7 Healthy Hacks To Boost Your Immune System & Ward off Stress During Holiday Season

Ward off Stress During the Holiday Season. It’s THAT wonderful time of the year! Oh, those holiday parties, lists longer than Santa of things to do, and financial burdens can be overwhelming and lead to a weakened immune system with you more stressed out, feeling out of control and ultimately getting sick. Here are 7  science-based Healthy Hacks To Boost Your Immune System and ward off Stress During the Holiday Season

Ward off Stress During the Holiday Season. Stress can have more of an impact on the body than any food or drink we consume. Why? Because when we’re under stress, the body produces cortisol. This is fine in genuinely stressful situations, but repeated stress and ongoing cortisol production can have a huge impact on the body. Cortisol serves a very important function, preparing your body for fight-or-flight situations.  But in doing so it shuts down all ‘non-essential’ functions changing immune system responses and suppressing the digestive system, the reproductive system, and growth processes, and speeds up your aging! Here are a few healthy hacks to help you escape and hide from the flu bugs and dismiss the stress and anxiety that is synonymous with the holiday season.

1. Wash your hands. Especially after you shake hands or handle an object someone else was using, such as a computer keyboard, phone, gas pump, or supermarket shopping cart. I am a proud germ-a-phobic (with a former HORRIBLY low immune system) and I love a great antibacterial soap that is made with tea tree because the tea tree prevents viruses and bacteria from flourishing. When out in public, try to avoid touching your lips, nose, or eyes especially after you shock someone’s hand, fill up your gas tank, or push a shopping cart at the supermarket. People tend to touch their faces without being aware—an average of 16 times an hour, according to a study done at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

2. Catch some Zzzz’s. If you have flu symptoms, REST UP and lessen your load. I hate missing parties and fun events too, but, it’s not worth it if you’re not feeling well PLUS you can pass your bugs onto someone else (not nice). DRINK lots of pH-balancing drinks, like lemon water.

3. Use dietary supplements (such as echinacea, zinc, colloidal silver or vitamin C) or homeopathic remedies (such as Oscillococcinum and Nux vomica) to help prevent or treat the flu. I also love vitamin D, which plays an important role in the immune system. In a 2010 Japanese study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, schoolchildren given vitamin D supplements (1,200 IU a day) throughout winter were 40 percent less likely to develop the flu than those given a placebo. Other recent studies have shown that healthy adults with higher blood levels of vitamin D were less likely to develop viral respiratory infections.