10 Ways to Improve Your Health Before Cold and Flu Season

November 19th, 2021

Cold and flu season is rapidly approaching, but how do you prepare for it when you don’t know how to protect yourself? Fortunately, you can boost your immune system in many ways through simple changes to your daily routine.

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1. Take the Right Supplements

Ensuring you get the proper vitamins and minerals in your diet can help protect you against nasty viruses this winter. Taking daily vitamins can be a great way to add the nutrients you don’t get from your food to your body. This way, you can keep yourself strong and healthy.

You can also choose to look after your gut health by taking probiotics. Probiotics are a way to get good bacteria in your body if you don’t get them through other means, such as by eating yogurt. Probiotics can fight against harmful bacteria and, in some cases, prevent you from getting sick.

2. Stop Unhealthy Habits

If you want to commit to getting healthy, make a point to cease or wean yourself off of unhealthy, addictive habits. Sometimes, these habits can manifest in the form of spending too much time on screens, but other times they come with consuming too much of something, like smoking or drinking in excess.

Many of these unhealthy habits can cause chronic diseases that negatively affect your body. For example, cigarettes cause 85% of all lung cancers. Quitting these bad habits can only positively affect your health.

3. Drink Enough Water

The recommendation of eight glasses of water per day doesn’t always work for everyone. Since you have other factors at play, such as where you live or how much you exercise, you may need more water than the average person thinks they do. Staying hydrated can help you perform better in your daily activities and keep your body flushed free of toxins and liquid waste.

4. Get Active

Exercise is key to adding mass, losing fat and maintaining a healthy weight. The average adult should aim to be active at least thirty minutes a day for five days a week for exercise to improve your physical health. Exercising can also decrease your risk of contracting certain chronic diseases and keep your heart, among other things, happy and healthy.

5. Get Enough Sleep

With all the activity you’ve started to do, you have to allow your body time to repair itself between workouts. Sleep is your chance for your body to heal itself, plus it gets you rested enough to tackle another day. When you’re low on sleep, you may find that you get sick or stressed easier. Adults should be sleeping around eight hours every night to maintain healthy schedules and boost their immune systems.

6. Clean Up Your Diet

Consider swapping out some of those processed foods with whole foods. Cooking takes longer than reaching for something more convenient, but having whole foods to nourish your body can give you the vitamins you need to keep yourself healthy during the most virulent months.

Many healthy foods, like apples, can also help clean your teeth, giving you a whiter and brighter smile while you’re serving your body fresh and whole foods. While taking care of your health, you can also give yourself a smile to be proud of.

7. Smile More

Find a way to add positivity to your daily life. Smiling offers people numerous health benefits, including stress relief and a boost to your mood. With less stress in your life, you’ll be less likely to fall ill. Smiling and laughing are great ways to improve your chances of avoiding illnesses and other chronic conditions due to their inherent healing power.

8. Minimize Your Risk in Other Ways

Make changes to your lifestyle as you see fit to reduce your risk of catching a cold or the flu. You may choose to wash your hands more often or wear a mask in places that don’t require it. Understanding your risk and mitigating the likelihood of catching something can help you slide through cold and flu season without much effort.

9. Get a Wellness Check-Up

Getting routine bloodwork taken can give you a baseline of knowledge of your body. Whether you plan to lose, gain or maintain your weight, you can always adjust your lifestyle and diet to be more health-conscious. Your healthcare provider will likely give you suggestions that you can quickly implement into your everyday life to help you improve your overall health and minimize your risk of catching something during cold and flu season.

10. Ask Your Doctor Questions

Be proactive in learning about your health. When your doctor describes something you don’t understand, it’s okay to ask questions. Healthcare professionals may be grateful that you’re taking your health seriously. They can tell you the best ways to protect yourself against any virus or bacterial infection, too.

Stay Strong Through Cold and Flu Season

While infections are common throughout the year, winter seems to be when most people catch colds and strains of the flu. By changing just a few aspects of your life, you can ensure that you and your loved ones have a happy season, free of sickness.

Also by Kara Reynolds:

About the author:

Kara Reynolds is the Editor-in-Chief and founder of Momish Magazine. Mom, stepmom, and wife – Kara wants to normalize big blended families. She enjoys pilates, peanut butter, and pinot grigio – but not at the same time.