Pumping Marvellous

Tips on boosting your immune system

Healthy food for your Immune System

Let’s face it — some people have better immunity than others or do they and if they do how do they achieve it?

It is very important to keep in mind that it’s normal to get a cold or flu in cold and flu season, even if you do everything right to boost your immunity.

Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of catching every virus, you were one of those who avoided most of them? Interestingly, there are factors that may cause some people to have better immunity than others. Here are some tips for a more “immune healthy lifestyle”

• Get your sleep – 8 hours is optimal
• Keep your hands clean – use bactericide soap - a lot of cold and flu virus are transmitted by door handles or even lift buttons to name a few
• Eat healthy foods including lots of fruit, vegeatables, wholgrains and lean protein – also it maybe a good idea to top up with a multi vitamin
• Regular exercise, doesn’t need to be a lot but just regular every week
• Manage your stress and deal with situations if you can, if not your Carer will help you
• Be a sociable person and have a positive outlook. People who tend to be gregarious tend to be able to keep their colds at bay

Remember you must always consult your Doctor or Heart Failure Nurse if you are going to take on board new nutritional and exercise based regimes.

Nearly time to protect against seasonal flu

Over the next few months it’s the time for Heart Failure patients to get that all important flu jab. An extra two million flu vaccines have been ordered and an emergency “shot-pile”
is being set up as health officials prepare for the flu season.

Last year, 14.7 million shots were ordered. For this winter 16.7 million have been ordered and 400,000 will be kept in reserve.

For the second year running there will be no advertising campaign in England to raise awareness, unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Chief Medical Officer Pro Dame Sally Davies questioned the usefulness of adverts, saying people “listen to trusted sources, not government”. She is instead relying on health workers, charities and pharmacies to target those at risk. Bags of medicine from the pharmacist will carry messages encouraging people to have the jab as “patients in at risk groups are taking medicines,” she  said. Last winter more than 600 people in the UK died as a direct result of catching flu.

The vaccine itself, based on advice from the World Health Organization, will again protect against swine flu (H1N1) as well as the H3N2 and Flu B strains.

These are the same three viruses as last winter, but the government’s director of immunisation, Prof David Salisbury, warned patients they would be gambling if they were not immunised again this year.He warned there was no evidence that last year’s shot would still offer protection and that “it’s playing high risk stakes thinking you’re protected”.

Prof Davies again criticised healthcare workers who did not get vaccinated, saying they were “selfish” for not protecting their patients. Last year 35% were vaccinated, up from 26% the year before.

Prof Salisbury said there had been renewed attempts to “persuade, influence and cajole employees”, but there also needed to be improvements within hospitals to make it easier for staff to get vaccinated. He said that at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Foundation NHS Trust, 95% of front-line staff had had the seasonal flu jab, but that figure was as low as 10% in other areas.

So the messsage here is to get vaccinated yourself but ask your Doctor or Nurse if they have been vaccinated and if not why?