Amid stocking up on hand sanitiser and shooting dirty looks to anyone failing to vigorously wash their hands, the coronavirus panic is likely making you ponder the state of your immune system.

While usually your propensity to catch a cold would be no big deal, now keeping your body in tip-top illness-fighting shape seems of the utmost importance. So while there’s no cure, quick fix, or guaranteed way to prevent yourself from getting coronavirus, there are steps you can take to ensure your immune system is in peak condition.

Here are few effective tips to boost your health.

There is no vaccination. We are told that increased hygiene and regular and thorough hand washing is the only recommended course of action.

‘But how else can we best defend ourselves against the virus?

‘The immune system lives in our gastro-intestinal system and so there is a strong relationship between our diet, gut bacteria and immunity.

‘A healthy diet builds a healthy gut and therefore a strong immune system, which makes our health more robust and our body less susceptible to infections, infection pathogens, viruses and pathogenic bacteria.’

 

Eat fresh, healthy food you’ve cooked at home

Cook from scratch, incorporating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, rather than relying on frozen food, takeaways or ready-made meals.

 

Make sure you’re getting high quality sleep

Sleeping will restore health and our immune system.  Remember that the body repairs itself when we’re asleep, so we need to make sure we’re getting at least eight hours sleep each night.

 

Take Zinc

‘Taking zinc within 24 hours after the onset of common cold symptoms has been proven to reduce their duration.

 

Take vitamin C

Make sure your diet is rich in vitamin C or take it as a supplement. ‘Research has revealed that animals who are able to make their own vitamin C are more resilient to viral infections,’

‘Viruses use an enzyme called neuramidase to attack cells.  In response, the immune system produces a protein called Interferon to tackle the virus.  Vitamin C can both inhibit neuramidase and increase the amount of Interferon produced.

‘Unfortunately, our human bodies aren’t able to naturally make vitamin C, so we need to make sure we ingest it through our food or as supplements.

‘We can’t store this vitamin either, and a 40mg supplement taken in the morning will no longer be in our system by home time, so it may need to be topped up through eating more fruit and vegetables and drinking freshly squeezed grapefruit or orange juice.’

 

Avoid drinking and smoking

You know how you feel all weak and fragile after a boozy weekend? Alcohol and cigarettes don’t do great things for immune system, so you might want to avoid them while we’re in a pandemic.