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1. Practice good personal hygiene habits. Since diseases are communicable, washing your hands frequently can help limit the transfer of bacteria, viruses and other microbes. We can all prevent their spread by washing our hands before: preparing food, eating, treating wounds or giving medicine, touching a sick or injured person, inserting or removing contact lenses. Always wash hands after: preparing food, using the bathroom, changing a diaper, touching an animal and their products, blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing into your hands, treating wounds, touching a sick or injured person, handling garbage or contaminated objects such as footwear.
2. Obtain proper restorative sleep. Our bodies regenerate and repair themselves during sleep and release potent immune enhancing substances. On average, adults can feel well rested in seven to nine hours. Find out what your body requires and maintain that consistent amount of sleep.
3. Include restorative exercise into your daily routine. Regular physical activity contributes to clearing the lungs of airborne bacteria and viruses that are known to cause upper respiratory tract infections. Increased blood flow helps circulate antibodies necessary to neutralize pathogenic invasion. Physical activity enhances the circulation of blood, oxygen, lymph and body fluids to help in the elimination of pathogens and foreign substances. Sweating during exercise also helps cleanse the body of toxicity.
4. Breathe fresh air. Take advantage of every opportunity you have to breathe fresh outdoor air.
5. Decrease and eliminate your daily sugar intake. The normal sugar level in the bloodstream is approximately one teaspoon. Too much sugar overtaxes the digestive system and adds stress to the body. Decrease and gradually eliminate refined sugars from your nutritional program and replace them with healthier sources such as agave, stevia and honey.
6. Eliminate and reduce exposure to toxins in your environment. When our bodies are burdened with toxins, elimination systems become overloaded, which in turn weakens the immune system. Switching to non-toxic cleaning products can help reduce our exposure to the effects of toxic chemicals.
7. Increase your intake of immune enhancing nutrients and purified water eliminating toxins, heavy metals, chemicals and pathogens. The benefits of eating unprocessed, whole raw foods for their enzymes, vitamins, minerals and fibre enhances immunity, digestion and waste elimination. Drinking, in daily ounces, half your body weight in pounds prevents dehydration. To calculate the number of ounces of water required per day; (body weight in pounds, divided by two = number of ounces of water per day).
8. Decrease or eliminate drinking coffee. Research reveals that coffee dehydrates and robs the body of valuable minerals and vitamins such as zinc, potassium, vitamin B1, inositol and biotin. Substitute herbal teas for coffee as a healthy alternative. If you do drink coffee, be sure to add an additional two glasses to your water intake per cup of coffee.
9. Remember the saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” It is better to avoid problems in the first place, rather than trying to fix them once they arise. Receiving frequent acupuncture and fire cupping treatments strengthen and maintain immune system vitality as a great way to prevent colds and pathogenic invasion. Treatments are chosen by what kind of symptoms the patient currently experiences. The treatment principle expels pathogens such as virus, bacteria, wind cold, heat, dry and damp invasion through urination, sweating and promoting immune system potency.
10. Wake up your immune system with stimulation of CV 19. With your fingers, tap the area above your thymus gland, located on the anterior midline, level with the second intercostal space. This point supports and improves the immune system and its response to foreign invaders. Stimulate this location when you feel overwhelmed, and run down, use it to “wake up” and improve overall strength and vitality. Visit your therapist for weekly acupuncture and complimenting treatments to strengthen and maintain immune system vitality preventing colds and the flu.
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