Habits are those little things you just can’t help doing every day. If we’re honest, we all have them.
They’re things we seem to do without thinking—even though we know some are bad for us. No matter how hard we try—we can’t seem to stop.
So which habits might be dangerous in this time of Covid-19? What might we be doing which could weaken our immune system?
Wondering what these habits are? Well here are five to wary of:
1. You’re a mess in stress
If you stress over everything, right from a freshly-popped pimple to a nearing deadline at work and even the minutest details of your relationship, then congratulations! You’re on a super-speedy path to destroying your immunity.
2. You’re not sleeping well enough
If you’re unable to get proper sleep for at least six to eight hours every night, your immunity system could be doomed, says a study.
This is because inadequate sleep can result in a weaker action on antigens by your body. So, if you can’t seem to stop binge-watching all night or get off your social media accounts, you’re basically hampering your immunity.
3. You’re always indoors
Right now, that should be the case, right? Sure, no one is asking you to step out and forget all about the lockdown and social distancing. All you need to do here is to catch some sunlight every day.
But, if you’ve turned nocturnal off late and have been missing your morning dose of nature’s vitamin D-shower, you’re doing your immune system a great injustice. Vitamin D has a crucial role to play in boosting your immunity
4. You’re lazy and that drives your immunity crazy
The point is that laziness looms over everyone, more so, in these days of (un)lockdown. If not that, then there’s always an excuse such as a hectic work schedule or pending household chores handy to avoid a workout.
That’s exactly the kind of health blunder that can lower your immunity. Keep your immune system strong with exercise.
5. Your eating and drinking habits are not up to the mark
If you’re a junk-food lover who cannot survive without packaged, preserved, or instant foods, then there’s an important lesson that you have to take from a study conducted at the University Hospital of Bonn.
The study clearly mentions that the consumption of such foods can lower your immunity as they have a high sodium content.
6. You eat too much salt
Too much salt in your diet results in an increase in blood pressure and an increased risk of heart disease and stroke—and too much salt can also weaken your immune system. Some studies show reducing salt in your diet can give you an extra year of life!
How can biting your nails weaken your immune system? Besides you potentially getting sick from the grime under your nails? Anxiety, stress and other mental health conditions are often the cause
7. You bite your nails
Chronic stress results in dysregulation of the immune system. When we are stressed or anxious, the sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive, with an outpouring of adrenaline.
Cortisol levels increase. This then leads to the release of cytokines—these are the cells signaling the immune response—and results in chronic systemic inflammation, also suppressing some aspects of immune function.
