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No matter what you think of winter, you have to admit that it is not always the best time for your health. Even if you are someone who usually stays in pretty good condition, the colder months will always take something of a toll. There is not much you can do about the change of seasons themselves, but you can do a lot to improve your body’s response to that change. By focusing on your health in a mindful manner as the seasons transition, you can successfully say on top of your health, and so remain in the best state as we enter the depths of winter. Let’s take a look at some of the things that you might want to bear in mind in order to make this work out for you.

Protect Yourself Against Winter Illnesses

It’s no secret that winter is rife with the potential for getting sick – and getting sick is not what you want if you are trying to remain as healthy as possible. If you want to avoid getting ill this winter, there are a number of steps you can take to improve your chances of keeping away from colds and the like. Many of these steps are quite straightforward, but don’t mistake their simplicity for lack of power, for they are all genuine ways to boost your immune system or keep an illness at bay.

The number one way to prevent yourself getting a cold is to wash your hands regularly. Washing your hands will destroy any bugs that might be lingering there, which will in turn mean that you won’t take them into the body. Be sure that you are aware of how to actually wash your hands properly, as many people do not know the proper full routine for doing so. At the same time, put effort into keeping your home and its contents as clean as you possibly can. This will make a huge difference to how likely you are to catch a cold, and the same will be true for your family. It might be especially important if you have any young children around, who have not yet developed a strong immune system.

Another common and frustrating winter illness is the sore throat, which may or may not be related to the common cold itself, depending on what is going on inside your body at the time. Sore throats are almost always caused by viral infections, however, so the number one way to deal with them is to avoid that in the first place. If one does develop however, a great home remedy is to gargle warm salty water. It doesn’t taste the best, but it does the job!

A more serious winter illness is the norovirus, the winter vomiting bug. It is highly infectious, and causes lots of vomiting. If you contract it, the main thing is to drink plenty of water throughout the illness. It should only last a few days as it is.

Protecting yourself against winter illnesses is likely to be a hugely important part of remaining in your best health in the colder months. But there is much more to consider besides colds and so on, so let’s take a look at what else you might want to think about.

Remain Active

It can be easy to fall into a kind of hibernation routine when it gets to winter. It is clearly much less tempting to move around as compared to summer – but as it happens, it might also be much more important to do in winter. If you want to stay at your best throughout winter, it will help massively if you stay as active as possible. Not only will it help with the illnesses mentioned above, it will also work wonders in terms of keeping you as warm as possible. Staying warm is not just about comfort – it’s also a health concern – so moving around and not allowing yourself to hibernate for too long is likely to be a good idea.

If you are struggling to work up the energy to move around and be active, it might help if you start out with some simple home exercises. You might choose to carry out some pilates, yoga or just a few stretches – really whatever seems to work for you. This can be a helpful way to begin to get back into it, and it will ensure that you can then go out and be even more active too, such as running or jogging. You might also want to think about indoor sports, as that way you can exercise while staying warm. Swimming is a great sport to carry out in winter for this very reason, but whatever sport appeals to you is the one you should go for.

Remaining active is one of the most important things you can do in winter in order to keep your health in order. At the same time as doing so, you should remember to also pay attention to your diet.

Don’t Let Your Diet Slip

It can be easy to fall into bad practices when it gets to winter, and one of the most common culprits is to fall back on your diet. It is more important in winter than at any other time of year to keep your diet in a good position, so it’s worth remembering that once it starts to get colder again this year. You can easily keep on eating good wholesome foods while it gets cold, and doing so will aid your body in keeping your warm and healthy during the winter months. It’s likewise a good idea to eat plenty of fruit, as there is no better time of year to get that vitamin C in your body and working its magic. Use your common sense and eat well and you will find it makes a huge difference.

You might also be concerned with keeping your weight down, as snacking and overeating can be a common problem during winter, especially over the holiday period. Now is a good time to start thinking about weight loss shakes and protein bars, anything that can fill you without fattening you up. Stock up on these for winter, and you will be much more likely to remain in good shape throughout the season. That at least will mean that you will be likely to feel much better about yourself and it will also have benefits for your immune system too, meaning those pesky winter colds will have a much harder time affecting your body!

Keep In Touch With People

Another part of the hibernation effect is that it is common for people to forget to keep in touch with their friends and family. If you start to notice yourself doing this, it is best to ensure you pull yourself out of it. Not staying in contact over winter can have a surprisingly detrimental effect on your mental health, and if there is any season in which everyone needs to pay attention to their mental health, it is winter. Staying in touch with your loved ones will ensure that you do not suffer depression so easily, and that is one of the major illnesses of the winter period.

As long as you follow the above, you will be on the right path towards having a much healthier and happier winter. It can be tough to look after yourself in these months, but it is worth the effort for how much better you will feel.

Food is an incredible thing. Without it, no living thing would be able to live, even plants. Along with being important to life as a whole, food has also played a huge role in human society and tradition from the very start. For some, food means a lot more to them than it does for others. And, this can make it hard to make sure that you’re eating the right things. A lot of people make bad decisions with food, choosing to eat too little or too much. But, this is a shame because it doesn’t have to be this way. Instead, you just need to make sure that a doctor approves of the food you eat. And, that you’re eating a good balance. To help you with this, this post will be going through some of the ways you can achieve these goals.

• What Does Your Body Need?

When you’re planning a diet, you should be considering what your body needs, above all else. Ignore calories for now, as they only tell a small part of the story. And, instead, start to look at the exact nutrients you need. Most countries have their own guidelines to help people to choose what they should eat. This gives you a good basis for your diet, as these guidelines will have been written with a lot of medical backing. But, you don’t have to stop here. Along with this, you can also start using some calculators to figure out what you need based on the food you eat and the exercise you’re doing. You can’t use a single factor to figure out what you should be eating. Instead, you have to be willing to do plenty of research to help you.

• Go Without Or Work It Out?

A lot of people choose to go without certain foods when they’re building their diet plan. But, this can have a negative impact on your body. For example, a lot of people choose to cut out sugar from their diet. This essential part of your diet is unavoidable, though, if you want to be healthy. Instead of cutting things out of your diet, you can look for a healthier source to eat. In the case of sugar, fruit would be a much better source than chocolate. For those that aren’t sure about this, an option like Huel or Joylent can be the best. These diet plans have been built by teams of nutritionists and doctors, who have years of experience in food science. Taking away the normal stresses of food by doing something like this can make living a lot healthier.

• Finding Support

Of course, you might not be able to do this sort of work by yourself. Not a lot of people understand chemistry and biology to a great enough degree to be able to confidently produce their own plan. Instead, it’s best to get some help. To start, before you change a major element of your diet, you should always be seeking the help of a doctor. Because food is so important to the body, it’s unwise to make decisions which don’t have any backing from professionals like this. Most doctors and medical professionals will be happy to help you with this sort of decision. And, they can offer their advice as part of their normal service. So, it shouldn’t cost you anything to talk to someone like this.

But, for those with concerns about price and time, you still have some options. For example, the GOLO diet has started to become very popular. This sort of diet has already been worked on by doctors and scientists. And, it’s been proven to be safe. So, you can be confident that it is actually good for you. But, what exactly is the GOLO diet? It’s important to ask questions like this before you start to embark on a new diet. But, most of them don’t have to be answered face-to-face. Instead, they can be asked online. There are loads of sites, services, and resources out there to help you to find the information you need. Most of this information is free, too. So, you don’t have to worry about spending money on it. Instead, you will have to invest your time. Finding the right information when you’re going through site after site can be very time-consuming.

Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the diet you stick to. Most people don’t consider their doctor’s input to something like this. But, when it comes to health, it’s best to rely on the experts, even if you don’t expect them to help.

Lungs are pretty darn important, wouldn’t you say? Problems with your lungs result in breathing problems, and you kind of need to breathe in order to live. It’s something you do all the time – so any associated discomfort or pain will be noticed on a near-constant basis.

Because you never really see or feel your lungs, it can be difficult to pay as much attention to them as you should do. The same could be said for a bunch of your organs, of course – but even your heart makes itself known if you put your hands to your chest. Lungs feel like more of an abstraction, something that’s easier to forget. But you can’t really afford to forget about them if this means you’re not going to look after them properly.

We’ve got some words of advice: don’t ignore your lungs! This here is a quick guide to the crucial art of taking care of your lungs.

Stop smoking

If you’re at all concerned about the health of your lungs – at least, concerned enough to read an article like this – then it would be pretty odd if you were smoking. Perhaps you’re a smoker who has come here to find other methods of lung care that can help “cancel out” the effects that smoking is having. Sorry, but there’s no way around it: you need to kick that habit to the curb as soon as possible. You could look into nicotine gum, patches, or even buying a vape if you need help quitting. You’re also going to have to make sure you stay away from secondhand smoke as much as possible; even the stuff that emits from clothing afterwards can harm your lungs.

Get more exercise

Good cardiovascular health – that is, the health of your heart and lungs – requires frequent exercise. You may not know that this sort of exercise actually helps your lungs as much as it does any other muscle. Well, the muscles in your lungs get a workout when you exercise; this leads to those muscles being able to absorb more oxygen. This is otherwise known as increasing your lung capacity – it’s what helps you run longer without needing to stop to catch your breath. Consider exercising in water – the water resistance helps strengthen your respiratory system, as well as other muscles. Deep breathing on a regular basis also helps you keep your lungs in good shape.

Sort out your home

The air in the average home is actually pretty unfriendly to lungs. There tends to be more pollution per unit of air indoors than there is in your average outdoors area. That’s because the average home contains loads of dust and toxins. If you want to keep the air quality in your home high, then you need to remove as much dust from your home as possible. You need to replace harsh cleaning products with organic ones. You need to reduce your use of aerosols such as spray antiperspirants and air fresheners (a misnomer if ever there was one). Consider getting yourself an air purification device.