You want your immune system to be healthy whether you’re treating patients on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic or relaxing on a day off.

It is mostly a matter of developing good habits that will help you strengthen your immune system. If you want to improve your body’s ability to fight disease and illness, start with your daily routine, diet, and hygiene practices.

The suggestions below will assist you in starting to improve your immune system right away!

Personal Hygiene and Social Distancing: The Fundamentals

You can start strengthening your immune system right away by developing three simple habits: wash your hands for 20 seconds, avoid touching your face, and practice social distancing.

If you do those three things on a daily basis, you have already taken a significant step toward strengthening your immune system.

• Get Enough Sleep

According to research, sleep and immune function are inextricably linked. The Mayo Clinic recommends. According to the Mayo Clinic, your sleeping habits influence your body’s ability to fight infection and how quickly it recovers if you become ill.

Your body releases proteins that aid in the promotion of sleep while you sleep. When you are ill, your body requires more of these proteins to fight the infection. People who don’t get enough sleep may have lower levels of proteins and antibodies that your body needs to protect or heal itself.

For most adults, seven to eight hours of sleep per night is ideal.

• Consume Immune System Boosting Foods

Your diet has a significant impact on your immune health.

Food is one of the best ways to care for and strengthen your immune system — but not just any food. Certain nutrients found in foods are essential for immune system health. While focusing on these foods is important when you’re sick, it’s just as important (if not more so) when you’re healthy, because it allows your immune system to be at its best when it comes into contact with potentially harmful viruses or bacteria.

• Stay Active by Exercising

Another way to boost your immune system is through moderate physical activity and exercise. Physical activity improves the circulation of antibodies and white blood cells in your body by increasing blood flow.

Exercising also helps your body to release endorphins, which reduces stress, which is another factor in immune health.

• Reduced Stress

Most modern Americans experience stress on a regular basis, but high levels of stress are linked to poor immune health.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, stress causes your body to produce cortisol, a hormone that helps to limit inflammation in the short term. When you are stressed frequently, your body’s tolerance to cortisol rises, making it more susceptible to inflammation.

Stress also reduces the production of white blood cells, which help the body fight infection. Low white blood cell counts compromise your body’s defense against viruses such as the common cold and cold sores.

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