Anxious About the Coronavirus? Here Are Eight Practical Tips on How to Stay Calm and Support Your Immune System
With our 24-hour news cycle, it’s hard not to be on edge regarding the spread of the coronavirus. Here are a few suggestions on how to stay calm and support your immune system.
You’re likely seeing and hearing a lot about the novel coronavirus and the associated respiratory disease that it causes, COVID-19. Much of the news focuses on useful preventative measures that include washing your hands, using sanitizers and avoiding close contact with those that are sick, but it often ignores another important part to staying healthy — boosting your own immune system!
While educating ourselves about the situation, it’s important to manage any stress or anxiety that may come up, as stress is shown to lower your immunity to illness. The good news is there are many things we can do to lower stress and give the immune system a boost.
Below are eight easy ways to ensure our bodies and minds are best prepared to fight the virus if we come into contact with it.
- Engage in meditation — Meditation increases expressions of genes that are beneficial to the immune system. In addition, stress hormones can reduce the effectiveness of immune cells, so by reversing the stress response with meditation, we support our immune function.
- Breathe — Doing some slow, belly breathing can calm the mind, which in turn strengthens the immune system. When we slow down the breath, we calm the stress response that can weaken the immune system. Try counting to 4 or 5 with each inhalation and exhalation to slow down your breathing. You’ll notice the effects right away!
- Get good sleep — Sleep has been known to boost T-cells which help us fight disease, especially viral diseases. Get at least 7-8 hours of natural, restful sleep.
