Tips to strengthen your body's defences for a healthier life

A strong immune system can fight off most viruses — but when it's weakened, viruses can get the upper hand. A healthy diet and lifestyle can strengthen your body's defences, aiding prevention or assisting if a virus does take hold.

• Vitamin C is essential to your immune system. You'll find it in many fruits and vegetables, but particularly good picks are citrus fruits, kiwis, bell peppers and fruit juices (especially orange, guava and cranberry juices).

• Eat a varied diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, plant oils, milk products, fish and lean meats. You'll be providing your body with a full supply of substances to fortify your defences: vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc and selenium.

• Avoid nicotine and alcohol: both weaken the immune system, and tobacco smoke is a Class A carcinogen.

Stress, conflict and worry are poison not only for your mental well-being, but for your body's defences. In order to ease the burden on body and soul:

• Build in regular breaks during the day for a little "me time."

• Learn a relaxation technique, such as yoga, progressive muscle relaxation or Qigong.

• Get adequate rest, always going to sleep and rising at the same time every day.

Compounds made from purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) activate your immune system and strengthen your body's defences. Take echinacea daily for a period of about eight weeks. If you take it longer, the desired effect will be reversed; when your immune system is stimulated for too long it soon becomes exhausted. Note: don't take echinacea if you're allergic to coneflowers.

Even a good, old-fashioned barefoot stroll through the grass can perk up your immune system.

• Start each morning with a contrast shower: turn on the warm water, then, after two minutes, switch to a cold shower for 15 seconds. Repeat the process three times. End on cold water.

• Avoid car exhaust — it chokes immunity — and don't spend too much time in poorly-ventilated indoor places where chemicals are being used (such as beauty salons and gas stations), or where new materials, such as carpets, have recently been installed.

• Drink at least six 250 millilitre (eight ounce) glasses of water a day to boost your immune system and lessen feelings of fatigue.

The fastest way to feel energized is to exercise — you'll feel the effects right away. A simple 10-minute walk will decrease tension, banish fatigue and boost mental alertness for hours afterward. Make it a daily routine, and pretty soon, you'll be toning muscles, strengthening your heart and improving the functioning of most organs and bodily systems. Exercise immediately lightens the workload of the immune system, speeding the elimination of germs and other threats by stimulating circulation, making you breathe deeply, accelerating perspiration and increasing muscle activity. Try bicycling, swimming or taking a brisk daily walk.