Spring break is just around the corner and about one in eight Americans will be traveling to take advantage of some much-needed rest and relaxation. Whether you’re traveling by plane, car, or even keeping it local this year, let’s look at a performance enhancement coach’s top tips to strengthen immunity this travel season. We interviewed Nora Tobin, performance enhancement and executive coach, nutrition specialist, and the CEO of Nora’s Naturals Coffee, who listed her top strategies for strengthening immunity and boosting energy for spring break travel. There’s so much to consider when building our immune system back up for spring. It’s bad enough that winter and close quarters help spread any bugs that are in the air, including COVID. Spring brings other worries into the mix, including seasonal colds and the worst—much-dreaded allergies. Here are Nora’s top six tips for enhancing immunity, keep reading to learn more!
Here Are Six Ways to Boost Your Immune System for Spring
1) Take Magnesium Supplement
We love taking the Magnesium Breakthrough by BiOptimizers because it offers the full spectrum of all seven types of magnesium specially formulated to reach every tissue in your body to provide maximum health benefits and reverse low levels which could be causing health issues. If you’d like better sleep, increased brain health, and general calmness in the body, we recommend this product because it helps massively with making sure you hit every magnesium target you want to keep. Keeping the body strong builds immunity, after all.
2) Eat protective foods that keep your body healthy and on track
The last thing you want is to get sick before or on your trip. Walnuts are rich in ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid), which is a potent antioxidant that recycles Vitamin C and Glutathione. Berries are power-packed with protective antioxidants that reduce inflammation, neutralize the oxidative stress that causes damage to our DNA, and help protect against pathogens. Finally, olive oil is high in Vitamin K, which boosts the brain’s processing speed, and increases cellular turnover. All of this combines to make sure you’re on the beach surrounded by sand and not in bed surrounded by dirty tissues while on your trip.
3) Limit the sugar and processed meats in your diet
Try swapping some sugary and salty snacks for a healthier alternative. For example, you can swap that beef jerky out for roasted nuts, trade that bacon grease in for olive oil while cooking, switch out pop for coffee/tea, and finally try mezcal or vodka with natural fruit and club soda instead of the traditionally sugary cocktails. You would be surprised just how much sugar and processed meats you can cut out of your diet by making a few quick changes. Your body and its immune system will thank you for treating it nicely.
4) Get up and move your body
Try to boost your energy levels naturally with these simple exercises and tips! Engage in various plank exercises throughout your travels to get the blood flowing and restore energy levels. Try a forearm plank, side plank, straight arm plank, and/or a straight-arm plank with shoulder touch. Planks engage all the main muscle groups of the core and glutes, taking pressure off the low back and negating the effects of sitting. Any type of plank will boost energy and improve productivity. Perform the following plank series 3 – 4 times per day, holding each plank for 30 – 60 seconds.
5) Enjoy clean caffeine without the jitters
A nice cup of single-origin coffee can provide an assortment of benefits such as autophagy support and reducing inflammation. After the morning of coffee, it can be very beneficial for energy and eventually deep sleep to switch to matcha. Matcha tea contains three times as many antioxidants as standard green tea, because of the way it is harvested. The process of shading the matcha plant increases the chlorophyll and amino acid content. Even though having caffeine is great for your body, too much of it can be a lot for your system to handle. Make sure you limit yourself to one or two cups of coffee per day to keep your nervous system calm. Bonus tip: drink a glass of water and wait at least thirty minutes after waking up to enjoy coffee!
6) Increase Your Vitamin D3 Intake
Aim for at least 10 – 15 minutes of time in the sunshine per day or take a vitamin D supplement to reach optimal levels of the essential vitamin. Foods rich in vitamin D such as egg yolks, fish, and grass-fed beef are also good options. Vitamin D not only protects your bones but plays an important role in regulating many other cellular functions, which in turn impacts overall immunity. It’s so important to (if you can), also get a bit of sunshine each day so that you can reap the benefits of being outside—it’s actually great for your health. Just remember to wear a lot of sunscreen and sunglasses!
