The Co-operative Pharmacy can help you through winter with expert advice and great deals for fighting flu and shaking off seasonal sniffles. Here are our top five tips for boosting your immunity and keeping you healthy over winter.
1. Eat well
Make sure your winter diet is packed with key nutrients such as vitamin C (found in green vegetables, citrus fruits and tomatoes), iron (rich sources include red meat, fish, cereals and beans), zinc (choose milk, cheese, eggs and seeds) and selenium (in brazil nuts, soya beans and cashew nuts).
2. Have a hearty breakfast
Winter is the perfect season for porridge. Eating a warm bowlful on a cold morning helps you to boost your intake of starchy foods and fibre, which give you energy and help you to feel fuller for longer, stopping the temptation to snack mid-morning. Oats also contain lots of vitamins and minerals.
3. Seek out the sun
Wrap up warm and head outside, as even on a cold day you can build your vitamin D levels. Vitamin D is made in the skin after exposure to sunshine and it is essential to help to regulate and moderate your immune system.
4. Switch off
It’s said that by meditating for just 20 minutes in the morning and the afternoon, you’ll relieve stress and allow your body’s cells time to rejuvenate, both factors in improving immunity.
5. Sleep easy
You can’t beat a good night’s sleep, and regularly getting more than seven hours a night will help decrease your chances of catching a cold.
Get active and be fighting fit
Regular exercise helps to keep you strong, gives you more energy, improves your mental health, aids sleeping and boosts your general health and wellbeing. But are you active enough? Follow these guidelines from the Chief Medical Officer to help prevent disease…
Early years (under 5s)
- Encourage physical activity from birth – such as floor-based activities in a baby gym.
- Preschool-age children who can walk unaided should be active for at least three hours a day – that could be in the playground, running around the house, garden, soft-play centre or swimming.
Children and young people (5-18 years)
- Take part in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity each day, perhaps riding a bike, playing in the playground or taking part in a team sport.
- Vigorous-intensity activities should be encouraged at least three times a week, including those that strengthen muscle and bone. Try tennis, dancing, jogging or hiking.
Adults (19-64 years)
- Be active daily, and over the course of a week take part in at least two-and-a-half hours of moderate-intensity activity. This could be 30 minutes’ light jogging, five times a week. As an alternative, try 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity such as heavy gardening or cycling spread across the week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity.
- Undertake physical activity to improve muscle strength, such as hiking, walking, jogging or tennis, at least twice a week
Older adults (65+ years)
- Aim to be active daily. Over a week, activity should add up to at least two-and -a-half hours of moderate-intensity activity in bouts of 10 minutes or more – try brisk walking. Or try 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, such as jogging, spread across the week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity.
- Undertake physical activity to improve muscle strength at least twice a week, including tennis, dancing or walking.
- Incorporate physical activity to improve balance and coordination, such as yoga and t’ai chi, at least twice a week.