Of course, while we can improve our health in several ways, we cannot always dictate just how and when we might experience an illness. Bacteria is all around us, and sometimes our immune system comes under attack. Some people have strong immune systems, and may just be able to brush off a particularly bad flu in a few days. For some, it might take weeks.
To a large extent, we also cannot completely control our percentage chance of contracting a certain specific illness, due to genetic markers, and your contextual lifestyle. For example, methods such as exercise can help reduce your chances of heart trouble, but if there’s a history of heart trouble in your family, the danger is still there. For that reason, learning how best to avoid becoming ill is not something that can be applied to everyone, and it will never work one hundred percent of the time. They say death and taxes are eternal and inevitable, but so is having to experience some form of illness throughout your life. However, with the following worthwhile efforts, you can slow this descent to feeling terrible, and protect yourself against the most common spreadable or developmental illnesses around:
Practice High Standards Of Hygiene
Practical medicine has evolved to such a degree that we can truly marvel at the possibility of care we can receive. However, some medical breakthroughs are as fundamental as anything else, and will never be upgraded or lose their potency. Hygiene is almost single handedly the most important form of health maintenance you could ever practice, especially when out in public. While most of us consider ourselves to have excellent levels of hygiene, and would often take offense at someone teaching us how to ‘stay clean,’ it can often be that we aren’t practicing it as well as we might imagine.
For example, let’s say we go to the gym. We know that this is a hotbed of bacteria. People are sweating, touching equipment, wiping their brow, sneezing into tissues, coughing on the treadmill from time to time etcetera. We know that some equipment might not be wiped down for some time. However, we put headphones in our ears after touching equipment. We might use the shower facilities without thinking about what sort of feet touched the cubicle basin. We handle our bottle of water in the midst of our exercise. This can all spread germs, not to mention just how in-contact with others we might be when working out.
All of this can contribute to us gaining an illness of some kind, or spreading around a viral infection we might have. In this context, washing your hands thoroughly, bringing small anti-bacterial wipes to slightly clean the surface of the equipment you’re handling (gym staff will appreciate this provided it’s not overboard,) and ensuring that you practice comforting personal space can all help you practice higher standards of hygiene. The gym is a pertinent example because it’s a place we go to improve our health, and so we might ignore just how our health can come under attack. Depending on your job, such as public facing roles, or working with children, you might even need to adopt more measures to keeping yourself protected. If you can do this, you will find your chances of gaining or spreading an illness to be lowered, if not completely, at least in a worthwhile sense.
Get Enough Sleep
It’s quite amazing to see just how necessary sleep is to our everyday lives. Just as going without nine square meals can cause anyone to become a much more primitive version of themselves (a fact often repeated in survival television programmes,) going without sleep for even one day will have massive effects on the brain and body. In fact, being sleep deprived to a point can start resembling similar levels of reduced reactivity we would expect from someone who is intoxicated. It doesn’t take long for our mental health to start slipping from this point on.
But getting enough sleep is not only essential for your mind – it’s essential for your body. Your immune system is functioning at its peak when you’re asleep, and your body slowly begins to repair itself. If you do not have this, it can be much easier to contract bugs and illnesses you might have otherwise shrugged off. Cold and flu symptoms become much easier to contract, and worse.
This is why treating sleep as something sacred is essential. Corporate working culture can somehow make us celebrate a lack of true sleep as an ‘achievement’ of some kind, when in reality, this perspective is warped. Going without sleep makes you no more of a hero than someone who manages to take care of themselves each night, and over time, those results will show. Instead, learning what’s right for you is important. Learn how to calculate your sleep and you’ll be able to see how your current schedule is helping or hindering your approach.
On top of these things, it’s essential for you to be consider your sleep hygiene. Regularly change your bedsheets. Go to bed in a ventilated environment. Try to limit the noise pollution nearby, or use memory foam earplugs to drown out the noise. Ensure your right temperature. And give yourself time before bed to unwind, such as reading a book for 15-30 minutes. If you can follow this procedure and keep the same hours each night, you will find yourself feeling much healthier and comfortable in your daily life – because you will have been well rested.
Eat Right
A poor diet can also negatively detract from your ability to fend off illnesses. This is because your body needs nutrients in order to function properly. It can be that eating well and also supplementing with essential vitamins and minerals can help you gain the strongest defense. Ensure you’re getting your RDA of Vitamin C, D and E. Zinc supplements can also help your immune system like no other. If you feel as though you’re losing out on your mineral intake, you might consider using Fulvic Acid to replace those lost through your food consumption.
But remember, none of this is a substitute for a diet comprising of many food groups in their right balance, of eating your caloric needs and consuming many leafy green vegetables. On top of that, ensure that you’re drinking enough water. This is where many people fail to uphold their needs. Ideally, an adult person should drink 2L-3L minimum of water a day to stay healthy. This might be more if regularly enjoying exercise or if suffering from an illness that is causing lost fluids. Eating right, especially when ill, can be a difficult process. But if you meal plan effectively, learn to cook healthy, simple meals and give yourself enough time to enjoy the process, you’ll be much more able to build the defense system your body needs.
Report Said Illness
Of course, many of us fail to visit the Doctor because we feel bad for bothering them over something small. But it could be that our symptoms are lasting for longer than we think, or that something difficult is returning again. Sometimes, the best way to prevent an illness is to catch it before it becomes really bad. This means educating yourself online based on your symptoms, using symptom checker tools, and inspecting how you feel might help put you in touch with the right medication you need. For example, an ear infection could become much worse if left unattended or without the right medical application. This is just one small example, but it goes to show how just sometimes, it’s worth mentioning your worries.
Get Vaccinated
Each year, a flu shot can be a wise thing to get. But of course, it’s important to become vaccinated for other illnesses as well. Some are mandatory, some are not-so-much. However, what’s worrying is how anti-vaccination sentiments have started to once again grow cases of smallpox, when in reality, this should have been completely stamped out. Vaccinations for you and your children are essential, and while this is blindingly obvious and slightly patronizing, keeping that ideal can prevent toxic sentiments such as those described from spreading further.
Quit Your Vices
Smoking, drinking, staying up late, living a sedentary lifestyle, eating too much sugar or trans fats can all contribute to your immune system being weakened. Take drinking, for example. Not only is alcohol bad for your organs, but it dehydrates you. Not only that, but you’re more likely to engage in unaware unhygienic behavior when drunk. Next, you’re going to lack the correct REM sleep needed to heal and repair appropriately. On top of that, you’re likely to binge on junk food the next day as you try to soothe your headache and satisfy the nutrients your body is aching for. Over time, this can prove a worrying circumstance, especially if it happens regularly. This is why curbing your vices is one of the best practices you can engage in to prevent regular illness.
With this advice, you’re sure to best avoid falling into illness.
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