Staying Well this Winter

Boosting Immunity

Did you see the BBC programme, BBC iPlayer - The Truth About... - Boosting Your Immune System the other week? I was delighted to see the experiment that demonstrated massage can boost lymphocyte T cells by around 20%.  There are so many other benefits to massage too - it’s such a pity that having a lovely massage isn’t really an option at the moment.

The good news is that our immunity is boosted by all the things we already know are good for our health:

• A balanced healthy diet with a wide variety of fruit and veg and plenty of fibre to support the gut microbiome
• A good eight hours sleep a night (research shows that less than seven hours can reduce immunity by as much as 40%!)
• Regular, moderate exercise (ideally outdoors if you can at the moment, to boost vitamin D levels)
• Minimising stress - as much as we can at the moment!

They're all simple things we already know, but it can be worth just doing a little lifestyle check to see if anything needs tweaking as so many of us are out of our regular routines right now. Is there anything you need to adjust to optimise your immunity and wellbeing right now?

Read on for some tips from Ayurveda and two Ayurvedic immune boosting drinks!

Ayurveda Tips for Immunity

If you're not familiar with Ayurveda, it's the ancient Indian wisdom health tradition. Like many traditional medicine systems, its focus is on creating, maintaining and restoring health from a very holistic perspective.

Here are some easy immunity boosting Ayurvedic practices we can add into our daily routine:

• drinking warm water throughout the day helps to enliven the digestion and liver function, supporting immunity
• daily practice of meditation has been shown to boost white blood cell count
• cook with garlic, cumin, coriander and tumeric, all of which have immune boosting properties.
• see below for two traditional Ayurveda immunity boosting drinks, both of which make great winter warmers!

Kadha

1 teaspoon or 5g of each of the following:

• fresh basil
• black peppercorns or ground black pepper
• ground ginger
• cinnamon bark or powder
• raisins

Bring to the boil in 1 litre of water and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes until reduced by half. Strain and serve with fresh lemon juice and a teaspoon of honey. Drink 1 - 2 cups a day.

Basil and cinnamon are both powerful anti-oxidants; black pepper and ginger are warming, speed up the metabolism and help to break down mucous, while raisins help to keep the mucous membranes moist and functioning well.

Golden Milk

Boil 150ml of the milk of your choice (dairy/ plant based) with 1/4 teaspoon of ground turmeric. Serve with a twist of black pepper.

Turmeric is anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory. Adding black pepper helps the body absorb the turmeric and also brings its own warming and anti-mucolytic properties.