The immune system is our body’s primary defense against infection and disease. If time and effort are being spent making sure you are living a healthy lifestyle, viruses, parasites, and germs are quickly eliminated by your body. That being said, if your immune system is not as strong, illness can be a real threat. Regardless if it is something as simple as a cold or more serious like worldwide flu, your body feels the effects of the illness much more when your immune system is weak.
If improving the health of your immune system is something you need to start focussing on, there are several options for making a start. Some of them may seem like common knowledge. Others may be something you’ve never considered before. Altogether, they each play a significant role in living a healthier lifestyle.
- Stress management
- Exercise regimen
- Dietary habits
- Sleep routine
These four categories all have one thing in common. The use of CBD oil can be very beneficial in each of these four areas. We will spend some time with the remainder of this article looking at each of the four areas and the role CBD plays in the mix.
Stress management
People don’t pay enough attention to their mental health. This plays a huge role in the ability our bodies have to fight illness and disease. Recent studies and research has proven an increase in inflammation can be created as a response to long-term stress. As a result, a person is at a higher risk of having an infection. When healthy mental wellness is a priority in our routines and schedules, our immune systems are better prepared to fight off infections and diseases.
Here are a few simple steps that can be taken concerning managing stress that will also be beneficial to your immune system.
Spend time outside. According to research, being in nature reduces stress, your blood pressure will decrease, and the functions of your memory will increase. Regardless if you are walking or simply sitting in peace, make sure you spend at least a few minutes outside in nature every day. Within days you will notice your mental health greatly improving.
Make mindfulness important. The action of being rooted in the moment you are presently experiencing is known as mindfulness. By doing this, you eliminate worry or panic over future or past anxieties. You can take part in activities such as meditation or simple breathing exercises to get started with being a more mindful person. This goes a long way when it comes to cutting stress out of your life.
Using CBD oil will also help decrease stress in your life. Anyone could panic or worry when too much time is spent focusing on the world around you, regardless of where you live, especially right now. CBD in any form, but especially a once a day capsule, is a natural method of dealing with these issues and becoming more mindful of what is going on in your world.
Exercise regimen
Our immune system and the amount of exercise we get are greatly connected. More often than not, the more active a person is when it comes to exercise, the healthier their immune system is. When someone is sick, exercise is never something that is enjoyed. As a matter of fact, exercising when you don’t feel well is normally not advised under any circumstances. That being said, when someone’s body is not exercising regularly for a period of time, there’s a significant chance the immune system is what suffers the most.
This is why getting enough exercise when you are healthy is so important. With a workout that is being done on a daily basis mixed in with correct training, the response of your immune system is not only supported, it also improves. Regardless of the style of exercise, strength training, or cardio, the results are going to be extremely beneficial to your immune system.
Taking care of sore muscles
One of the worst things you can experience is setting out to make healthy changes to your lifestyle and having it backfire on you. When you first begin exercising and making an effort in getting into better physical shape, dealing with a sore muscle or two can almost seem like you’re being punished for a good decision. With your body going through discomfort, aches, and pains from working out, a CBD supplement could be exactly what you need. CBD is a great way to get rid of inflammation in your muscles due to an increased amount of exercise.
Dietary habits
There has been plenty of progress made over the last 10 years concerning exactly what a healthy diet is. There have been several connections made between what we’re eating, how we are thinking, the energy our bodies feel, the stress we feel, and especially, the effectiveness of our immune system.
As the research and data continue to grow that is available to us, the phrase “you are what you eat” becomes more and more of a reality. Recent studies show as much as 70 percent of the immune system is found in our stomach. If we want to improve the health of our immune system, it all starts with what we are eating.
Back in 2016, the KINDS Bars label was removed by the Federal Drug Administration due to an extremely high level of fat in their products. If there is anything that has been taught by this event, it is the outdated look of exactly what eating healthy looks like.
The decision was reversed by the FDA against KIND Bars with the claim the FDA was reconsidering exactly what fell under the label as “healthy.” Think about that for a minute. If the FDA was giving the wrong perception of what “healthy” looked like, imagine how backward consumers have been looking at things when it comes to their diets? Here are just a few simple guidelines that can be followed when it comes to what we are eating and nutrition.
Don’t eat foods that are heavily processed. A simple trick to remember while grocery shopping is to stay on the perimeter of the store. This is generally where you will find perishable items.
Make sure you are getting a variety of natural grains, legumes, proteins, with colorful fruits and vegetables. This is solid protection against missing out on a few specific nutrients and vitamins.
Listen to what your stomach is telling you. Your genetic makeup is not going to be like someone else’s. Continue to try foods that are new to you. Also, you want your diet to be full of different colors of food. Keep track of the different foods you are trying and how your stomach felt after eating.
There is plenty of advice available to us concerning our diets and nutrition. With a new diet trending weekly, it can be frustrating to develop a plan of attack and sticking to it. The thing that usually gets forgotten is the fact that different diets affect different people differently. Eating real food that has been naturally produced, listening to our stomachs, and being mindful of how we feel after eating have to be important. Also, having variety makes it easier to accomplish the goals we have set out to accomplish.
Supplementing health and avoiding behaviors that are unhealthy.
With there being so much room and speculation with exactly what eating healthy includes, there are two other significant elements we need to touch on. For starters, a supplement can be an awesome way of introducing nutrients and vitamins that are key we could be missing out on. These include, but aren’t limited to, vitamin B12, iron, and many other minerals and vitamins. Visiting your physician for a standard blood test is a great way of pinpointing exactly which vitamins and minerals you could be missing out on.
Also, consider staying away from specific behaviors that aren’t beneficial for your health. This includes drinking alcohol excessively and smoking cigarettes, as well as eating fast food on a regular basis instead of a healthy meal. With just a few of these easy steps, making healthier eating decisions will go a long way.
Sleep routine
There’s no question, it is wonderful to wake up fully rested from a long night of sleep. Still, you might be surprised at just how beneficial this is, especially when it comes to your immune system. It is while you are asleep that your immune system does all of its dirty work. Cytokines, a specific protein the immune system uses, is released in our body while we sleep.
Each of these different cytokines has a different function they perform. Some of these will simply help your body to sleep better. Others will fight off diseases and infections. Regardless of what these cytokines do, if your body isn’t getting the right amount of sleep, your immune system isn’t using them as effectively as needed.
The less time your body spends sleeping and resting, the better chances you have of ending up sick. Without receiving a healthy amount of sleep, your immune system isn’t able to keep your body well. According to plenty of research and study, if you are an adult, your body needs to be getting between six and a half and eight hours of sleep, every night. If you are someone who has trouble getting this much sleep per night, here are a few tips you may want to consider.
Sleep in a cooler area than you normally would be in. Maybe this is as simple as opening a window at night while you sleep or aiming a fan towards your bed. It is recommended that you sleep in an area that is 65 degrees. Both your mind and body are encouraged by the cool air, producing a healthier downtime.
After one or 1:00 in the afternoon, stop drinking coffee and other highly caffeinated drinks. A few hours later, no, you may not still be feeling the effects of the drink, the body is still being affected by the caffeine. Try using a herbal teal and make sure you are getting plenty of water throughout the afternoon and evening. This will help you get a better night’s sleep when you lie down.
As silly as this may sound if it’s not something you do, start scheduling your sleep. Create a bedtime you can keep and get up at the same time every morning, regardless if you’re working that day or not. At first, this can be a struggle, especially falling asleep. That being said, the longer you are willing to stick with it, the more beneficial this will be for you.
Make it a rule that you don’t look at a screen for the hour before you lie down to go to sleep. Regardless if it is a phone, computer, or television, the lighting used in these screens have an effect on the brain. Turn the screens off. Spend the last hour of the night relaxing and preparing to sleep. Reading is an excellent habit to have during this time.
Other sleep aids
More and more people are turning to a sleep aid when they have trouble falling asleep at night. You have to be careful here. Yes, being able to fall asleep quickly is important. That being said, if you are negatively affected as you wake up, you may be defeating the purpose of falling asleep quickly. Here are a few things you may want to consider.
Try meditating before bed. You will be better able to relax with a clear mind, making it easier to fall asleep after lying down for the night with a simple, guided meditation. Don’t start out looking to meditate for a half an hour before going to bed, Start out slow by meditating for three to seven minutes and increase the time as the nights go by.
A dried lavender sachet can be placed under the pillow you are using to sleep with. The scent will soothe your body and can help put your mind at ease, helping you fall asleep more easily.
Last but not least, make CBD oil a part of your sleeping routine. It can be hard for any mind to shut down after a long day, regardless if your job is physically or mentally demanding. For a brain to shut down and begin drifting off to sleep can be difficult for anyone. Using a CBD tincture may be just the help you need for creating peace and calm. Also, with a CBD product, you will wake up fresh and alert while many other sleep aids leave you feeling drowsy and worn down.