Here's my guide to five simple things you can do to look after your self and stay strong, not just during lockdown and in times of uncertainty, but always...
Join us for ICB TV on Monday 18 May to hear Simone talking about Mental Health Awareness Week and sharing some more tips.
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Building Immune Strength to carry you through
Given the situation with the coronavirus my focus this month is very much on stress and how best to manage it and creating a lifestyle to support a robust immune system. I want to show you ways to support yourself to stay strong not just in times of uncertainty and anxiety, but always.
Currently, we hear updates, death rates, infected rates and recovery rates. Schools closed. Churches closed. Shops closed. Businesses closed. (No toilet paper!) Hysteria and panic reign supreme.
Hysteria and panic are stressors.
And we’ve spoken a lot about stress.
We know what stress does to our body.
It lowers our immune system. It literally makes us weaker.
So to begin my list of 5 things to consider in terms of your own lifestyle - beyond washing your hands – to build a stronger immune system and give you a better chance of remaining healthy, let me begin with:
1. Reduce Your Stress – Breathe!
I encourage you to switch the news off regularly. It’s useful to get an occasional update. But we don’t need to be bombarded with fear and panic and that’s all that is currently being shown. It is stressful!
What are you doing daily to support your balance and calm? Now is the time to incorporate a practice like meditation, yoga, stretching, journaling or anything that allows you to slow your breathing, calm your mind and focus your attention someplace else other than the outside world.
My top tip to help calm stress is to turn to your breath. When stressed, we often unconsciously switch to mouth breathing and “puff” or shallow breathe rather than filling our diaphragm with long, slow inhalations.
So, if there is a time you feel your anxiety levels rising, pause. Put your right hand over your heart and your left hand on your belly button. Nose breathing, inhale for 4 counts, hold for 5 and exhale for 7 counts. Close your eyes and think only of your breath. This pattern is shown to help calm, reduce stress hormones and short circuit anxiety and tension in the body.
Aaaand breathe…….
2. Rest and get regular and solid sleep
When we endure constant pressure of any type, our body is literally fired up and exists in a sympathetic state; fight or flight. This state of being is useful to prepare our bodies instantly
to escape imminent danger (historically run from predators for instance) but is unhealthy for it to be prolonged. That’s when our immune system is seriously impaired as is every other system in the body.
THE best remedy for overcoming stress is rest. And sleep. Rest looks different for each of us. Whatever we enjoy that allows our breathing to settle and our thoughts to calm is the thing we must include in each day. I love nothing better than a calm cuppa 1st thing each morning, listening to the birds in quiet contemplation/meditation before the rush of the day descends.
As well, at the end of each day, in order to allow our body to heal, store, complete digestion, grow and file memories we need sound and solid sleep. It’s a stress reliever and a health-builder. Many struggle with sleep – getting to and/or staying asleep. Tips to make sleep less elusive include:
· Start your day with a glass of water & sip all day (dehydration can impair sleep)
· Get daylight on your face within 20 minutes of waking to down regulate melatonin (sleep hormone) and support your natural circadian rhythm.
· Incorporate exercise into most days – it supports all bodily systems and contributes to reliably sound sleep
· Turn off electronics at least ¾hr before lights-out time · Switch off home wifi at night– It is reported that “Those exposed to the electromagnetic radiation had a significantly more difficult time falling asleep and changes in brainwave patterns were observed”.
· Create a bedtime routine that includes a bath with magnesium flakes, dimming the lights, reading and limiting fluid intake close to bedtime, to limit the necessity to wake in the middle of the night.
· As much as possible, aim to go to go to sleep and get up each day at roughly the same time (to support circadian rhythm).
3. Stay hydrated
Dehydration is a plague all its own in our world. It is responsible for such things as headaches, sleeplessness, mood swings, cravings, foggy thoughts, skin that loses its elasticity and health, even weight gain. And anxiety.
It is very easy to rush from task to task, forget to sip at the most essential part of our intake other than air and get to the end of the day beyond thirsty, rather we’re completely parched. It contributes to that exhausted feeling so many know.
Something to remember, quite often our reading of our body’s ‘hunger’ signals is actually cries for water. So, tips to get and keep you hydrated:
· Begin each day with a big glass of filtered tepid never cold) water.
· Buy a stainless-steel water bottle and sip from it all day (all plastics will leach into your water which is not a good thing)
· If you are not used to drinking water add a tiny pinch of pink salt. Or use fresh berries, lemon and/or mint. Whatever fruit/veg/herb you enjoy the flavour and encourages you to enjoy more water is the right thing for you. (I also use a drop of a favourite food-grade essential oil like lemon or spearmint)
· Replace juice with water. A glass of home-pressed juice is a lovely inclusion to a balanced diet. I suggest they’re not consumed on an empty stomach. Any fruit juice generally adds an extra load for your liver which potentially spikes blood-sugar levels and taxes your adrenals. In times of stress, water is best!
4. Move your body
Other than sleep and rest, exercise is a fabulous stress-buster. We all know it. Now is the time to remember the things that you love and move them back into your schedule. It really is that simple.
If you don’t like running but love going for walks, I urge you, go for more walks!
Sitting is the new smoking and moving your body is the antidote. Nothing else undoes the effects of sitting and stress like getting out into nature, enjoying huge lungs-full of fresh air and leaving worries behind for a while.
Unless limited by illness isolation, to help you create an exercise plan that works for you find a buddy who enjoys the same sort of programme. This can be going for walks but you can also use technology to do the same online class ‘together’. Think laterally and find a way rather than an excuse to bring exercise into your routine. Whatever it is, it’s all about embracing the fact that stress is lowered and health and life is better when we exercise regularly.
Whatever it takes, now is the time to make your plan.
5. Fill your body with real nutrition
Every mouthful feeds every cell, every time.
Food is a messenger and as our cells are regenerating every day, growing a new us, and nutrition is the foundation of whether healthy cells or damaged are created, we literally are what we eat!
Right now, given the onslaught of stress in our world, my suggestion is that you focus on a plant-based diet as much as possible and include your chosen protein. Fresh fruit and vegetables are the backbone of real and lasting health. These are the options that your body will literally feed on best and use to fight the stress build-up in your cells.
REAL food (raw with every meal, every colour but beige, all fruit and veg (organic if possible) and lean organic grass-fed/free range proteins if you choose to include animal products. These are the key to building real immune strength.
Avoiding ‘crap’ (carbonated drinks and sodas, refined sugars, artificial flavours & colours, and processed anything) will ensure that your body can simply use nutrition as fuel to better deal with the physical and emotional needs of your every day.
Tips to make healthy choices easier:
- Rely less on breads and carbs to fill you up and look to ‘real’ food to support your immune system and create real energy
- In times of stress such as now many studies show that including vitamins such as C, D3 with K2 can support your body deal with stress.
- Including a salad at lunch or dinner time is an easy way of enjoying some raw goodness to boost energy.
- Make time for meals. If you gulp your food you impair digestion so that even if your nutrition is supreme, your gut is not able to absorb the goodness from it. So slow down, begin each meal with a few calm breaths and chew each mouthful until it’s a fine pulp. Taste your food. Enjoy knowing that you’re doing a great thing by feeding your body real goodness to do all you ask of it.
- Snack on home-made hummus and carrot sticks, darker berries, fruit of any description, nuts & seeds or home-made flourless orange cake. Recipe is here.
- Ditch sugar and fake energy and ‘happiness’ sources like excess caffeine and alcohol. These substances create physiological stress in the body so compound the effects of the pressures of our environment. Replace coffee with herbal tea and/or water and if you choose to enjoy a little wine, sip and savour one glass slowly and really enjoy it.
In these times of stress and anxiety, isolation and suspicion, now is the time for heightened awareness of your own health as well as the health of loved ones. Remembering a few basic guidelines to help you keep calm and healthy is vital. And not complex.
What one thing can you change today to better support your body to deal with the stress we find ourselves living with?
What one thing do you know will help you stay more centred and calmer?
I invite you to check in with your breath first and then choose as many of the above tips as you can manage and feel right for you.
If anyone needs more information or wishes to speak with me regarding their personal health needs it will be my pleasure to help you regain your confidence and calm and create a plan that works for you.
Wishing you real happiness, health and confidence
Simone x
Simone Gilbert, ICB Resident Wellness Advocate
Holistic Health & Confidence Coach
Director, UK Health Coaches Association
Join us for ICB TV on Monday 18 May to hear Simone talking about Mental Health Awareness Week and sharing some more tips.
> Book here
