Your immunity is built with all the building blocks of amino acids from the foods we eat. So if you are what you eat, you want to be eating the right stuff to build your defences when sickness is in the air… Maintain a healthy diet full of nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables rich in anti-oxidants. There are several to choose from: leeks, onions and garlic, eggplant, grapes and berries, mangoes, apricots, carrots, spinach and parsley, red wine and tea, citrus fruits, red wine, onion and apples. Vegetables include broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower and sweet potato.

Exercise: Acute exercise is an immune system booster that improves defence activity and metabolic processes. Exercise training has an anti-inflammatory influence on all tissues mediated through multiple pathways studied for the last 15 years. Increased carbohydrate and polyphenol (naturally found in vegetables) intake is an effective nutritional strategy for immune support at the cellular level. Habitual exercise (minimum 3X/week of 7-8/10 effort) improves immune regulation delaying the onset of age-related dysfunction.

Proper sleep Habits: An easy habit to use is to go to bed at the same time every night and try to wake up at the same time every morning. Avoid naps longer than 30 minutes because this may disrupt the time lines you’ve set above. The sleep environment needs to be set up with darkness (drapes, no lights, no digital devices lights) and idle temperature (preferably on the lower side 21 or 22 degrees Celsius.