Boost Your Immune System — Protect Yourself From Coronavirus
Coronavirus is a new virus that is believed to have originated from a in Wuhan, China. Wuhan coronavirus causes coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 (abbreviated), and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a pandemic — a worldwide spread of a new disease.
Coronavirus is highly contagious respiratory virus that spreads through respiratory droplets from infected individuals when they cough or sneeze, and also they can emit aerosols when they are talking or breathing when face-to-face or in close contact with others.
These infectious aerosols can float or drift around in air for up to three hours, and that is why covering your nose and mouth is essential to avoid infecting others just in case you are infected but asymptomatic of the coronavirus disease.
Another mode of coronavirus spread is contact with infected surfaces or objects. For example, you can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the infectious respiratory droplets on it and then touch your mouth, nose, or your eyes before washing your hands.
Since the coronavirus incubation period is between 2 to 14 days before showing any symptoms or feeling sick, a person infected with the coronavirus who has no symptoms can shed the virus and spread the disease to everyone they come in close contact with, that is why social distancing is so important to keeping yourself and others safe and from being infected. According to the CDC up to 50% of those who have gotten sick with COVID-19, contracted the infection from someone who was feeling healthy and was not experiencing any symptoms of the disease.
Coronavirus symptoms range from mild cold symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, fatigue that resolve within a few days to more severe flu like symptoms such as chills and fever, unrelenting body aches and fatigue, persistent dry cough you feel in your chest, and shortness of breath and breathing difficulties which often indicates pneumonia. It is also common for people to experience loss of taste and smell when sick with COVID-19.
People most at risk of becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus infection are older adults and people of any age with underlying chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, or those who are immunosuppressed. If you have been watching and hearing the news about the risks of contracting the virus, you are likely worried and scared about whether the coronavirus will affect you and the people you care about. since there are no cures for COVID-19, and no vaccines available for at least another year, your greatest line of defense and protection against getting sick from exposure to coronavirus, and ending up in the emergency room, is a strong immune system. When Your immune system is functioning optimally it is fully capable of destroying the coronavirus and keeping you from experiencing severe symptoms.
What to Avoid to Maintain a Strong Immune System
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a lot of anxiety and fear and has completely changed our way of life, making us feel unsafe and worried about catching the virus and getting sick, or worse making our loved ones sick. The stress stemming from constant fear and worry triggers prolonged elevated cortisol levels, and elevated cortisol levels negatively affect and in fact suppress the immune system and diminish its effectiveness against viruses making us more susceptible to infections. Therefore it is very important you avoid self-inflicted stress which raises your cortisol levels leading to self-inflicted weakened and suppressed immune system making your immune system unable to produce enough lymphocytes — white blood cells that help fight off infections — to protect you from severe symptoms of coronavirus infection. Instead of feeling anxious and scared, be grateful and have faith knowing that the creator God who created you, will continue to bless you with good health and a strong immune system. Gratitude, I have found, is something that cannot co-exist at the same time with fearful anxious thoughts, and at this trying time, should be practiced at least a few times a day as a reminder of the importance of heart-felt faith that you are always protected. What you think about, what you do, and how you feel may save you from getting sick because when you engage in positive activities — like watching a funny movie that makes you laugh instead of the watching and hearing the news which may cause you stress — you are essentially causing your body to produce positive immune boosting hormones and chemicals that help your body become more resistant to infections and illness.
Another cause of raised cortisol levels similar to those experienced when under stress, is caffeine which is a central nervous system stimulant. Patient surveys have shown that in over 97% of cases coffee drinkers drink coffee because it is a habit and part of their daily routine, not because they feel they need it to wake up or to boost their energy. Therefore, right now it would be beneficial to you to stop drinking caffeinated beverages to protect the health of your immune system including coffee, energy drinks, and caffeinated sodas. Grain coffee which tastes exactly like coffee is an excellent alternative to regular coffee and it will not raise your cortisol levels because it naturally doesn’t contain any caffeine.
How to Strengthen Your Immune System
Getting quality, deep sleep of at least 7 to 8 hours every night is truly vital for proper functioning of your immune system. In fact, it is during deep restorative sleep that your immune system produces and releases certain proteins and immune cells — like killer T-cells — that specifically respond to and target infective agents like viruses. Without getting regular quality sleep your body’s ability to respond to and destroy viruses is diminished. It is important to note, excess levels of circulating cortisol produced due to either constant stress and worry or caffeine intake can keep you from falling asleep and getting enough good-quality sleep necessary for a healthy immune system function.
Drinking adequate amount of water is an excellent way of helping the body stay hydrated and to help your immune system to easily eliminate toxins. According to health and nutrition experts, it is best to drink at least half of your weight in ounces of water. So, if you weigh 120 pounds, drink at least 60 ounces of water per day. For taste, squeeze some lemon juice in your water and remember according to experts it is best not to substitute other beverages for water.
Eating a healthy diet that provides vital nutrients to the body is essential to keeping your immune system strong. According to several studies there is an undeniable connection between a healthy gut and a strong immune system. Incredibly as much as 70% of the immune system is located in the gut area which makes maintaining the health of the gut a critical part of supporting immune function and keeping you healthy. Eating a diet high in macro and micro-nutrients is essential for strong immunity. As a doctor for over 25 year, I have personally experienced how a diet rich in nutrients can save you from experiencing frequent respiratory infections like colds and the flu. It has now been now over 11 years since I realized how my diet choices can change the state of my health. I used to get colds at least once a month and the flu about every 2 to 3 months, and I thought that was normal because I was seeing several patients a day, some of which showed obvious signs of colds and/or the flu. I started to become concerned when my cold/flu symptoms became more severe and it took longer and longer for my symptoms to resolve. That is when I decided to become proactive and investigate and learn everything I could about my food and diet choices with the goal of improving my immune system. What I learned was having to make better choices and to eat a nutrient rich diet which has kept me from getting colds/flu since 2009 which is hard to believe, but it has truly been a blessing to just simply know my immune system is strong enough to protect me from respiratory and other infections. Of course, Knowing what foods to avoid is as important — if not more important — as what foods to eat to improve immune system function. I have chronicled all my findings in a book on how to empower your immune system to keep You healthy by choosing a diet rich in nutrients, and the book is available at Amazon: How To Eat Clean And Lose Weight Fast Naturally And Permanently: A Complete Guide To Clean Eating — By Dr. Rouya Shamsai. In addition to greatly improving my immune system, the information I share in the book, helped me shed over 110 pounds in less than a year. Interestingly the majority of people trying to lose weight think “I want to lose weight before I can be healthy,” but the truth tends to be the opposite of that statement which is “I have to get healthy before I can lose weight.” When I started my journey of wanting to get healthy, I was not thinking about or focusing on losing the extra weight, but I am truly grateful for it.
And lastly, going outdoors in nature regularly and taking a walk or going on a hike, and generally staying active in the fresh air, can dramatically raise your body’s immune boosting and feel good chemicals and improve your sense of well-being.