I hate flu season. I have always had a lot of anxiety around getting sick and flu season is my worst nightmare.
We live in California now, but when we lived in Ohio, I actually liked the cold weather because I could wear gloves to protect myself from germs, but no one thought it was weird because everyone had gloves on in the winter.
Our family has three things we do every year during flu season to boost our immunity and decrease our risk of getting any one of the many strains of flu that might be going around.
- Sambucus (Elderberry) Syrup: Elderberry is a can boost immunity and decrease inflammation. It has been found to also be possibly anti-viral. Our son has Selective IgA Deficiency, which means he does not produce Immunoglobin A, which protects the respiratory system and gut. Thus, he can get respiratory viruses very easily and they last a long time for him because his body struggles to fight them off. We use Elderberry syrup daily during cold and flu season to help him decrease the risk of getting respiratory infections.
- Sleep: Not enough sleep significantly decreases your immune system. In one study of healthy young men, they found that a single night of four hours of sleep decreased their natural killer cells by 70%!! Our natural killer cells are the cells who identify foreign items in your body and get rid of them, such as cancer cells and viruses. In general, infants and babies function best with 14-17 hours of sleep a night, primary and elementary kids with 9-11 hours a night, teenagers with 9-10 hours a night (and they need to go to bed later and sleep in later than kids and adults do due to their internal clock changing at this age), and adults over 20 years old with 7-8 hours a night. Our most simple sleep hack is to wear blue block sunglasses 1-2 hours before you go to bed.
- Bee Propolis Immune Spray: This is a new addition for us this year which we started after my son had a series of respiratory viruses all in a row and it has helped a lot! Propolis is made by bees and they put it on the inside of their hive to help protect it from bacteria and viruses. It’s antimicrobial properties and high level of antioxidants helps boosts our immunity and helps fight bacteria.
I hope these tips help you and your family boost your immune system this cold and flu season.
In Health,
Coach Katie
Resources:
Partial sleep deprivation reduces natural killer cell activity in humans.
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker
Propolis: A Wonder Bees Product and Its Pharmacological Potentials