Utopia Holistic Health and Holidays Utopia Holistic Health & Holidays Issue 8 August 2 | Page 9

"THERE ARE LOTS OF PROACTIVE
STEPS WE CAN TAKE TO
STRENGTHEN OUR INNATE IMMUNE
SYSTEM "
Don’t underestimate the power of getting outside daily in the fresh air and being
exposed to short periods of sunlight.
Vitamin D is actually a hormone and is crucial to our
immune system functioning efficiently. Don’t
underestimate the power of getting outside daily in
the fresh air and being exposed to short periods of
sunlight. 10 minutes a day exposing lower arms and
legs can produce up to 10,000 IU of Vitamin D and
this short time period restricts exposure to harmful
UV rays.
As well as putting efforts into strengthening our
immune system is it important to keep in mind that
there are lots of things in our lifestyles that can
weaken our immune system.
Sugar is a big culprit and actually impairs the
immune system and stops it being able to
effectively fight infections. Not getting enough
Medical research now understands how crucial our
sleep is another common problem. Good old stress
gut microbiome is to assisting the function of our
always takes its toll and puts or body into fight,
immune system and good quality probiotics and
flight or freeze mode. This stops the immune
strong digestion helps keep the lymphatic immune
system in the intestine balanced. An efficient way to system being able to mount an adequate response
and often prolongs and worsens the symptoms of a
achieve both of these is with the use of fermented
papaya products containing both digestive enzymes cold or flu.
and probiotics and has also been shown to improve
the functioning of the immune system itself.
So please look after yourselves leading up to the
cold and flu season. Take a proactive approach, eat
well, rest and look after your gut.