Supporting Your Immune System in Spring
- It’s still important to look after your immune system even when the weather is warmer
- Carry on taking your vitamin D supplement until the end of March
- Eat a variety of different coloured fresh fruits and vegetables
- Exercise outside to boost the action of the immune system T cells
- Reduce stress and improve sleep to manage cortisol levels
Support your immune system with high-antioxidant honey
After what feels like the longest, windiest, wettest winter on record, spring has finally sprung. The daffodils are poking through waterlogged ground, the alarm is going off in semi-daylight, and it’s the time of year for trying to pick the right coat for the day (you won’t, it’s officially Wrong Coat Season).
But before we all rush out and chase the sun, winter bugs are still hanging about, and the variable weather can weaken our defence systems. So we still need to take a pause and think about how to support our immune system this spring.
Vitamin D
Known as the sunshine vitamin, vitamin D is essential for muscle and bone strength. But it’s also crucial for supporting the immune system. Our bodies cannot make enough vitamin D without sunlight hitting the skin. Therefore, when daylight is scarce during the winter, the advice is to take a 10 mcg vitamin D supplement each day from October until the end of March. So, keep taking your vitamin D each day until we’re well and truly into the spring weather.
Eat Your Greens (and yellows, oranges and reds)
Eating a variety of fresh produce provides your body with a range of plant compounds, including phytonutrients and antioxidants. Each different colour and type of fruit, vegetable, grain, nut, seed, herb, and spice provides a different variety of these compounds, which are essential for modulating the immune system, keeping it healthy, and reducing inflammation that can weaken our immune defences.
Get More Active – Especially Outside
Engaging in 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week is great for boosting mental health and supporting a healthy weight and body composition. But exercise also boosts circulation, which helps keep the cells of the immune system healthy. There’s also evidence that exposure to daylight while we’re exercising supports the work of immune cells called T cells, which fight infection, and helps expose us to immune-boosting vitamin D.
Reduce Stress and Improve Sleep
For many, reducing stress is easier said than done, but taking steps to reduce how much stress you experience is important. Stress increases the level of a hormone called cortisol, and high cortisol levels suppress immunity, leaving us vulnerable to coughs, colds and vomiting bugs. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep can also increase our stress and cortisol levels and negatively affect our immune system.
Supporting Your Immune System with Necta & Hive
Our high-quality, healing honeys are rich in immune system-supporting antioxidants, so you can support your body’s natural defences while enjoying our deliciously sweet, sticky, healthy honey on your breakfast granola. What better way to start the day? And with our new honey subscription service, you’ll never need to run low.
So, drizzle your honey, get outside, take your vitamin D, eat the rainbow and enjoy! (Until the hayfever season gets into full swing…)
