How to Boost Your Immunity Naturally

1. Get your sunshine. Our favorite glowing orb is the best source of Vitamin D, a crucial vitamin that facilitates normal immune function and plays a huge role in bone growth and development and resistances against certain diseases. Sunshine also protects against depression and it just feels good--so go get some.

2. Eat a clove of garlic every day. Good 'ol garlic is a natural antibiotic, boosts immunity, works as an anti-inflammatory and improves your cardiovascular health. 

3. Exercise. We all know the benefits of exercise. It's crucial for long-term health and feeling good about ourselves (try going without it and see how you feel). Exercise contributes to a healthy you which automatically makes you healthier in general and better able to weather whatever life throws at you--we're looking at you Corona Virus. 

4. Meditate. There's nothing that's worse for your health than stress. Stress hurts and impedes just about everything in our bodies, from our digestion to our circulatory systems.  Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh has said, "Stressed people's immune cells become less sensitive to cortisol. They're unable to regulate the inflammatory response, and therefore, when they're exposed to a virus, they're more likely to develop a cold”.

Meditation is one of the best ways to reduce stress, according to Mayo Clinic.  Meditating helps our nervous systems calm down, quiets the mind and allows for relaxation; all necessary components for a healthy mind and body. 

5. Cold Exposure Therapy. Perhaps the most fun one on the list (or maybe it's the garlic) ;). Cold water immersion forces your lymphatic system to contract which flushes toxins from the body. This then triggers the immune system to destroy any unwanted substances. There's a bunch of science behind it, but suffice it to say that it improves your immunity. 

In fact, a study in the journal PLoS One found that people who take cold showers are 29% less likely to call in sick for work or school.

Stay healthy everyone!