Healthy Ways to Support Your Immune System that Don’t Cost a Fortune

With the coronavirus outbreak all around us, it’s natural to want to look for ways to support your immune system. That said, if you look online for products to help you, it’s rapidly clear that many of the products out there designed for this purpose come with a huge price tag.  The good news is that you don’t need a product that was specifically meant to build up your body’s defenses to do a good job of it all on your own.

Can a Product Stop the Coronavirus?

The basics of supporting your immune system are essentially the same as living a healthy lifestyle.  Your body does a terrific job of putting up its own defenses the majority of the time. That said, there are some things you can do to make sure it is especially prepared in the face of disease-causing microorganisms.

Of course, it’s important to note that no matter what you’re doing to support your immune system, nothing has yet been identified that will actually block COVID-19 from infecting you if it enters your body. Until a vaccine is developed, any product claiming that it can stop the novel coronavirus from infecting you is making unproven statements. This should be seen as a red flag and should not be trusted.

What Can You Do to Support Your Immune System?

The key to providing support to your immune system is in knowing that it isn’t a specific individual entity in your body. It’s not an organ or a hormone.  Instead, it is a system of various parts of your body that must function well and quite intricately together.  As much as researchers know the major components that make up this system, many remain a mystery.

There are no scientifically proven direct links between any specific lifestyle and improved immune function. However, that doesn’t mean that changing your lifestyle won’t help you to support your immune system and your overall health to keep your body prepared in case of invaders.  There are certain strategies that can give your body the upper hand. These can help you to be as prepared as possible in case you should become ill.

The following are some of the recommendations made by Harvard Medical School to strengthen and support your immune system.

• Wash your hands thoroughly and regularly to reduce exposure to microbes. This is particularly important before and while preparing food and after having used the bathroom
• Don’t smoke and quit if you already do
• Eat a diet that contains lots of fruits and vegetables every day
• Be physically active
• Ideally, don’t drink alcohol, but if you do, drink in moderation
• Try to minimize stress