The outbreak of swine flu has understandably caused a great deal of concern around the globe. It's more important than ever to do what you can to avoid coming down with any infectious disease. A very important aspect of this is to maintain a strong immune system and I'd like to give you two tips right now on just how to do that.
The first tip is to manage your stress. I don't think anyone would argue that the average person has more stress in their life than at any other time in history. This is because the rate of change in today's world of steadily increasing. Anytime we have to adapt to a changing situation it creates a form of stress.
We don't necessarily want to stress go away we do need to manage it. If we don't we'll not only detract from the quality of our lives, we will actually weaken our immune system.
A dramatic example of this was a study in which volunteers were exposed to cold virus. Prior to the exposure they took a survey that measured the amount of stress they were experiencing at the time. Not everyone who is exposed to the virus became ill. Those who were under the most stress were not only more likely to become sick, they also had more severe symptoms and stayed sick or longer.
There are many effective ways to manage stress. These include the relaxation response, meditation, hypnosis, visualization and so forth. The important thing is to find a technique that appeals to you and practice it regularly.
The next bit of advice is to get enough sleep. This is an area that too many people neglect today and unfortunately pay the price for it.
The first tip is to manage your stress. I don't think anyone would argue that the average person has more stress in their life than at any other time in history. This is because the rate of change in today's world of steadily increasing. Anytime we have to adapt to a changing situation it creates a form of stress.
We don't necessarily want to stress go away we do need to manage it. If we don't we'll not only detract from the quality of our lives, we will actually weaken our immune system.
A dramatic example of this was a study in which volunteers were exposed to cold virus. Prior to the exposure they took a survey that measured the amount of stress they were experiencing at the time. Not everyone who is exposed to the virus became ill. Those who were under the most stress were not only more likely to become sick, they also had more severe symptoms and stayed sick or longer.
There are many effective ways to manage stress. These include the relaxation response, meditation, hypnosis, visualization and so forth. The important thing is to find a technique that appeals to you and practice it regularly.
The next bit of advice is to get enough sleep. This is an area that too many people neglect today and unfortunately pay the price for it.