Stay fighting fit with these great tips

Now more than ever, it is vital for your health to stay in the best shape you can give it.

Build your immune system to strengthen your body's defences. Here are some great tips on how you can do this.

Eat colourful and nutritious food

First, eat right. Eat healthily and maintain a nutritious diet. Eat various foods including fruits and vegetables. Limit your intake of fats and oils; use moderate amounts of salt; and decrease your sugar intake. Avoid refined carbohydrates and sugars, empty calorie foods, alcohol and nicotine.

One of the best ways to stay healthy is by boosting your immunity. Take vitamins A, C and E, and protein and zinc. These nutrients help your immune system work effectively

Stay active

It is crucial to keep active, especially in isolation. Exercise doesn't have to mean hectic gym sessions or marathon running. Consistent exercise positively improves the immune system. It also keeps other essential functions (of the heart and lungs, for example) healthy. Exercise gets blood circulating and gets much-needed oxygen going to the brain.

You can successfully exercise at home. Sit-ups, push-ups, aerobics and jumping jacks are some great ways to stay fit, even if you cannot access a gym. It is also still relatively safe to briskly walk or jog outdoors in an uncrowded area.

Other ways to keep your mind and body healthy are to get enough sleep, to take care of yourself and to connect with other people.

Sleep enough

Good sleep is essential to our overall health. Sleep affects our body's defence system. While the amount of sleep needed for good health and the best performance mostly depends on the individual, the recommendation is for most adults to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Practise self-care

Take time to take care of yourself. Relaxation, quality time with family, personal care and even meditation (sometimes just being quiet by yourself with your thoughts) all promote overall wellness.

Cope with stress

We need to positively cope with our increased stress and anxiety. Positive ways to cope include reading, exercise, meditation and further developing certain skills or hobbies.

Connect with other people

Speaking with those you love while in isolation can help decrease anxiety and times of feeling down. Use the available technology and apps (many of which are free) to help you stay in touch with loved ones.

Protect yourself and other people!

Remember to always wear a mask around other people - over both your nose and mouth, otherwise it won't help! Your mask helps protect those around you. And you want other people to wear masks to help protect you too.

Remember, COVID-19 spreads mainly from person to person through respiratory droplets, which travel into the air when you talk, cough, sneeze or sing. These droplets can then land in the mouths or noses of people nearby or they may breathe the droplets in. Masks are a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from going from you to people, or the other way around. Masks decrease the spray of droplets when worn over the nose and mouth.

And sanitise and wash your hands regularly, of course. That's simple enough to do, right?