How To Boost Your Immune System From Home

With the coronavirus pandemic still raging, it’s no wonder that many people are looking for ways to improve their health at home. Sadly, professional medical care is often expensive, and not everyone has access to health insurance to mitigate those costs. These circumstances together mean that taking care of your immune system is more important than ever, even if you have to do it from home.

Stop Smoking

You’ve probably heard that smoking increases your chances of cancer, but it can also hurt your immune system. Smoking disrupts your immune system’s equilibrium, which makes it harder for your body to fight off disease. Stopping smoking will immediately improve your overall health and reduce your chances of all kinds of health problems.

Take Advantage of Natural light

Being careful about getting too much exposure to the sun’s UV rays is important, but a little bit of sunlight is a good thing, especially if it’s indirect. Sunlight stimulates the creation of vitamin D, which is an important ingredient in a healthy immune system. It also has many other positive effects on your mental and physical health. In fact, studies show that people with autoimmune disorders such as Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis have vitamin D deficiencies, which shows just how important vitamins can be.

Get a Good Night’s Rest

The most noticeable side effect of not getting enough sleep is tiredness, but that’s only one of many problems that a lack of sleep can cause. Our bodies regenerate essential disease-fighting cells when we sleep, so not getting a good night’s rest can lead to an immune system with lowered efficacy. To give your body the time it needs to regenerate cells, try to get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

Avoid Stress

One of the best ways to boost your immune system from home is to mitigate your stress. When you’re stressed, your body produces cortisol, which is a hormone that temporarily helps the body fight inflammation. However, it can eventually reduce your overall white blood cell count.

If you find yourself getting stressed on a regular basis, you might want to look into stress-reducing therapies such as massages, meditation, or chiropractic care, which offers its own advantages for the immune system. You may have to leave your home for some of these treatments, but they’re generally more accessible than trying to navigate the American health-care and insurance systems.

If you find yourself unable to visit a doctor, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to help your immune system. There are many ways to give your immune system the best possible chance of fighting off disease so that you can be happy and healthy.