Due to the Corona scare, more people are getting acquainted and conscious of the term ‘Immunity’. Else no matter how much you spread the word about disease-fighting herbs, spices and foods; not much attention is given to it unless something shattering happens or unless body throws shocking symptoms. Isn’t that true? Be it any virus or bacteria, endemic or pandemic, your immune system has a lot to do with it.
Can we boost or improve our Immunity within 2-3 days or 2-3 weeks to fight against such outbreaks? The answer is ‘NO’: There is lots to do to keep our immunity constantly healthy, happy, and smiling, it’s much beyond popping in tulsi leaves and drinking haldi water.
We must make conscious efforts each day:
1. To stop smoking and avoid over-consumption of alcohol
2. Sleep Well and Sleep on Time: Respect the Circadian Rhythm. Avoid late-night work, social media time-pass. Learn to say ‘NO’ to late night parties and social gatherings. It’s not at all COOL to hang around with friends, spouses late in the night and start your day at 9-10-11-12 next morning. Remember- Early to bed, early to rise makes us Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise. Let’s use this simple wisdom.
3. Exercise regularly: Exercise is not just meant for people who want to lose weight. Regular exercise (20-30 minutes daily) MUST be done by everyone and has a major major role in strengthening our immune system. What kind of exercise? It can be as simple as walking on the spot, stair climbing, brisk walking, outdoor game etc., basically anything that keeps you going and well-motivated.
4. Practice at least 12 Suryanamaskara daily.
आदित्यस्य नमस्कारान् ये कुर्वन्ति दिने दिने ।जन्मान्तरसहस्रेषु दारिद्र्यं दोष नाशते ।अकालमृत्यु हरणं सर्वव्याधि विनाशनम् ।सूर्यपादोदकं तीर्थं जठरे धारयाम्यहम् ।।
Suryanamaskara has the power of resisting the diseases. Hence we must practice it daily.
5. Pranayama/ Meditation- Another powerful immunity booster. As we all know, Stress is the main reason for poor immune function. Pranayama/ rhythmic breathing/ Bhastrika is the only technique that has shown some good results on improving our immunity according to some studies. It is the most needed thing to do in the Corona outbreak.
6. Eat home-cooked well balanced healthy meals made with right hygienic ingredients (preferably natural and organic). There is no reason why you should feel shy or find it inconvenient to carry your homemade meals and snacks.Over-dependence on outside food; (be it an office canteen or a restaurant) is going to deteriorate our immunity and overall health in the long run. There is no comparison of any food with simple ‘Ghar ka Khana’.
7. Role of ‘Vitamin D’ in Immunity- Deficiency of this hormone is linked to many diseases as it has a significant role to play in our immunity. We can even call it an ‘Immunity Vitamin’, that’s how powerful it is. Make sure your levels are well within the range. Take the help of a supplement, there are not many food options in India. Talk to your doctor about the right dose and right supplement, you may need magnesium or calcium too for effective absorption of vitamin D.
8. You are What you Absorb: 75-80% of Immunity is developed from our Gut. Taking diverse whole grains in the diet gives good prebiotics which is the food for probiotics or good microbes. Keep your tummies happy and smiling by eating the right foods, in the right quantities, focus on pre and probiotic foods. Eat fresh food and not something that is cooked for long hours, refrigerated or frozen for a long time. Enough chewing and mindful eating helps to absorb nutrients efficiently. Pay utmost attention to this too.
9. Magical Herbs/ spices to boost immunity: The list is endless. But as of now, you can focus on taking giloy (Guduchi), tulsi, curcumin rich Haldi with pepper, Clove, cinnamon, cardamom as often as possible. There are many simple ways to take these daily.
10. Any other vitamin skipped which is closely related to Immunity? - yes you guessed it right. Our favorite Vitamin C- Amla, green leafy veggies, berries, oranges, lemon etc. Now you know why taking 1 Amla/day was a MUST during the season? It’s a treat to our Immune system.
11. Add enough variety as I always talk about in most of my posts. Local, seasonal variety is very essential not just with fruits and veggies but also with different spices, herbs, grains, dals must be eaten. Eating just 1 thing is of no help, variety and lots of colors in your plate is the key to proper nutrition. Kindly increase your vegetable and fruit intake to increase immunity naturally.
12. Stay calm/ relaxed and keep ‘Apne Kaam se Kaam’. Don’t let the negative emotions float in your system throughout the day: jealousy, anger, hatred gives rise to various stress hormones and that’s the last thing we want in our system when we are working on building our immunity.
How about following these 12 tips to keep Corona away? Also, there is an age-old practice of applying edible pure camphor near the nasal area, chest, throat or ears. Some people even tie the piece of camphor in a cloth and wear it like a necklace tied in the simple thread. This acts as a natural anti-bacterial and anti-viral. Bhimseni Camphor is available online, you may want to try this remedy too. It’s definitely wiser to Use camphor in cars, at home, offices instead of using chemically loaded air fresheners or cheap quality agarbattis. There are tons of other benefits too such as air purification, attracting positive vibes/ energy, healing properties and so on. In 14th century Europe and in Persia, Camphor was used as a disinfectant ingredient in fumigations at the time of the plague as well as in embalming procedures. (Source: google). This statement might convince us more to use camphor in today’s situation.
Stay Safe!!!