Any time you walk into your local pharmacy or commercial giant retailer, you are bound to see a sign exclaiming how you need to get your flu shot. Just in case you miss the sign, more often than not, the pharmacy technician will ask if you’d like one. In fact, many of these places offer flu shots free of charge, assuming you qualify. With all of the marketing for flu shots, you may feel odd by not getting one. It’s okay to not give into the hype, especially if you’re a young and healthy adult.

If you’d rather let your immune system do what it does best, here are three tricks that can use to boost your immunity and avoid getting sick.

3. Be Strict About Sleep

It may sound silly but sleep plays a huge role in helping your immune system stay strong and keeping you flu-free. Sleep is the time when useless processes shut down and your body can focus on repair and recovery. One of the most important parts of sleep is when you enter deep sleep, also called Rapid Eye Movement sleep or R.E.M. This is when the greatest amount of growth hormone is released. Growth hormone is important as it facilitates the recovery you need to stay healthy. Start skipping on sleep and you weaken your immune system. Aim to get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night.

2. Go Natural

If there’s one thing that science has done for the whole-food-natural-ancient health remedy group, it’s certainly strengthened it by showing how effective these foods can be. There are a number of whole foods, often referred to as super foods, that can do a great job at supporting your health, especially your immune system. For example, apple cider vinegar has been shown to have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral properties. Hundreds of user reports online claim its power in staying flu-free while everyone else was falling ill. This is just one of several super foods that may help keep you healthy. Here are the most popular super foods that are also inexpensive:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Raw garlic
• Maitake mushroom
• Bone broth

1. Wear a Sauna Suit

Arguably, the most effective method to keep you healthy and happy is also the easiest. A Kutting Weight sauna suit helps to capture your own body heat, allowing your temperature to safely rise to the same levels found within an actual sauna. Studies show that exposing your body to a safe high heat environment can trigger a number of benefits including immune support.

One study published in the Journal of Human Kinetics showed that when subjects were exposed to a controlled high heat environment, just like you’ll find with a Kutting Weight sauna suit, their immune systems were stimulated. Imagine being able to boost your immunity just by wearing a comfortable sauna suit.

Tell Us What You Think!

Have you tried any of these methods to boost your immunity?

What benefits did you notice?

Let us know in the comments below!

Wanda Pilch, Ilona Pokora, Zbigniew Szyguła, Tomasz Pałka, Paweł Pilch, Tomasz Cisoń, Lesław Malik, and Szczepan Wiecha. Effect of a Single Finnish Sauna Session on White Blood Cell Profile and Cortisol Levels in Athletes and Non-Athletes. J Hum Kinet. 2013 Dec 18; 39: 127–135.