7 Daily Habits That Help Fight Off Viruses

 

Breakfast: Unsweetened bran cereal with berries

Fiber is a nondigestible carbohydrate that feeds the good bacteria in your gut. And when the little buggers are happy, they help keep the immune system ready when needed. A half-cup of wheat bran has 12.5 grams of fiber, and by adding berries, you'll earn a few more. Plus, blueberries and other dark-colored berries are rich in flavonoids, antioxidants that improve the health of macrophages and other virus-eating cells.

A brisk walk

"Immune cells circulate the body during exercise and for two or three hours afterward,” says David Nieman, director of Appalachian State University's Human Performance Lab. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of cycling, swimming, jogging or walking that's brisk enough to make you breathe hard.

Post-workout smoothie or salad

At the start of the pandemic, Helen Messier, a California-based family practitioner and immunologist, added a daily all-plant smoothie to her diet that included a number of different fruits and vegetables. You should, too. “Nutritionally, variety is the most important thing,” she says. “So I try to get in at least 10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day."

Stress is a high-powered immune suppressant that floods your body with corticosteroids, the same class of compounds doctors prescribe to treat autoimmune diseases. “We use corticosteroids for lots of allergic diseases,” says Mark Ansel, professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Think of steroid creams for itchy rashes or the corticosteroids in an asthma inhaler. They work by suppressing the immune system — not what you want if you're trying to quell an army of viral invaders.

Consider taking up a mind-body activity such as yoga, tai chi or meditation. In one study, adults cut stress with eight weeks of mindfulness training and, as a result, they were 20 percent less likely to experience respiratory infection. If the zen arts aren't for you, then gardening, painting and other hands-on hobbies can also work.