In today’s day and age, it is more important than ever to take steps to boost not just your own immune system, but those of your children as well. Immune-boosting efforts become particularly important during the winter months, when children are cooped up indoors all day with their peers, and when the only place germs can go is into their immune systems. While you cannot remove your children from germ-filled environments entirely, you can take steps to boost their immunity.
Exercise Regularly
Exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, so it makes sense that it is one of the best things your children can do for theirs as well. Exercise increases lymph and blood flow throughout the body, which thereby increases the rate at which immune cells also make their way through the body. Moreover, as the muscles contract, the body produces immune cells at a higher rate, meaning your body has more to fight off infections and disease. While your children don’t necessarily need to hit the gym, they should get at least 60 minutes of vigorous play each day.
Reduce Processed Food
Processed foods are loaded with health-harming ingredients, including salt, sugar, preservatives and other additives. Minimize the amount of canned, frozen, pasteurized or packaged food your children consume daily to preserve and boost their health.
Maintain a Healthy Teeth Brushing Routine
An increasing amount of research suggests that oral health directly contributes to whole-body health, and vice versa. Though many of the health benefits appeal more to adults, you can set your children up for a lifetime of strong oral and whole body health by teaching them the importance of twice-daily brushing and flossing.
Avoid Smoke Inhalation
Evidence shows that second-hand smoke has a myriad of adverse health effects on small children and adults alike. Among others, those include an increased risk of asthma attacks, ear infections, respiratory infections and sudden infant death syndrome. Not only should you avoid smoking around your child, but you should also quit entirely if you do smoke — or avoid second-hand smoke yourself — as doing so can benefit you as well.
Organic Essentials
Despite your best efforts, your children’s immune systems may need a little boost via organic essentials, such as probiotics, vitamin drops and organic immune support drops. Wellements offers immune support must-haves a la carte or in bundles.
Teach Proper Hand-Washing
School children who are familiar with and engage in proper handwashing habits early in life can help stop the spread of stomach bugs by as much as 33% and reduce the rate of respiratory infections by as much as 20%. This makes handwashing one of the most effective and cheapest ways to slow the spread of germs.
Get Good Sleep
Sleep plays a major role in the strength of the body’s adaptive and innate immune responses. While the science behind this is complex, the bottom line is that the more and better sleep your children get, the more capable their bodies will be at fighting off invaders.
Eat From the Rainbow
“Eating from the rainbow” simply means eating fruits and vegetables of various colors every day. The phytonutrients in plants are what give plants their various and unique hues. While some phytonutrients contain more health benefits than others, health experts recommend that adults and children try to eat plants of several colors each day.
Take Probiotics
Finally, support your little ones’ gut health with probiotics. Gut health is a major contributing factor in overall health. While you can contribute to gut health by helping your children build and maintain healthy diets, it does not hurt to add probiotic drops to their daily regime.
It’s so important that you set your children up for optimal health. By taking the above nine measures early in life, you can do just that.