Don’t want to be defeated by viruses in the cold winter? 5 self-checks for disease resistance

Have you been infected with the flu this season?

At the end of this year, under the attack of various viruses, many people failed to hold the line. After struggling for a while in a state of being neither sick nor not sick, they eventually fell ill with a fever and even went to the hospital for medical treatment. A few people even had a fever more than once.

This is when the difference in disease resistance can be seen.

It should be noted here that immunity is not equal to resistance to influenza virus and new coronavirus . Because immunity is a broader concept. It includes resistance to pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and mycoplasma, as well as the ability to conduct internal immune surveillance and eliminate aging and mutant cells. In this article, the meaning of disease resistance mainly refers to the ability to resist infectious diseases caused by various external pathogens .

When a person's internal organs are strong, their nutrition is good, and their physical and mental stress and environmental stress are low, they can achieve the best disease resistance. Check yourself and see if you are one of these people.

Self-examination 1: Visceral and metabolic functions

Is your blood sugar too high or too low?

Do you have high blood pressure?

Do you have dyslipidemia?

Are your liver and kidney functions normal?

Do you have any diagnosed chronic illness?

It is easy to understand that people with metabolic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, gout, poor liver and kidney function, and severe gastrointestinal diseases find it difficult to maintain optimal disease resistance.

Self-examination 2: Nutritional status and gastrointestinal function

Do you often skip breakfast?

Do you deliberately eat less or no staple foods?

Do you rarely eat protein foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and milk?

Do you rarely eat fresh vegetables?

Do you eat small meals and fill your stomach with snacks and sweet drinks such as milk tea when you feel hungry between meals?

Do you often have a loss of appetite and don’t want to eat many foods?

Do you often experience stomach congestion, bloating, stomach pain, flatulence, intestinal rumbling, diarrhea, unformed stools, etc.?

Do you have a doctor-diagnosed gastrointestinal disease?

Are you thin or flabby, weak, easily tired, or afraid of cold?

Good nutritional status means that the energy and various nutrients are sufficient to withstand the consumption of fighting the virus. People with sufficient daily nutritional reserves will be at a greater advantage at this time. Strong digestion and absorption ability, and the ability to enjoy all kinds of food, are also closely related to nutritional status.

So, it is true that only by eating enough can you resist the virus .

More muscles indicate sufficient protein reserves. Not too much visceral fat, but a slight layer of fat on the surface of the body is also an advantage for energy reserves. After all, the immune system consumes a lot of energy. We can easily find that those who are muscular and strong are more likely to defeat viruses and stay active . Skinny people are not good for disease resistance; flabby and puffy state is not good either, because they are often in a state of metabolic disorder.

Eating enough vitamins and having sufficient reserves of nutrients such as zinc and iron will give you a greater advantage in fighting diseases. Because the immune battle requires more vitamin C and B vitamins, and also requires the support of vitamin A and vitamin D. Therefore, it is beneficial to regularly supplement multivitamins and minerals at this time.

Self-check 3: Physical and mental stress status

Can't you go to bed before 11pm?

Do you often need to work overtime until after 10 o'clock at night?

Do you often feel extremely tired, sometimes too tired to entertain yourself or even to eat?

Do you often feel dissatisfied, unhappy, irritable or anxious at work and in your life?

Is your relationship with your classmates/colleagues/leaders tense?

Do you feel a lack of harmony and relaxation when you are with your family?

Less physical and mental stress means getting enough sleep and exercise, not being overly tired at work, and not being overly anxious, frustrated, or depressed. Staying up late, feeling stressed, and having emotional conflicts with family and friends will increase stress hormones, and an abnormal increase in stress hormones will significantly reduce resistance to disease.

Therefore, it is true that getting enough sleep improves your resistance to disease, while a bad mood damages your resistance to disease.

At the end of the year, many people will feel the pressure of work and study, which is unavoidable. You can only arrange your time reasonably, improve your work and study efficiency, and strive to rest early at night. Make peace with yourself, don't be too demanding of yourself, be more tolerant of others, and try to reduce mental stress . When you are irritable, go out for a walk, do some exercise, and breathe the fresh air after the snow.

Self-check 4: Environmental stress status

Do you often feel underdressed and a little cold?

Are your hands and feet often cold?

Do you often wear cropped pants or cotton shoes that don’t cover your ankles, keeping your ankles cold?

Do you rarely use hats and scarves to keep your head and neck warm in winter?

You rarely open windows in your office or home for ventilation. Is the air quality very poor?

Is the air pollution in your city serious?

Low environmental stress means not getting cold or being in a heavily polluted environment. Studies have long confirmed that air pollution can increase inflammatory responses and increase the risk of respiratory infections.

Snow is a good thing, as it can clear a lot of suspended particles in the air. Recently, a pediatrician told me that according to her work experience, the number of pediatric patients decreases significantly after snow every winter.

Excessive cold is also a kind of adverse stimulus, which can reduce the resistance of the respiratory tract to disease . Cold itself does not directly cause disease, but it can weaken the body's resistance to pathogenic microorganisms. The mouth and nose are always exposed to various bacteria and viruses, but they do not often cause disease. Only when the body is weak and the resistance to disease is low will they break through the defense line and march straight in.

The body consumes a lot of energy and nutrients to fight against viruses and bacteria . Wearing warm clothes can save the energy needed to regulate body temperature. If your body is not strong enough, wouldn't it be better to use this energy to fight against viruses and bacteria and strengthen the immune defense line?

The head, neck, ankles and wrists are the parts with the weakest muscles, the least subcutaneous fat and the easiest blood vessels to dissipate heat, so they need to be kept warm. Once these parts are exposed to cold, the blood vessels will contract and the blood flow will slow down, which will become the speed-limiting nodes, causing the blood circulation rate of the whole body to decrease. Once the blood circulation rate decreases, the energy supply of the whole body will be affected. Especially the respiratory tract that is directly exposed to cold air, viruses and bacteria will greatly reduce the resistance to disease.

So, it is true that keeping warm can protect our resistance to disease.

Self-check 5: Exercise and fitness status

Do you often sit still for hours?

You don’t have the habit of regular exercise?

Your physical strength is not up to the average level of your peers?

Do you insist on completing your fitness and exercise plans even when you are very tired?

Have you not exercised for several days or even longer, but you exercised a lot at once?

Do you still control your diet after exercising and not eat three full meals?

Do you still have to work overtime after exercising, not getting enough rest and sleep at night?

Moderate exercise can also improve disease resistance, especially aerobic exercise in a fresh air environment, but this is the effect of exercising for a period of time. Not exercising on weekdays, exercising a lot occasionally, or exercising hard after being exposed to high concentrations of viruses will only have the opposite effect and reduce disease resistance.

Also, remember to put on warm clothes in time after exercise, eat nutritious meals, get a good rest at night, and avoid excessive fatigue .

If you find that you have already met several of the above, it means that these wrong lifestyles are stealing your disease resistance! Hurry up and adjust your lifestyle according to the instructions in the article.

I wish everyone can use the strongest disease resistance and get through this winter with full energy!