Children are an undeniable blessing. But, parenthood is also an experience rife with challenges, including winters beset with a seemingly never-ending cold. Once your children are in school and mixing with other kids their age, the dreaded winter cold can even stretch for as long as three months. And, for obvious reasons, that can take its toll.
As well as leaving you all frankly fed up with each other, extended periods of illness like these can result in unproductive winters, low moods, and, in extreme cases, battered immune systems that could even leave you susceptible to more severe illnesses if you’re exposed to them.
So, as well as making your life easier, a sickness-free winter, or at least a winter with just one or two passing colds, can help your whole family stay healthier and happier. But, is such a goal possible when you have young kids? We think so, and we’ve got some immune-boosting tips that might help you to believe it, too.
Health starts at home
Naturally, you’ll want to spend plenty of time at home once the cold weather sets in and given that it’s a warm, safe space, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But, it is worth noting that stuffy, unaired rooms can pose a few different problems for your immune system. For one thing, moisture-filled rooms are a breeding ground for mold bacteria, which can, when inhaled, leave your immune system open to all manner of respiratory illnesses, colds, and more. When the whole family is crammed into an unaired space, it’s also far easier for illness to travel from one person to another, meaning that you’ll likely all get sick if one of you does.
Overcoming this is largely about making sure that, while you want your home to be warm, you’re also taking the time to keep it fresh. Simple steps like opening the window can help here, but if it’s really cold outside, you may find that dehumidifying and freshening using your air-con system is a less drastic option. Ensure the efficiency of this alternative with custom ac filters that can enhance the freshness you’ll enjoy. You should find, within a few weeks of winter, that you notice a difference, both in the ease with which illness strikes you, and with how much illness struggles to travel amongst you when it does hit.
Immune-boosting foods
Eating right is one of the best things that you can do for your immune system in winter, as fuelling up on the right things will give you the energy reserves, nutrients, and more that you need to fight illness when it comes knocking. Feeding the whole family an immune-boosting diet through the winter months can completely transform both how often you get sick, and how sick you get when bugs do hit, and should include foods such as –
- Blueberries
- Oily fish
- Broccoli
- Spinach
- Ginger
- Garlic
- And more
These foods are especially effective when paired with carbohydrates, which can provide you with higher energy levels, and a generally better chance of staying alert, happy, and healthy no matter how cold things get. Recipes that are well worth using every winter might include red lentil dahl, oatmeal, and garlicky squash soups (when paired with a carb-heavy crusty roll, of course).
What about outdoor activities?
Hibernation is a natural winter behavior that can be seen across the animal kingdom, but most animals don’t hide in a locked space for the whole winter. After all, no matter how well-ventilated your home is, it’s still a confined, and inherently stuffy area. Not to mention that winter inactivity can lead to lethargy that also puts your immune system at risk.
Instead, it’s important to make an effort to get out as much as you can during even the winter months. It should go without saying, of course, that you should all wrap for this purpose or else you risk getting ill just by getting out. But, well-wrapped winter walks and family expeditions can help to freshen you up, keep you energized, and ultimately keep your immune system ticking over for a lot longer than it would if you took to the sofa all winter long.
Prioritize your sleep
Winter is filled with festivities that can see sleep falling by the wayside, but a lack of sleep directly affects how well your immune system functions. In fact, a consistent lack of decent sleep has been shown to reduce all-important infection-fighting antibodies. As such, you’re at far higher risk of falling ill for long periods if you consistently skimp on nighttime sleep or simply fail to listen to the fact that your body may need more sleep during the dark, cold winter.
So, instead of staying up late preparing for winter’s festivities, try to get an early night as often as you can this season. Even if your bedtime is typically around 11 p.m. in the summer, the darker evenings and mornings mean that you may even benefit from going to bed as early as 10 p.m., or before, during winter. Make sure you can achieve this goal with a gentle, calming winter bedtime routine that your health will inevitably thank you for.
Put relaxation first
While it may seem like a less obvious immune-boosting option than the other points on this list, relaxation can also help you to stay healthy through winter. That’s because the high-stress levels that darker days and festive periods bring can actually suppress our immune systems. And, when that happens, illness can creep right in and make us even more stressed!
By making time for relaxing winter activities like baths, meditation, and even just lighting a soy candle, we can harness a far calmer winter mindset. As well as making a potentially dark period lighter, this can help our immune systems to remain in the best possible condition, and to better fight off even the endless illnesses that youngsters have a habit of bringing home with them.
Your whole family deserves a sickness-free winter. Bring that dream to reality by putting these pointers into action.
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