People suffering from chronic diseases have an increased risk of severe illness due to the virus behind the global health crisis. Due to this, they have to be careful to avoid catching the virus. They should also have themselves vaccinated as soon as possible to avoid getting severely sick if they catch the virus.
If you are in this situation, you should keep yourself healthy to avoid getting sick during the pandemic. Here are some things you can do to help you stay healthy even if you have a chronic illness during a pandemic.
Follow a Regular Exercise Schedule
Engaging in physical activities is good for the health, especially for people suffering from chronic illnesses. It offers many benefits, including better physical health, enhanced quality of life, and a reduced risk of depression. It also strengthens the immune system, which is necessary during a pandemic.
Since it can be challenging for you to exercise in a gym, you can work out inside the home. You can buy fitness equipment that you can use at home. You can also do brisk walking or bike around the neighborhood. Just make sure to follow health protocols, especially with the emergence of new variants of the virus.
Eat a Healthy Diet
Aside from working out, you should also eat a healthy diet. If you haven’t tried it yet, you can try eating a plant-based diet. This type of diet provides all the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and proteins your body needs. But if you plan to follow a vegan diet, you should include a vitamin B12 supplement into your diet so your body will get all the nutrients it needs.
The important thing here is that you eat a healthy diet and avoid unhealthy fats and too much sugar since they can harm your body. A healthy diet protects you from chronic diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
Aside from limiting the consumption of unhealthy fats and sugar, you should also reduce your salt consumption. This means you should avoid using condiments with high sodium content in preparing your food.
Manage Stress
Stress is another issue you should avoid. Dealing with stress is already challenging, but the pandemic has made the task more difficult. While exercising can help reduce stress, there may be other reasons for your stress that exercise cannot deal with. With this, you should try to find the source of your stress and deal with it. You can try breathing exercises for ten minutes in the morning and afternoon to help reduce stress.
The stress you feel may be caused by financial issues since you cannot work due to your chronic illness. In this situation, you may be qualified for Social Security benefits. So, you’ll need to apply for these benefits. And one way to relieve the stress in applying is to look for a disability advocate who can facilitate social security disability applications. Advocates provide personalized assistance and help reduce the stress you may feel while going through the whole process.
Get Enough Rest
Getting enough rest is important for you to strengthen your immune system. For people with chronic diseases, its importance increased. Sleep allows them to manage their condition. It also allows the body to secrete hormones that can repair the tissues and cells of the body. This is essential since their chronic condition tends to damage these tissues and cells every day, and resting allows the body to recover.
They should also sleep at least seven to eight hours each day. If they sleep less than seven hours, they have an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes if they do not have it yet. It can also increase the risk of developing other diseases, including heart disease and high blood pressure.
To avoid this, you should turn off sources of blue light around 30 minutes before you sleep. So, you need to turn off the television, shut down the computer, and get off your mobile phone. You should also follow a regular sleeping schedule.
Eliminate Vices
If you smoke, it’s a good time to quit this vice. While it may be challenging if you started this bad habit a long time ago, you should try to stop it so you’ll reap its short-term and long-term benefits. These benefits include a lower risk of developing cancer and diabetes.
You should also limit alcohol consumption. While moderate drinking offers some benefits, you should avoid drinking too much alcohol at one time. Drinking seven glasses of beer on one Saturday is not equivalent to consuming one glass every day.
People with chronic illnesses should make the necessary lifestyle changes to stay healthy in the middle of a health crisis.
