8 ways to optimize your immunity and protect your health.
Basic health and fitness habits can help. Use these proven strategies to master them.
By Bradley Roehrig (BSc)
Let’s start with the hard truth.
You can’t fully control whether you catch a cold, the flu, or COVID-19.
You also can’t control how your body will react once it’s exposed to a pathogen.
There are many different factors that determine your body’s response. Some you can impact, like nutrient deficiencies or. Others you can’t do anything about, like your age.
But even among the factors you can influence, no single tweak or “hack” can control such a complex system. (Short of a proven vaccine or drug therapy.)
No magical supplement, superfood, diet plan, or exercise routine can ensure you’ll stay healthy.
There is good news, though: When it comes to your immune system, your daily actions can make a meaningful difference.
By consistently practicing healthy behaviours, you can:
reduce your exposure and susceptibility
help optimise your immune function over time
better prepare your body to fight off foreign invaders
Plus, focusing on constructive behaviours might help you feel just a little bit more in control. And that could help ease the anxiety and stress that come with all the uncertainty.
Our suggestion: Prioritise the “big rocks,” or pillars, of a healthy lifestyle.
Eat mostly minimally-processed whole foods
Get enough protein, fruits, and vegetables
Consume an appropriate number of calories (to avoid or lose excess body fat)
Move regularly
Reduce smoking and/or excessive alcohol consumption
Get adequate sleep
Manage stress
Protect yourself from direct exposures (wear a mask).
Eating protein at every meal is hard enough on its own, and your grocery store might be sold out of the kind you like right now. (You might also have less money for groceries than before.)
Some people have way less time to work out than they used to, since they’re busy home-schooling or working double shifts. Others have MUCH higher stress levels than before.
So pick and choose the strategies that make the most sense and feel doable to you right now. You can always incorporate others later. But focus on the easiest option first. You can build more lasting habits on top later.
And remember: There’s nothing wrong with starting small. That’s where great progress often begins.
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