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Immune System-Boosting Nutrients You May Need During Fall and Winter
Immune System-Boosting Nutrients You May Need During Fall and Winter
Hibernating works for bears, bees, and bats, but unfortunately, is not ideal for humans. We require sunlight, year-round physical activity, and a steady supply of seasonal nutrients.
Fall and winter bring with them many joys (no more mosquitoes! the holidays are coming!), but they also bring with them conditions that make staying healthy a bit trickier.
For many of us, the shorter, colder days of fall and winter mean less sunlight exposure, less exercise, and less access to fresh produce.
We tend to get sick more often during fall and winter, but there are things we can do to reduce the risk.
Why do we get ill more often during colder months?
Being cold doesn’t directly cause us to get sick, but cold air may contribute to conditions that lead to illness, according to a report by Healthline. Factors related to colder weather may actually be the culprits. Some viruses prefer the chillier weather, including rhinoviruses (they cause the common cold and replicate better at cooler temperatures) and influenza viruses(they peak in winter). The dry air outside and in homes with central heating may make it easier for viruses to infect dry nasal passages. Low indoor humidity and poor ventilation may also play a role. And, because we tend to spend more time inside with other people during the colder months, we are more likely to share germs.
The “Winter Blues” and Seasonal Affective Disorder can play a role, too.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Change of Season? 6 Healthy Ways To Change Your Activities to Adjust!
Change of Season? 6 Healthy Ways To Change Your Activities to Adjust!
Our circadian “pacemakers” are the suprachiasmatic nuclei. These are located in the brain (within the hypothalamus, to be precise), and these are synchronized with the amount of light in the day and the times of the day. To be sure: it is not identical for all people…this is due to genetic differences based upon your heredity and where your ancestors originated. These suprachiasmatic nuclei receive input from light-sensitive cells in your retinas that give you an almost-exactly 24-hour rhythm within your body.
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)
This is an affliction comprised of successive or continuous episodes of depression brought about in the change of seasons (such as late Fall to early Winter, and then repeating again during the Spring-Summer change). One of the key findings associated with a study of this affliction is that SAD-sufferers happen to secrete more melatonin during nights of Fall and Winter. Melatonin is a hormone that greatly affects our sleep patterns.
Coupled with this is the fact that the daylight and daytime hours diminish greatly, bringing about a feeling of sluggishness and over-tired responses. This is natural. We live in an artificially-lit world of light bulbs and computer screens, with an excessive amount of noise during the course of the day. Centuries ago, the winter months were a time to live quietly from what was grown, harvested, and gathered during the warmer seasons.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
