How to boost your Immunity during COVID-19 pandemic

May 11, 2020
Boost Your Immunity during COVID-19

COVID-19, which has affected over 1.5 million globally and killed more than 100,000 people, is not different from how influenza viruses, or even the coronaviruses responsible for the common cold, attack the body. Therefore, the immune system has a predictable response.

What is Immunity?

Immunity is a state of resistance of an organism to invading biotic or abiotic pathogens and their harmful effects that prevents the development of infection and maintains organism’s integrity by counteracing, neutralizing, and clearing pathogens.

Types of Immunity

  1. Innate Immunity:  First line of defence against infection and not specific to a particular pathogen.
  2. Adaptive Immunity: Provides a specific immune response directed at an invading pathogens.

How can one boost immunity?

A holistic approach would be required for a strong immune system.

Your first line of defense is to choose a healthy lifestyle. Following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward naturally keeping your immune system strong and healthy. Every part of your body, including your immune system, functions better when protected from environmental assaults and following healthy-living strategies such as:

1) Focus on your Diet:

✓ Maintain your ideal body weight. Under nutrition or over nutrition both can affect your immunity.
✓ Protein is vital to build up and repair the damaged tissues to fight against infection and hence improving your immunity. Protein intake should be good enough for your good immunity. 1st class protein such as animal products like chicken, fish, eggs, milk and milk products and 2nd class protein such as all pulses, legumes, nuts will provide you with good protein.
✓ Vitamin C is a super antioxidant and hence is very important in boosting your immunity. Amla, lemon, brocolli, oranges, bell peppers are good sources of Vitamin C.
✓ Vitamin D & B12 are again very important for your good immunity. Vitamin B12 helps us fight against infection. So if you are lacking with this two vitamins, you need to supplement it based on your levels.
✓ Garlic, ginger, turmeric, sunth powder, tulsi leaves are some of the immunity boosting ingredients which has some good antioxidant properties.

2) Keep moving:

As it is a lockdown period, we all are sitting at home, it is very necessary for us to atleast do some sort of physical activities rather than just sticking to your couches.

You can do some exercises at home or atleast walk for 20-25 minutes at home or atleast some yoga and meditation.

3) Proper Sleep:

Over sleeping or lack of sleep is again going to affect your mind. 7-8hrs of sleep is required for any individual.

Stress is another factor which can indirectly affect or immunity. So again meditation and yoga would help you to calm and relax your mind.

4) Hydration:

As we all know the temperatures have increased and one can easily get dehydrated. So atleast have 2.5-3 ltrs of water every day. Have soups, buttermilk, sabja and lemon water without sugar, jaggery or honey.

Hence, just one particular approach is not going to help to build your immunity. We need a holistic approach. Not during this pandemic, but our good immune system will help us to fight against anything and everything harmful for our body.

It is better late than never. So if we haven’t yet taken any measures for building up our immunity, we still have time and we can do all possible things to improve it.As we all know till we don’t find any vaccine for COVID-19, it is dangerous for all of us.

So Stay fit, Stay home and Stay safe.