"8 Tips to Prevent From Getting The Swine Flu (H1N1) and Boost your Immune System"

1.  Optimize your vitamin D.  Vitamin D is actually a “pro-hormone”.  I am sure you have heard about it for bone health, but it is also a powerful immune modulator. Optimal blood levels of vitamin D are 60ng/ml(the test is 25-hydroxyvitamin D).  Ideally, spend 20 minutes a day in the sunshine without sunscreen. If this isn’t possible due to your weather or work schedule then you will want to supplement with Vitamin D.  A good maintenance dose is 2000 iu daily and if you are working to raise your level the recommendation is 10,000 iu daily for 1-3 months and retest.

2.  Stress Less! Stress lowers natural killer cell activity and depletes vitamin C.  What to do?  Bust a gut…a little laughter daily raises natural killer cells and interferon. 

3.  Sleep Deep!  Just one night of poor sleep raises stress hormones and impairs immune function. Step one is making sure that you are MAKING TIME 7-9 hours of high quality sleep nightly.

4.  Kick the sugar habit.  75 grams of sugar(ie 300 calories or the equivalent of most desserts…) can lower the ability of white blood cells to kill germs by as much as 40%.  Time to make a lateral shift to fresh berries with some slivered almonds on top!

 5.  And speaking of berries, be sure you are getting in your rainbow of fruits and veggies daily for the natural antioxidants, anti-viral and anti-bacterial effects, ant-inflammatories and Vitamin C.

6.  Supplement your fruits and veggies with some extra Vitamin C.  It takes 18 small oranges to reach the 1000 iu dose that is optimal during cold and flu season.  Vitamin C boosts your body’s ability to produce antibodies and other immune system cells, is antiviral AND reduces the severity of the common cold. The easiest and tastiest way I have found to get my daily dose is by using Emergen-C packets or their new Emergen-C shots(try the Immune+ one).

7.  Burst to blast fat AND boost your immune system.  Steady state endurance training creates more oxidative stress on the body AND has been found to lower immune system functioning immediately post exercise. Not so with high intensity interval training(ie all out burst for 30-60 seconds, recover for twice as long and repeat to accumulate 4-8 minutes of all out bursts).  This type of exercise teaches your body how to handle stress better and raises growth hormone so incorporate it into your schedule three days a week(and don’t use the “time excuse”, you only need 4 minutes to make a significant difference!)

8.  Get Adjusted.   Studies show that getting adjusted regularily helps boost the amount of thiol, an important antioxidant, in your blood stream.  This helps prevent colds and stress on your nervous system and body. 

Dr. Bryan Dingsor is the owner of Watertown Chiropractic P.C. in Watertown, SD. He specializes in the treatment of many musculoskeletal conditions and weight loss. For an appointment, please call 605-882-2304 Today.