Manage Your Anxiety
Stress and anxiety are sometimes hard to escape. Our lives are all busy and filled with the pressures of work and family lives. But doing all we can to support our mental health is also beneficial for our immune health, and can have the virtuous cycle of helping us avoid illness and infection. Stress and anxiety raise levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lower the number of infection fighting white blood cells that are available to the immune system.
Also, feeling stressed or anxious can make us turn to our coping mechanisms that, as we’ll discover in this article, are damaging to the immune system – smoking, drinking and eating processed comfort foods are all big no no’s if we’re looking to strengthen our immune systems.
So doing things that help to keep us calm is key. Practicing yoga and mindfulness teaches us to be more present and to focus on our breathing and the here and now. There are many free apps and websites available that provide guided yoga sessions and mindfulness practice for beginners and those who have practiced them before.
Other ways to keep our mental health in check are simply the things we enjoy doing. Things such as reading, writing poetry and spending quality time with our children or pets are invaluable, especially at the moment. So try to make time each day to dedicate to your mental health. Also read our article on how to manage your anxiety
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