are telling yourself you really should get some more movement in your daily routine, this will hopefully serve as a good reminder.
Let’s get right to it! Exercise does a few things for you, it helps you keep a healthy weight (or lose weight). The heavier you are, the harder your body is working to keep everything functioning… Workout to keep that extra weight under control!
Another benefit, a strong heart! Good cardiovascular health is essential to keep a healthy body and therefore a strong immune system. Your heart is the pump that gets your blood flowing which contains all the nutrients, all the good things your body needs to function properly, make sure the pump is working at its full potential. Good circulation means various cells can get to where they need to, to prevent infections and a whole bunch of diseases.
The list could go on, but for me and I’m sure for a lot of you too, life can get pretty stressful. Especially during these uncertain times. Working out is a great way to blow off some steam and reduce your anxiety levels. Working out promotes the release of endorphins, which interact with your brain receptors, and not to get too sciency: they make you feel good. Who doesn’t like to get high, naturally? Because that is basically what endorphins are: a natural way for you to get high and feel good, isn’t your body just amazing?
So when is the best time to exercise? Wouldn’t now be a good time?!! Ideally get your session in the morning, it’s a great way to wake up, and if you do a really good intense workout, you will get an added benefit that your day will seem easier. When you push yourself to the limit physically, nothing in your day will be quite as challenging.
If you are just starting out, remember, the hardest part is to get to the gym. Or don’t go to the gym, go for a walk, dance, whatever you find fun that will get your heart rate up and make you break a sweat. (Also, if you are just starting out, make sure to take it easy at first, please don’t hurt yourself!)
We personally love HIIT and Yoga, the best part of them: they don’t require any equipment and they promote a strong heart and increased mobility and flexibility.
2. Take A Cold Shower
After a good workout, you will need to wash off all that sweat, why not with a cold shower? If you are thinking, hell no! Workout sure, but cold showers: I am not a fan! Well, bear with me.
Studies have shown that cold showers increase the production of white blood cells in your body. Guess what they do? They fight off unwanted bacterias diseases from your body! Some researchers also believe that a cold shower can increase the metabolic rate of your body, therefore increasing your immune system response and you know what else, helping you burn fat! Which in turn means you keep a healthier weight which means your body doesn’t have to work as hard which means? You boost your immune system!
There have also been studies that show that people who take cold showers on a regular basis have less anxiety. There are a few reasons for this, one of them is the idea that by inflicting yourself a little bit of stress from the cold shower, your mind becomes stronger and is more capable to deal with stressful situations.
That brings me to my next point about cold showers, they increase your willpower. Trust me, I get it. Cold showers aren’t fun. But you know what, now I love them. At first, it is hard, you have to convince your mind to just do it! (Nike would be proud, maybe that should be their next campaign! An athlete taking an ice bath or something wearing special ice bath nike gear, anyways getting sidetracked.) At first, it’s unpleasant, but you know what, that feeling doesn’t last very long, and it is often replaced by a feeling that is rather enjoyable (at least for myself). After you are done with the cold shower, you will have a feeling of pride that you did it, and that is a great way to build momentum for your day.
Want to give it a try now? Great, but if you are not used to taking cold showers, don’t just go and do it, please, I do not want to give you any traumas. Start by taking a shower as you normally do, and the last 30 seconds of the shower gradually change it to cold. Cold enough to be slightly uncomfortable. If you keep doing this, you will find that you can tolerate colder and colder temperatures. Someday you might even take an ice bath and enjoy it! If you want to learn more about the benefits and techniques to endure cold showers or ice baths. Check out the WimHofMEthod (https://www.wimhofmethod.com/)
3. Get Some Vitamin D a.k.a Sun
“Vitamin D can modulate the innate and adaptive immune responses. Deficiency in vitamin D is associated with increased autoimmunity as well as an increased susceptibility to infection.” (Aranow C. Vitamin D and the immune system. J Investig Med. 2011;59(6):881-886. doi:10.2310/JIM.0b013e31821b8755)
In simpler terms, Vitamin D plays a critical role in the proper function of your immune system.
Vitamin D does a whole bunch of stuff, for example it helps you absorb calcium which means you have stronger bones.
Vitamin D is also known to help give you a nice and healthy skin and help to heal it when it is damaged.
The main ways we get vitamin D is from the sun and from your diet. You can of course also take supplements but the easiest way really is to just get some sun. Of course, your genetic makeup, the brand of sunscreen you use and all that jazz will affect how much time it will take for you to get enough vitamin D from the sun.
There is no rule set in stone, everyone will be slightly different but on average try to get 10 minutes of midday sun a few times a week. Again if you are more tanned, you might need more, if your skin is ultra-sensitive, you might need less. If you are getting sunburned, you are getting too much! It’s your skin, your body, go out, and experiment! If you have sensitive skin try the mornings or late afternoons instead.
The best part, getting sun is absolutely free and for most of the world, it’s available 12 hours a day, so take full advantage! But please, do wear sunscreen!
4. Get Some Fresh Air
Kinda goes with the last point, to get some sun. So if you are getting sun, you should by default also be doing this. Ideally get some fresh air near some form of nature, think trees, bushes, plants.
The smells of nature, the cool breeze, the whiff of oxygen, they will not only be very pleasant but uplifting. If you have been stuck indoors, at the office, or at home in quarantine, you probably feel kinda down in the dumps…
Fresh air will revitalize you, make you feel more alert and awake. I mean, breathing is kind of our thing, well any living creature really. If you live in a city, or you are constantly indoors, the quality of the air you are getting is not great.
So find some greenery and just be in the moment and just breathe! Ideally, do it while it’s sunny, 2 for 1. It’s on your time so make the most of it! While you are at it, be barefoot! It has been shown that your body can absorb energy from the earth when there is skin contact. We are children of this planet after all, without it we cannot sustain ourselves!
5. Reduce Your Caffeine Intake
This picture looks gorgeous doesn’t it, almost makes me want to get a cup of coffee now just looking at it. (I’m sorry, I had to, but please drink responsibly!)
I can already hear all the haters, saying no. Do not take away my caffeine. You take away my caffeine, I am no longer responsible for all the horrible things I might do or say. And to those people I say, the fact that you are so desperately attached to coffee is perhaps why it is a good idea to reduce your intake. Any form of addiction isn’t healthy. But hey, no judgment, I am still there somedays… Somedays, if you approach me before I get a cup of joe, you will experience wrath and fury of a biblical nature. We are all work in progress.
It’s all in the dosage! Caffeine itself can be very beneficial to your health and immune system. But don’t be one of those people:” if one cup is good, then 5 should be even more amazing!” Wrong!!!! Those extra 4, will actually reduce your immune system’s ability to function properly.
Why? Because excess caffeine promotes the release of cortisol which is a stress hormone. Cortisol has its uses. In a fight or flight situation, a situation that is stressful, literally, your body will release cortisol in order to give you energy. Cortisol will cause your body to tap into its sugar and fat reserves to give you the physical energy to deal with the stressful situation. Let me finish, because I know some of you are thinking, great more coffee = burning fat and releasing sugar. What’s not to like? Well again, over time, this is not good for you. Because in the long run, this will cause high blood pressure, weight gain, acne, and a whole bunch of other bad things but one of the worst ones: a weaker immune system.
If you are not sure whether or not you are drinking too much coffee, you most likely are. This is not to tell you to quit drinking coffee but to reduce it. Maybe don’t have multiple cups in a day? And if you are having just one, maybe don’t make it a 1 gallon-sized coffee cup?
6. Lay Off The Booze!
I thought about putting a nice picture of whiskey but I didn’t want to temp you to go get a drink like I did earlier with the coffee, so no picture this time! (Whiskey is a personal favorite, so all of you thinking why not a picture of beer, or wine, well it’s my article, deal with it!)
Anyways,if you weren’t a fan of me before, you are definitely not now. Well that’s okay, haters are gonna hate!
“Clinicians have long observed an association between excessive alcohol consumption and adverse immune-related health effects such as susceptibility to pneumonia. In recent decades, this association has been expanded to a greater likelihood of acute respiratory stress syndromes (ARDS), sepsis, alcoholic liver disease (ALD), and certain cancers; a higher incidence of postoperative complications; and slower and less complete recovery from infection and physical trauma, including poor wound healing.”(Sarkar D, Jung MK, Wang HJ. Alcohol and the Immune System. Alcohol Res. 2015;37(2):153-155.)
In other words, too much booze is no Bueno. Although fun, not going to lie, and a great social glue, and pretty great way to wind down after a particularly stressful week, booze can be toxic ( but you probably have experienced that firsthand).
Hey, we all need to let loose sometimes, but if you are letting loose on the regular, you really aren’t doing yourself any favors. Yes, we are all going to die someday, but aging gracefully has its benefits too.
One of the first places your alcohol intake touches is the Gastrointesintestinal system (GI for short and because it sounds cool). From there it gets absorbed into the blood but not before altering your gut microbiome. There are a bunch of microbes and cells in your guts that are good for you, too much booze will mess it up. That will have consequences for other parts of your body such as your liver. Overall too much booze brings down your immune system. There are extensive studies detailing the physical destruction of booze can cause your body, not to mention the impact it can have on the people around you. Not to call you an alcoholic, but hey it’s all about trying to make more good decisions than bad ones.
Love your booze? Don’t blame you. A glass of red wine has been shown to have health benefits. That is one glass, emphasis on the one! Also, not every red wine is made equal, so make sure you drink quality red wine. On the occasion that you do overindulge, make sure you hydrate, exercise, and get rid of the toxins as soon as you can. Don’t get rid of the problem by popping pills and drowning yourself in coffee. As we talked about earlier, too much caffeine is also no Bueno.
7. Get In A Decent Amount Of ZZZZ’s
“… sleep deprivation is an illegal torture method outlawed by the Geneva Convention and international courts, but most of us do it to ourselves.”
― Ryan Hurd
Do you wake up feeling refreshed, or do you wake up with this feeling of dread, tired and already wishing you could sleep a bit longer? It is harder than ever to disconnect and get a good night’s sleep. There are all these hacks nowadays, alternate ideas on how to master sleep. There’s this whole culture that says sleep is a waste of time, that you should always be on the go, always be doing something. Unfortunately, we are not at a stage of development yet where we do not need sleep.
Personally, I rather enjoy sleeping, dreaming is one of the greatest experiences available to us. It beats going to the movies for me but maybe that’s just me. So how important is sleep exactly?
Lack of sleep is bad for you for so many different reasons, not to mention that you will most likely be cranky and not producing at your most efficient level.
This article is about improving your immune system so, there’s an extensive list of things that I could write about what lack of sleep does for you but I’d like to think most of us have direct experience with the results of lack of sleep. From burnouts, to putting on extra weight, lack of sleep is a killer, literally. So get some good sleep. It’s not just a matter of how many hours you are sleeping but the quality of your sleep.
How can you get quality sleep?
Limit your caffeine intake. If you insist on having lots of coffee, try to cut yourself off before 4 pm in the afternoon. This will give you time for your body to return to a natural state. Second, avoid screens an hour before bed, more if you can. Screens prevent you from entering a more relaxed state, although you might feel relaxed watching Netflix in bed, your mind is wide awake. Your body will in turn not relax properly and it will take longer for you to reach deep sleep. Instead, do something relaxing before bed, read, take a bath, create a nice cozy routine that will help you wind down.
Lastly, get some cuddles in, if you have a partner, skin on skin contact will help release oxytocin which will help slow down your heart rate and relieve pain. Pretty cool right. Or why not even have a little horizontal sport session? That will definitely get you in a happy relaxed state for bed with the additional benefit of making your heart pump and releasing extra neurotransmitters like dopamine for a happy relaxed night.
8. Meditate
Some would argue sleep is a form of meditation, I personally agree with that statement. So if instead of meditating you prefer to take a power nap, go ahead!
I personally find meditation very helpful. For me, meditating helps me fight off anxiety, stress, depression but most of all it helps me focus. Stress is hard to avoid, and it can really dampen your ability to focus, not to forget the effectiveness of your immune system.
Your mind can have a tremendous impact on the health of your body. If you know anyone that has had any serious injuries or that has been in the hospital, you will know how important it is for them to have a positive mindset. If you give up the fight in your mind, the body follows.
So what makes meditation so special?
Meditation has been shown to reduce blood pressure, to alleviate anxiety and stress both mentally and physically. It helps people focus more which for me helps reduce even more stress. When you are focused, the quality of your work and the quality your relationships increases. Therefore the pressure to meet deadlines, to give attention to the important people in your life is more manageable.
Just meditating for 10 minutes a day will have a tremendous impact on how you feel and cope with your day. It might feel like a waste of time at first but trust me, taking 10 minutes out of the day for yourself will help you regain time. If you really don’t have even 10 minutes to take out of your day to breathe and calm down, you might want to re-evaluate your commitments.
There is still a lot of research to be done on the effects of meditation on the mind and body but a lot of it points to meditation being a great way to improve your performance and feelings of gratitude and fulfillment.. Give it a try, and see the benefits for yourself.
9. Grab a Pint With a Friend, or a Glass of Rosé, Whatever You Like, it’s Your Money!
I know the title says things that don’t require money, I know, I know.I know I also told you to cut down your booze intake, yes, that is all true.
All I am saying is to have one beer, or cocktail or glass of wine or even a glass of water with a friend. No matter how busy you are, you should always make time for friends. We are social animals, sharing our burden with friends, with people we care about is vital.
People who have a community tend to live longer.
“One study, which examined data from more than 309,000 people, found that lack of strong relationships increased the risk of premature death from all causes by 50% — an effect on mortality risk roughly comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and greater than obesity and physical inactivity.”-Harvard Health Publishing
Everyone needs love and care. Time with friends, family, loved ones is essential to having good health. It’s vital just to feel happy and fulfilled overall. Make sure you make time for the important people in your life.
An added benefit of hanging out with friends, you will most likely have the chance to laugh.You know what they say, laughter is the best medicine. There are studies that literally prove this point, laughing does indeed promote your good health. So if you don’t have time for any of the other ones, please, at least make time for what’s important, and to me, it’s the people that make the journey worthwhile.
During these times, I know that meeting someone face to face might be a bit complicated. You can still schedule a face time meeting an have a drink virtually, together.
Want to dive deeper? Here are some resources to get you started.
About Cold Showers:
The Wim Hoff Method: https://www.wimhofmethod.com/
About Vitamin D:
For the full article where I pulled the quote from:
About your booze intake:
For the full article where I got your most favorite quote of all times, here you go: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4590612/
About why you should have a beer with a friend, or a glass of Rose, whatever:
Here is the full Article by Havard Health:
Want even more info? Stick around for another post or you know, google it!
