The winter season is usually characterized by very cold months and temperatures can sometimes plummet to very low extremes. Interestingly, during the winter months is when there are lots of festivities around. You will also find that most people typically fall ill during the winter season more than any other season. But why is it so?
Well, contrary to popular belief that the cold weather usually comes loaded with diseases, nothing can be further from the truth. Diseases can be contracted by people at anytime of the year regardless of the season. However, it has been established that during the cold season, people like to flock together by keeping indoors thus making it easy for communicable diseases to spread from one person to another. If you take a look at the common cold and flu for instance, these are diseases that are highly contagious that can easily spread from one person to another when there is close contact.
So how can you stay healthy and avoid getting sick during winter?
Like the old adage saying which goes that prevention is always better than cure, the best you can do is to avoid catching winter related diseases. So, how can you achieve this? You can follow the tips below that will help protect you and also enhance your immunity.
Ensure that you follow a healthy diet plan
Basically, the secret to having a great health starts with having a balanced and healthy diet. A balanced diet that is rich in vitamins helps to boost the immune system thus enhancing your body’s capacity to fight off opportunistic infections. It is best to eat vegetables and raw fruits that will help to support your gut health and thus save you the headache of developing infections like flu and the common cold. Foods rich in probiotics will help to give the much needed support to your respiratory health.
Exercising and staying active is recommended
The cold weather usually makes people to be dormant and perhaps the last thing on your mind during those cold days will be exercise. Research has it that exercise helps make a formidable immune system. You already know it a better immune system will help you fend off many infections that may try to get a slice of you. Exercises like aerobic exercises have been found to help improve the circulation of blood in the body. This way the white blood cells will have it easy to find any disease causing foreign microbes and fight them off. Better still exercises helps to minimize stress hormones and will consequently help you stay away from seasonal affective disorder.
Have sufficient sleep
Lack of sufficient sleep has been linked with adverse effects to the immune system. Research has it that most immune cells are usually most active during sleep and therefore the body’s immunity works well when you have sufficient sleep. It is best to have at least eight hours of continuous sleep every day. This will help to stay strong, healthy, and fit. Nothing works better to keep you healthy than having sufficient sleep every day.