Top Tips To Help Boost Your Immunity Naturally
Help stave off ill health and boost mouth health too!
The team at Abbey Road Dental are always looking for ways to help valued patients when they come into the clinic, starting with professional, safe treatment to maintain, or regain optimum oral health.
As the pandemic subsides, at least locally, we are more aware than ever that we want to expand our role beyond immediate clinical duties where we can, particularly when it comes to providing useful information and advice. We’ve had to help patients over the phone as much as possible which has been challenging, but also very rewarding when our advice has helped somebody reduce their pain and discomfort until they were able to come in to see us in person.
Of course, we’re so glad to welcome you back into your surgery once again. However, we want to promote good health and oral care throughout all of our digital means, including our friendly blog.
Today, we want to give you some tips to help you boost your immunity. Immunity is important because it helps us to stave off, fight and eliminate infections in the body. Of course, boosting immunity becomes even more relevant in the midst of a pandemic.
Immunity is also very important when it comes to your oral health. It helps you to recover from treatment and it helps you fight gum disease (in addition to support from your hygienist). It helps you fight infection, and if you do get an abscess, a good immune system aids recovery after you have had root canal therapy or tooth removal.
Your smile, and being able to fight off illness are pretty good reasons for boosting your immune system, we think! Even better, it’s easier than you might imagine to boost your immune system and get it working better. To give you a head start, here are 20 ways which are considered to boost your immune system for better overall health:
1. Quit Smoking
We know that Covid-19 attacks the lungs, so quitting smoking is a great idea for that reason alone. Why weaken a part of your body most at risk from a virus?
Smoking is also known to have negative effects on the immune system. Quit smoking as soon as you can to start seeing the benefits. You can find support to quit from your GP, your pharmacist or from NHS quit smoking services.
2. Get Better Quality Sleep
Sleep and your immune system are linked. They key is to get better quality sleep, not necessarily more sleep, so your body is able to heal and recharge every night.
3. Eat More Plant Based Produce
‘Eating the rainbow’ is more relevant than ever, as plants are bursting with vitamins, minerals and all the good stuff your body needs to promote a strong immune system.
4. Eat More Fat (the right stuff!)
Sadly, we don’t mean burgers and chips! But health fats like olive oil, avocado and salmon are believed to help decrease inflammation and boost your immune system.
5. Boost Your Gut Health
You can boost gut health by consuming fermented foods like kimchi, kefir, yogurt and kombucha. Your gut plays a huge part in boosting your immune system so it is important to keep it healthy.
6. Drop Your Sugar Intake
Sugars and refined carbohydrates can contribute to obesity, which is thought to increase your risk of dying from Covid-19. Sugars are also pretty bad for the body overall, particularly in excess.
7. Keep Up With Your Oral Hygiene
It is known that oral health and general health are linked. This is especially true with gum disease, which is thought to add to your risk of all kinds of nasty conditions and diseases, like heart disease. Maintain your daily brushing and flossing regimes, follow all the advice given to your by your NW8 hygienist, and go to your checkups.
8. Exercise
Exercise, especially the kind that boosts your heart rate, helps strengthen your immune system in lots of ways. It can reduce inflammation in the body, it can boost the effectiveness of certain treatments, and it makes you feel better, reducing stress which is a contributory factor.
9. Drink Lots Of Water
Dehydration is a problem because it reduces the effectiveness of your bodily functions. It dries everything out, causing a sluggish digestive system, headaches, rubbish moods and more. You’re then more able to get unwell, which decreases your immune system strength. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to help your body function well. Herbal teas are a great way to top up your fluid intake if you struggle on water alone. Remember that diet free coke and coffee are diuretics and will not properly hydrate you, so are not a good replacement for water.
10. Keep Calm
If you have found yourself stressed because of the pandemic, you are not alone. Many people have seen their mental health decline, and stress seems to be a normal part of a normal day for many at the moment.
The problem is, some believe that stress can cause issues with the way our immune cells work. If you can work to reduce your stress with yoga, meditation or even breaks from bad news on social media, not only might it help your immune system but you’ll feel less stressed overall, which is great!
11. Cut Down On Alcohol
Many people have been drinking more during lockdown as a way to relax, because everything going on is anything but relaxing. Unfortunately, lots of alcohol is bad news for the whole body, and yes, you’ve guessed it, it can apparently suppress the immune system.
Cutting down your alcohol consumption is a good idea, limiting it to government guidelines every week. If you need help cutting down or quitting alcohol, please speak to your GP about services available to you locally.
Please Keep Up With Your Hand Hygiene And Social Distancing!
No matter how much you do, even the strongest immune system doesn’t make a person immune from Covid-19 unfortunately. So as a priority, please maintain hand washing, social distancing and other precautionary measures to protect yourself against contracting the virus. Please stay safe and we hope to see you again soon!