The best we can do is arm our internal environment with what it needs to combat our external environment. Today it’s more important than ever to give your body everything it needs to help support your immune system.
HEALTH & WELLNESS The Newsletter About Your Health and Caring for Your Body
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS... 12 THINGS YOU CAN DO EVERY DAY TO HELP MAINTAIN A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
SLEEPING TIPS TO KEEP YOU HEALTHY
CLICK HERE FOR: HOME EXERCISES TO HELP YOUR POSTURE
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HEALTH & WELLNESS The Newsletter About Your Health and Caring for Your Body
INSIDE: • 12 Things You Can Do Every Day to Help Maintain a Healthy Immune System • Exercise Essentials
12 THINGS YOU CAN DO EVERY DAY TO HELP MAINTAIN A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
The best we can do is arm our internal environment with what it needs to combat our external environment. Today it’s more important than ever to give your body everything it needs to help support your immune system. Here are 12 things you can do every day to help maintain a healthy immune system: Keep a Positive Mindset A positive mindset doesn’t mean you ignore life’s difficulties and challenges – it means you approach them in a more constructive and positive way. A positive mindset has been linked with lower rates of depression, resistance to the common cold, and better cardiovascular health. Here’s What You Do: Expect the best, not the worst, and take every challenge and roadblock as a chance to learn and improve. Read our blog: When life serves you lemons make lemonade. Stay Hydrated The human body is mostly water, and our brain and muscles are up to 75% water. Water
is found in every cell, tissue, and organ in the body – that’s how important it is. Proper hydration improves brain function, helps deliver oxygen to the body, lubricates joints, and is essential for cell growth, replication, and survival. It’s best to drink water with electrolytes, since the electrolytes help the water permeate our cells, thereby improving absorption. Here’s What You Do: Aim to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day (and more if you are active or sweating). Eat Your Vegetables Vegetables (and fruits) are loaded with vitamins and minerals that help support immunity, including vitamins C, B6, and E. Vegetables that are particularly rich in these nutrients include yellow bell peppers, kale, broccoli, spinach, peas, potatoes, carrots, and avocados. Quercetin (a flavonoid found in onions, grapes, capers, and black and green tea) is believed to have antiviral properties. Here’s What You Do: Eat vegetables as much as possible daily, and remember to eat your
vegetables raw or lightly cooked, as this helps retain nutrients and ensures that you’re getting everything your body needs. Consume Vitamin D Vitamin D plays a key role in immune health. When you are deficient in vitamin D, you may have an increased risk of respiratory infection. There are three ways to get vitamin D: • Get outside in the sun – this is the best (and easiest) source, but may be difficult for many based on location, season, weather, or current regulations. • Great natural food sources including fatty fish, cremini mushrooms, and yogurt. • Consider a supplement. If you don’t know your vitamin D level, your doctor can test it. Until then, consider taking 2,500 to 5,000 IU daily. Here’s What You Do: Spend time outside whenever possible, consume natural foods like fatty fish and yogurt, and consider taking a supplement to ensure you are getting as much as you need every day.
CONTINUED INSIDE
12 THINGS YOU CAN DO EVERY DAY TO HELP MAINTAIN A HEALTHY IMMUNE SYSTEM
Consume Essential Fatty Acids The benefits of essential fatty acids are almost endless: improved cardiovascular health, muscle tissue maintenance, mental and cognitive improvement, and reduced inflammation. Fish and seafood are generally the best sources of essential fatty acids, especially salmon, mackerel, albacore tuna, trout, sardines, and swordfish. If you don’t like or have access to these foods, an Omega-3 (fish oil) supplement can ensure you’re fueling your body with the essential fatty acids it needs.
shellfish, meat, or chickpeas, you may want to consider supplementing with 15 to 30 mg of zinc per day to ensure you’re getting enough in your diet. Eat Lots of Protein Antibodies and your immune system depend on protein, and it’s a critical component in your body’s process of building and repairing tissue. Seek leanproteinwheneverpossible,especially turkey, fish, and chicken. Plant-based proteins from nuts, seeds, and legumes are another good source, as are clean, high-quality protein supplements.
Here’s What You Do: Get up and get moving – for a minimum of 30 minutes or more every day. Whether it’s a leisurely walk, a high-intensity band workout, or another favourite workout, take care of your body by making time for exercise. Keep up you regular Chiropractic , physiotherapy , and massage treatments to keep you pain free and moving freely. Get Extra Vitamin C The benefits of vitamin C on your immune system are well known – it boosts white blood cell production and improves the effectiveness
Here’s What You Do: Eat fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and swordfish 2-3 times per week, or take an Omega-3 supplement if you don’t like fish or don’t have access. Skip Added Sugar Sugar can temporarily halt your immune system’s ability to respond to challenges, so focus on cutting your intake of foods with high levels of sugar and added sugars. “Added sugar” is sugar that doesn’t naturally occur in a food, so we’re not referring to what you’ll find naturally in fruit – we’re talking about artificially sweet treats like candies, cookies, and
Here’s What You Do: Aim to consume half your body weight in grams of protein each day – especially protein from sources such as lean meat or nuts, seeds, and legumes. SLEEP! Inadequate sleep can negatively impact your immune system and increase the likelihood of getting sick. Even as little as one hour less sleep per night can have an impact. Turning off all your electronic devices at least a half-hour before bedtime will quiet your mind, and help switch your focus from surfing the web to something
of these infection-fighting cells. Great sources of vitamin C include oranges, grapefruit, kiwi, broccoli, and green leafy vegetables like kale and spinach. Here’s What You Do: Consume fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamin C, and consider supplementing with 600 mg of vitamin C per day if you’re not able to regularly consume those nutrient-rich foods. Get Zinc Zinc plays a critical role in our immune system and people who are deficient in zinc are more susceptible to pathogens. Great sources of zinc include shellfish (like oysters), red meat, chickpeas, lentils, and pumpkin seeds. Here’s What You Do: Identify a few foods you like that contain zinc, and ensure you’re regularly eating those foods to avoid a zinc deficiency. If you don’t eat zinc-rich foods like
relaxing and serene. Here’s What You Do: Get at least 8 hours or restful sleep per night, and allow your brain and body to fully recover by committing to a nightly routine and a consistent bedtime. Get Probiotics into Your Diet A balanced digestive system is necessary for optimal health, and probiotics help keep your digestive system in balance. You can get probiotics from a supplement or from fermented foods like yogurt and kefir. Research indicates that probiotics can contribute to healthy immune function, improve absorption of nutrients, aid digestive health, and protect you from harmful microorganisms. Here’s What You Do: Incorporate probiotics into your diet through natural sources like yogurt and kefir or through a supplement.
cakes. Added sugar can even sneak into places you don’t expect, like flavoured yogurt, sauces (BBQ, spaghetti, etc.), and granola. Here’s What You Do: Avoid sugar whenever possible, and especially artificially sweet foods with added sugars. You will find “added sugars” as a line on all nutrition fact panels, so remember to read your food packaging carefully. Move For 30-60 Minutes Each Day Whether it’s a bodyweight and resistance band workout, a long walk, bike ride, or run (if you’re able), the benefits of movement and exercise are endless: improved mood, reduced insulin sensitivity, increased energy, and improved cardiovascular health – just to name a few. Remember to avoid repeated overexertion since it can compromise your immune system, but make healthy movement a daily priority.
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EXERCISE ESSENTIALS USE THIS EXERCISE TO KEEP YOU FEELING BETTER WHILE STAYING AT HOME
JUST RELAX Some studies found that the blue light from computer screens, TVs, and smartphones negatively impact your ability to fall asleep. Turning off all your electronic devices at least a half-hour before bedtime will quiet your mind. Instead of surfing the web, focus on something relaxing and serene. Turn off or down the lights in your room and create a relaxing environment before bed. This will help you get to sleep on time, every night. STAY COOL The ideal temperature for sleeping is around 65 degrees Fahrenheit, or 18.5 degrees Celsius. If you’re too hot or cold at night, you’ll be too uncomfortable for quality sleep. Keeping your bedroom around that temperature will help you get to sleep and stay asleep. CIRCADIAN CLOCK SCHEDULE Take advantage of your circadian clock by sticking to a schedule. A rhythm of waking up and going to bed at the same time every day will help your body get the most out of your sleep. Yes, that includes weekends! Choose a bedtime and wake time, ideally 8 hours apart, and commit to it. It might be hard at first, but a consistent schedule does wonders for the body and mind. You’ll feel While you’re trying to sleep, noise can be very disruptive. If you’re in a noisy area like a city, consider using a sound masking or noise-cancellation machine — white noise machines are great for this. It’ll block out all the cars speeding by with a soothing, gentle sound in the background. Creating a quiet environment will improve your sleep tenfold. SLEEP BETTER NOW Even just one of these simple tips can greatly improve your rest. Sleep is an opportunity to relax every part of your body, and it’s an essential part of your well-being. SLEEPING TIPS TO KEEP YOU HEALTHY the difference. KEEP IT QUIET
SLEEP IS A time for uninterrupted therapy and natural regeneration. If you don’t get enough, your mental and physical activity suffers. Natural sleep cycles follow a pattern called the circadian clock, which dictates when you are awake and when you’re ready to sleep. In addition, the different phases of sleep allow you to dream, repair your body, and prepare you for the next day. Here’s how to take advantage of the circadian clock and control of your sleep schedule and get high-quality rest, every night. STAY ACTIVE Studies show that physical activity has positive effects on sleep. Try to exercise every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes. A quick, interval-based resistance band exercise can make a big difference. Sticking to a daily workout schedule can help you fall asleep faster and improve the quality of your sleep. Following a regular exercise schedule will benefit your sleep and leave you feeling well rested and ready to attack your day each morning. NO ALCOHOL OR CAFFEINE BEFORE BED Caffeine is a stimulant, whether you drink it at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. Drinking coffee in the afternoon will keep you awake later into the night, disrupting your normal sleep cycle and throwing off your circadian clock. Alcohol, on the other hand, may cause you to fall asleep faster, but it will reduce your quality of sleep. Alcohol lowers the amount of REM sleep cycles throughout the night, making your sleep less beneficial. It’s also dehydrating, so you’ll deprive your body of the hydration it needs. Avoiding both alcohol and caffeine around bedtime will improve your sleep. INVEST IN THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT Since you spend about one third of your life sleeping, it’s important to have a good mattress.
DOWNLOAD OUR APP You can get more exercises like this through our PTwired App. DOWNLOAD OUR APP Use your mobile phone camera to scan one of these codes SITTING POSTURE Move to back of your chair. Position a rolled up towel behind low back. Sit up and sit straight. Do this multiple times a day.
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