BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY TO FIGHT DEADLY DISEASES LIKE COVID-19.

World around is swiftly changing. As humans, we need to keep up to these changes in every possible way. With too much work stress, changing weather conditions and extreme pollution, the human body needs adequate nutrients and behavioural improvements to adapt to the current world. Lack of any of these things in human may cause distress, disorders and diseases. With the advancement in different aspects of our lives, the healthcare industry has also improved their vaccinations, emergency ambulance service, pharmaceutical productions and alternative therapies to fight such disorders and diseases. However, the cure or treatment for all the diseases is still not discovered by us. In such scenarios, prevention comes to our rescue. One of the best ways to prevent yourself from many deadly diseases is to boost your immunity. A person with a good immune stays healthy and keeps himself/herself away from uninvited diseases.

As the world is facing the deadly coronavirus threat, it is time for us to relook at our lifestyle choices and make necessary amendments. This world health day, let’s pledge to bring some positive changes in our lifestyle to make our body strong enough to survive threats from COVID-19 and other such diseases. That is because a healthy lifestyle boosts immunity and robust immunity system to a large extent can fight any infection not only coronavirus. Since there are no medicines or vaccine to treat or prevent coronavirus, boosting your immunity system along with other preventive measures is the only solution.

Here’s how we can boost our immunity without having to step out of our homes during the lockdown:

• Get Adequate Sleep: Lack of sleep is known to weaken immunity. Therefore, it is advisable to get adequate sleep for at least 6 hours to 8 hours during the night. The sleep duration requirement may differ for different age groups. Whatever may be the case one must never compromise on their sleep time.
• Balanced Diet: We must eat a well-balanced diet. Our diet needs nutritious values comprising of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, micronutrients and fibre. Our Indian diet consisting of roti, dal, rice, vegetables including green leafy vegetables, salads, fruits, buttermilk and curds (fish and chicken in case of non-vegetarians) fulfils this requirement.
• Avoid Junk Food: Junk food, refined sugar and shelf food items are likely to disturb our optimum body weight. It may deprive us of required nutrition and make us skinny or obese. Obesity is known to weaken immunity.
• Stay Physically Active: Exercise regularly, practise yoga and meditation. Lack of exercise or physical activeness lowers our immunity.
• Drink Adequate Water: Drink water in adequate quantity. It is the best natural and healthy drink and must replace sweetened fruit juices, cold beverages, alcoholic beverages and energy drinks.
• Control Diabetes: The blood sugar levels of a diabetic should be maintained as normal as possible. Uncontrolled diabetes is likely to hamper our immunity response and make us susceptible to infections.
• Treat Chronic Diseases: We must get proper treatment of all infections and chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, lung diseases, liver disease, cancers etc. Any irresponsible behaviour or lack of treatment may worsen the condition of the patient and weaken his/her immune system.
• Get Required Vaccination/Medication: We must always keep track of our vaccination and required medication status as advised by our doctor. While on medication, we must strictly avoid tobacco, smoking and alcohol as they are harmful to our body systems.
• Keep Stress Away: Chronic stress weakens our immunity. It is advisable to identify the stressors and lookout possibilities to reduce stress levels. One should take professional help if required and keep a healthy work-life balance to maintain low-stress levels. Stay positive, laugh and enjoy humour to fight stress.
• Develop Healthy Relationships: Maintain healthy relationships with your family, neighbours, friends and colleagues will also boost our immune. It will psychologically help us to overcome our disorders and motivate us to stay healthy.

Healthy lifestyle choices have multiple health benefits besides boosting our immune system.  However, we must holistically and consistently follow them to see the positive effects of a healthy lifestyle for ourselves. Besides staying healthy, it is equally important for us to stay aware of the possible healthcare services available and ambulance number. It will help us to quickly respond to emergencies. We will be able to connect to healthcare service providers like Ziqitza Healthcare for emergency ambulance service during the quarantine.