Get More Sleep Ever worked long hours on a work or school project and then ended up sick? When you don’t get enough sleep you are depriving your body of the repair time it needs as well as making it use the nutrients you take in for those repairs and leaves less for your immune system. Stay Hydrated In the summer you feel hot and want to hydrated, but in winter you might not feel the need to drink water and rehydrate. This helps to clean the body of toxins and things that bog your body down and make more work to stay healthy. Warm liquids are better in winter so it’s less work for your body to warm it up. A good way to get more liquid in during winter is with broth soups and herbal teas. Wash your Hands Often You always want to do this to ward off viruses, but especially in the winter when so many people are sick and sneezing all over their grocery carts, gym equipment or the copy machine at work. You can even make some homemade sanitizer with essential oils to keep the bugs at bay. Take your Probiotics 80 percent of your immune system is in your intestinal tract. So keeping your gut populated with lots of good guys helps your immune system. Once in a while you want to bump up the dose for a bit to keep on top of the bad ones who eat sugars and processed foods you might have had for a special treat or meal. Don’t forget to also eat plenty of greens and fiber to feed the good bacteria. Sauerkraut is good, but watch the added sugar. Eat Foods to Boost your Immune System Some of the really good immune boosting foods are garlic, spinach, and sweet potatoes. Sounds like a great hash brown recipe I’ve tried. Broccoli is also a good one. Add a little garlic and you have a super side dish. Ginger is great also. Cut up the whole root and boil it for 3 or 4 minutes to make a great warm ginger tea.