1. Wash your hands. When washing hands, regular soap and water is all you need; you don’t need any special "antibacterial" soaps. Keep hand sanitizers with you when you don’t have soap and water. And the very simple corollaries to washing your hands are: Keep your fingers out of your nose, and keep your fingers (and pens, pencils, eyeglasses, etc.) out of your mouth.
2. Take a good probiotic. It is essential to promote a healthy immune system.
3. A lot of people take Echinacea every day as a prophylactic. That is a bad idea. Echinacea kills all the normal flora in your system, and will throw your immune system out of balance. If you feel something like a cold coming on, then take it.
4. I really like zinc. The data is very good for zinc supporting a healthy immune system. Zinc also supports wound healing. Be sure to get a good zinc supplement.
5. There is also good data on vitamin C; it is an essential supplement in addition to probiotics and zinc. And, as usual, you are not going to get adequate supplies of any of these from food because our food supply is so depleted. You need a good supplement.
6. Be sure to get adequate sleep; you need proper rest to heal the immune system. Continue a normal exercise routine unless you’re sick—then, it's more important to get rest.
And if you do get colds or flu, the chicken soup thing is for real; studies show something in it triggers production of white blood cells, which of course help fight the infection. |
