Thank God, right!?!
Unfortunately we have to adjust all over again to having social lives, no longer working from home and travelling etc. I'm not saying any of this is bad, no in fact it is great, but our bodies find it harder to adjust quite as quickly.
I've been working as a community pharmacist and you would not believe the number of people coming in at the moment looking for advice, supplements and cough and cold medicines. It's almost like we were all so focussed on Covid 19 we forgot about all the other illnesses that happen during the back to school period that we didn't get last year!
Now that restrictions have been eased we are coming in contact with way more people and tons more bacteria and viruses. Our immune systems are out of practice and so it is really important to give yours a bit of support.
First thing is to suss out is what is your diet like? Could you be deficient in a vitamin or mineral? If your diet isn't great a good multivitamin would be my starting point and I'd recommend taking it for 6 weeks.
Is your digestive system going well? Do you feel stodgy or bloated at all? Do you feel like you're sick or about to get sick?
If you're run down it could be because you don't have enough good bacteria in your gut. This can happen for. a heap of reasons. A probiotic can be taken to add bacteria back in with the hope that it will colonise and live and thrive in the microbiome. There are trillions of bacteria in the gut but 98% of these come from about 100 strains of bacteria. A tip for choosing a good probiotic is to look at natural sources such as live bacteria, Kimchi, sauerkraut or a probiotic with multiple different strains of bacteria.
Bacteria in probiotics are nourished by fibre so getting enough fibre in is key. Fibre is a prebiotic and can be taken alone to support the bacteria in the gut or with a probiotic to support the new bacteria being added too. Theres two big things with fibre;
1. Getting enough in - recommended is 25 - 30g per day. Do you think you get that in everyday?
2. Getting lots of different fibre sources - Different fibres ferment and feed bacteria living different parts of the digestive system.
When it comes to a prebiotic try get in as many different fruit, veg, seeds and nuts as possible. Psyllium husks, in Sylliflor, are fantastic as well as one 5g sachet has as much fibre as two bowls of porridge and is a very strong prebiotic.
Remember back in 2019 when people picked up colds and flus and lots of people were just fine? This year is a little different as our immune systems are out of practice - if you can at all give it a little bit of extra support and go easy on yourself!
Róisín
P.S. First post on the new blog, let me know what you think!