10 Ways to Calm Yourself and Boost Your Immune System
The outbreak of coronavirus is stressful for most everyone. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotional reactions.
Stress fires up the nervous system and is a strain on one’s physiology. It can cause cellular weakening and lower our immune system.
I would like to offer you the following self-care suggestions that will help you calm yourself, strengthen your cells and boost your immune system. As I think of it, true self-care is the daily practices that create a physiological and emotional environment for cellular restoration. The process of cellular renewal, regeneration, and growth enables our cells to be resilient to fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage to our basic physiology.
Please know that during this time, my practice is open to you by phone, FaceTime, text, and Zoom. I am working with individuals to:
Calm their nervous systems
Decrease their anxiety
Boost their immune systems
Manage their pain
10 Self Care Suggestions
Decrease your stress and boost your immune system.
Do not feel you need to implement every one of these practices simultaneously. Pick one to begin.
Hydrate
Keeping our cells moist is critical. Many health problems can be mitigated by staying hydrated. This is important for all of us and particularly the elderly. Without water, cells would not be able to remove waste, bring in nutrients, or transport oxygen so that the cell membranes act as natural filters in the body. Identify your "hydration style." For example, mine is always drinking fluid through a straw.
Eat for healing
Implement "protein washing"; protein is an essential building block for our cells. Eating small bits of protein every 2-3 hours is essential for cellular health. Proteins are required for the structure, function, and regulation of the body's tissues and organs. Just a few bites will do the trick!
Move your body
The human body was designed to move. We know that lack of activity begets certain health problems. It also leads to lower self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, so don't be sedentary! There are so many ways to move your body at home like reaching up each time a commercial comes on TV or when you plan to stand up from a sitting position, stand up twice.
Stop, look, and listen
As you move through your world, implement some pacing strategies to become aware of your needs (when you are tired, thirsty, hungry, or anxious). We know that just a brief period of silence and stillness can release hormones that make your brain and body feel good and lower blood pressure. For one moment at a time, let's be as clever as this beautiful owl in stillness.
Practice self-soothing
Self-soothing and non-medication pain management strategies will help you reduce stress levels by getting you out of fight or flight, decreasing cortisol levels, and boosting serotonin and endorphin levels
Breathe - learning the difference between fight or flight breathing and normal relaxed breathing is essential.
Laugh whenever possible.
Get gravity off of your body if only for a few seconds. Lie down or recline wherever and whenever you can. This strategy allows your body, mind, and spirit to sigh and reset.
Stretch gently - this is what I refer to as "lengthening and opening," which generally creates more space throughout your entire body. This practice eases the body's workload, increases circulation, releases endorphins, and improves toxin removal.
Decrease technology use and multitasking
This picture speaks a thousand words...multiple devices, compressed posture, and isolation. The human spirit cannot thrive with the constant stimulation we get from all of our technological devices! Listening to the news for hours on end will absolutely weaken your immune system. Staying on your electronic devices for prolonged periods has the same effect. Doing so is tantamount to slowly draining your battery. So please choose carefully. Take a stillness, stretch, water, or protein break.
Develop a routine
Structure and routine reduce stress because your body goes into autopilot. A daily routine requires less mental energy and means fewer unpleasant surprises and thus less unexpected stress. Getting up around the same time each day, taking a shower, making your bed, hydrating, and eating protein can be quite self-soothing. Choosing one pleasant project for the day can help too. I can't explain the joy I experienced from organizing my refrigerator!
Practice sleep hygiene
A few ways to do this are:
Establish a regular bedtime and waking time.
Use comfortable, inviting bedding.
Find a comfortable sleep temperature setting and keep the room well ventilated.
Block out all distracting noise and eliminate as much light as possible.
Reserve your bed for sleep and sex, avoiding its use for work or general recreation.
Eat spiritual food
A few ways to do this are:
Identify a purpose for yourself (even just for the day).
Be open to experiencing awe.
Experience joy when you walk by yourself without multitasking. Notice things in nature that you haven't seen before. That simple practice creates a sense of joy.
Practice "random acts of kindness." Being kind to others calms your nervous system, improves your mood, and boosts serotonin, a natural antidepressant in your brain.
Try sending brief, thoughtful texts to those important people in your life.
Laugh until your tummy hurts.
Connect - create an online gathering
Create an online gathering. See your loved ones face every day. Reach out and share your coping strategies with others. When we feel connected to another person, our bodies respond in ways that help us feel calmer, particularly during a health crisis. The human spirit shrivels in isolation and thrives with connection. Recreate a girls (or girls and boys) gathering with Zoom or FaceTime. The shared laughs, fears, clever coping strategies, and sometimes tears can be so spirit-lifting!
I hope you find this information uplifting and helpful. I encourage you to gather support around you as you attempt to implement any of these practices. And please, if you know someone who might benefit from this information, please pass it on. We must come together in a positive and healing way to cope with what is currently in front of us.
My thoughts and prayers are with all of us,
