Your wellbeing: Immunity building blocks

Dr Mikki Williden, Senior Lecturer, School of Community Development

Given the importance of staying healthy while in lockdown, we’ve put together some introductory advice on boosting your immunity, with the help of two Unitec experts. These tips will help you work on three basic building blocks: sleep, exercise and nutrition.

These three factors are interlinked so if you need to make some changes, start with the one that looks the easiest, then when you’re ready, pick a second. In time, you will have an improved and healthy daily routine, something to take on into the post COVID-19 world.

Sleep

Sleep is the time when we let our body heal itself and fix the many small inflammations and infections we pick up daily. It makes sense that lack of sleep can lead to chronic inflammation, which can over-stress the immune system, making it less effective at fighting bigger viral or bacterial infections.

Registered Nutritionist and Senior Lecturer in Community Studies, Mikki Williden says nothing makes you more resilient than a good night’s sleep.

“Aim for at least seven or eight hours each night. Practice good sleep hygiene: Dim your lights at night and get off devices at least an hour (if not two) before bed. This makes you more likely to adopt other healthy behaviours, which are important for immune function, rather than being so tired that you don’t exercise or you reach to sugar to prop you up. Sugar is inflammatory and will make you LESS resistant to illness and infection.”

Fill the time before bed with things that calm you and help you relax. A simple breathing exercise or meditation would be perfect.

Nutrition

With increased stress, you might find you are craving junk more than usual. While it’s ok to have the odd sugary or salty snack, aim to eat well most of the time.

 Mikki says we should “do good things right now”. Alcohol, grains, sugar, dairy, vegetable oils and processed food can all be inflammatory for some people, so won’t help your immune system.

“They’re not all inflammatory for everyone, but there may well be things on this list which you know don’t agree or sit well with you. Now is as good a time as any (perhaps better) to kick to the curb.”

In addition, most heavily processed foods are designed to be overeaten – food companies spend millions of dollars every year on ensuring you will do this! The one way to help control this is to not keep in them in the house. Of course, if this isn’t possible, then try storing them in an opaque container above or below eye level so you’re not constantly drawn to them every time you open the fridge or pantry.

“It’s also a good idea to have a look at your eating window – eating beyond 12 hours a day can wreak havoc with appetite, whereas we know that keeping it to 10-12 hours per day (i.e. not eating between dinner and breakfast for around 12-14 hours) can help regulate appetite hormones and diminish craving. Brush your teeth immediately after dinner and when a craving hits throughout the day can also be useful,” said Mikki.

Eat more food rich in vitamins like A, C, E, B6, D, and minerals like zinc, iron, and selenium, because they are also antioxidants. Antioxidants counteract the damage caused by free radicals, which are harmful chemicals that damage healthy cells and genetic material, giving viruses a better shot at invading, reproducing, and compromising our immune system farther.

An easy way to make sure you’re getting enough immune-boosting antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals is to “eat the rainbow”. This includes a rainbow of fruits and vegetables like, red: apples, potatoes, or grapes; orange: kumara, pumpkin, yams or mandarins; green: kiwifruit, broccoli, olives, limes or grapes; yellow: apples, pears, or bananas; blue: blueberries, cabbage, kale, grapes or raisins; and tan: cauliflower, dates, coconut, nuts or sauerkraut, and also salmon, tuna, lean chicken breast, beans and beef.

As we spend more time inside due to the lockdown and the increasingly cold weather, vitamin D is one to watch.

“Vitamin D is essential for your immune system. In New Zealand we lose our ability to synthesise this from the sun from about April onwards,” said Mikki.

“If possible, check your vitamin D level once lockdown is lifted and work on getting it up to the optimal level. Vitamin K2 is essential to help you absorb that vitamin D – there are supplements to support with this, such as Clinicians Vitamin D3/K2.

Vitamin A also supports your immune system and your upper respiratory tract.

“We only find this in animal based products, so it is essential to supplement if you are vegetarian/vegan. Its precursor (beta carotene) is found in vegetables and fruits, however the conversion rate can be very low.”

Zinc is another important one.

“If you know you have low zinc status, ensure you are supplementing with zinc as it is essential for the immune system.”

And finally, a useful rule of thumb is to focus on drinking two litres of water before 2pm – it’ll give you lots of energy and curb your junk food cravings.

If you’d like to talk to a nutritionist like Mikki about building your immunity, these appointments can often be done online.

We would love to hear from you and what kind of things are you cooking up in your kitchen. Let’s inspire each other with easy, fun and healthy meals for our bubbles. Share your recipes on Yammer.

Exercise

Rob Gambolati, Lecturer, School of Community Development

Exercise is one of the best science-backed ways to improve your sleep and overall immunity system. Many experts believe that the most beneficial exercise approach is mixing up high-intensity strength training sessions with other gentle exercise. These activities not only promote cardiovascular health, they also help you to produce “feel good” hormones, such as endorphins and oxytocin. These hormones enhance the immune response and help you manage stressful situations.

Rob Gambolati, Lecturer in our School of Community Studies, says “Movement during the day is key – not lounging around house. Aim to get in four to six ‘snactivity’ breaks or similar, getting up after 90 minutes of sitting at your computer – do laps around house, climb the stairs, that kind of thing.”

For more structured activity, he recommends doing guided exercise sessions – like the free Les Mills classes on television, or boot camps run by Dan Brady and John Russell, coupled with some yoga or pilates.

“It’s important to get into a routine and stick to it…and getting really good sleep will always help!”