Free way to boost immune system

Now I am a great believer in having the strongest possible immune system to combat illness, and in particular to prevent colds and flu in winter. To this end I have seasonal acupuncture and take Echinacea and vitamin C as well as juicing daily to get my ‘live’ vitamins and antioxidants.

Now I find I could cut my expenditure radically by just making sure I get a decent night’s sleep. I know this now, because Sheldon Cohen, who studies the effects of stress on health at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University has researched the effects of lack of sleep on health.

We already know from previous research that sleep boosts the immune system at the cellular level, but this new research shows that even the smallest reduction in your sleep can make you more susceptible to illness by reducing the effectiveness of your immune system to combat it.

If you are someone who tosses and turns at night between dozing and sleeping then you are more 5 times more likely to get sick than someone who sleeps undisturbed. If this is you, and you get more than the average number of colds in winter, then you need to spend some time working out what causes your sleeplessness and tackle it.

At this time of year you really cannot avoid being exposed to the cold virus unless you do a Michael Jackson and travel in your own portable isolation tent and oxygen mask. On the bus, train or office there is always someone who is sneezing, or incubating the cold virus to pass on to you so the most sensible plan is to do all you can to improve your ‘cold armour’ by keeping your immune system in peak condition.

I have had a sleep pattern of a couple of hours under and then awake and then back for another couple of hours for a number of years and although I manage to stay fairly healthy, I think I will try a lavender bath to relax me before bed and five drops from the handy bottle of Bach Rescue Night which I have found effective in the past.