April 2020 – IHA Blog

Boost Your Immune System

Lifestyle Medicine tips for a stronger immune system

Source: American College of Lifestyle Medicine

In the last few weeks, the immune system has been brought into the spotlight. When functioning properly, the immune system identifies a variety of threats, including viruses, bacteria and parasites, and distinguishes them from the body’s own healthy tissue, according to Merck Manuals. A healthy immune system could be the difference between getting sick and staying healthy. Read on for tips on strengthening your immune system focusing on Lifestyle Medicine. Increasing your body’s immune response is not a guarantee against infection, but it’s a good start.

Mind Your Stress

Pause. Take a few seconds to consider your breathing, listen to a favorite song, or watch a funny video. The stress hormone, cortisol, suppresses immune response. Being mindful, even in small doses, reduces stress and as a result, cortisol production.

No Smoking

Avoid smoking, vaping, or inhaling any substance, which can be toxic to the lungs.

Healthy Eating

What you eat makes all the difference! For strong immunity, consume a wide array of fiber-filled, nutrient-dense, and antioxidant-rich whole plant foods at every meal. Choose a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, eat your beans, consume whole grains, and use a variety of herbs and spices to enhance flavors. Stay hydrated with water!

Purchasing fruit and veggies is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Commit to the piece of produce you choose. Try not to manipulate
the produce items by touching them and placing them back.
Wash your hands with clean water and soap for a minimum of 20
seconds after returning from the grocery store. Hand sanitizer for 60
seconds can also be used.
Produce items should always be washed thoroughly with cold water prior consumption.

Quality Sleep

Aim to sleep for 7 to 9 hours. Develop a routine: Set an alarm for when to go to sleep and when to wake up. Make sure your room is cool, dark, quiet, and comfortable. Avoid screens at least 90 minutes before bedtime. Practice a “wind down” ritual, like listening to soft music, writing in a journal, or reading a book.

Activity

Regular, moderate physical activity is vital to keeping the immune system strong! While Physical Activity Guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes, 5 days a week, as little as 20 minutes can suppress inflammation and support immunity.

Connectivity

Physical distancing is essential when contagious disease risks are high, but not at the expense of being isolated or lonely. Connect with friends and family via FaceTime, Zoom sessions, texting, and phone calls. Positive emotions, which are shown to improve immunity, arise from even brief, virtual social connections.

What is Lifetstyle Medicine? Lifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a whole food, plant-predominant dietary lifestyle, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connection as a primary therapeutic modality for treatment and reversal of chronic disease.

Learn more about Lifestyle Medicine at IHA.

Itching for Relief

April showers bring spring allergies.

By Susanna Lin, MD

It’s that time of the year – trees and gardens “wake up” from hibernation with beautiful blooms and scents filling the air. They also bring runny noses, itchy eyes, and scratchy throats. It is allergy season. Allergies can (and do) happen all year, but for many people, when spring starts and trees and grass grow they start feeling allergy symptoms.

Common environmental allergies can be due to dust mites, animals, pollen, grass and trees, just to name a few. Each of these allergies can happen more often in different times of the year. Grass and trees are often bothersome to people in spring, whereas pollens are in the late summer. Dust mite allergies can be found all year round.

When symptoms are bad, many people turn to medications for help. There are some things you can try prior to using medications. For example, for dust mite allergies you can try using dust mite covers on your pillow and bed. Staying in air conditioning may help symptoms when the pollen count is high. You can also flush out the allergens by using a netti pot (follow safe-use guidelines) or saline eye drops.

If you’re ready for medications, decongestants and antihistamines can be the most helpful to allergy sufferers. Decongestants help relieve nasal congestion symptoms once they have started. Antihistamines block the histamine reaction and help prevent symptoms from happening. They often must be taken several days to weeks prior to exposure to the allergens. Nasal steroids can also help decrease nasal congestion symptoms and work right at the source of the congestion. For itchy, water eyes, try allergy eye drops.

If you are having allergy symptoms that are not improving with over the counter medications, it is time to see your primary care doctor to discuss next steps. There may be another reason for your symptoms or other medication or treatments to consider. Allergy testing may also be needed to figure out what specifically you are allergic to so that you can avoid the allergen.

This article was originally published on March 20, 2015, and was updated on April 16, 2020.

Caring for Someone with COVID-19

Recommended precautions for household members, intimate partners, and caregivers of COVID-19 patients

Close contacts of COVID-19 patients should follow these recommendations:
• Make sure that you understand and can help the patient follow their healthcare provider’s instructions for medication(s) and care. You should help the patient with basic needs in the home and provide support for getting groceries, prescriptions, and otherpersonal needs.
• Monitor the patient’s symptoms. If the patient is getting sicker, call his or her healthcare provider and tell them that the patient has laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. This will help the healthcare provider’s office take steps to keep other people in the office or waiting room from getting infected. Ask the healthcare provider to call the local or state health department for additional guidance. If the patient has a medical emergency and you need to call 911, notify the dispatch personnel that the patient has, or is being evaluated for COVID-19.
• Household members should stay in another room or be separated from the patient as much as possible. Household members should use a separate bedroom and bathroom, if available.
• Prohibit visitors who do not have an essential need to be in the home.
• Household members should care for any pets in the home. Do not handle pets or other animals while sick.
• Make sure that shared spaces in the home have good air flow, such as by an air conditioner or an opened window, weather permitting.
• Perform hand hygiene frequently. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• The patient should wear a facemask when you are around other people. If the patient is not able to wear a facemask (for example, because it causes trouble breathing), you, as the caregiver, should wear a mask when you are in the same room as the patient.
• Wear a disposable facemask and gloves when you touch or have contact with the patient’s blood, stool, or body fluids, such as saliva, sputum, nasal mucus, vomit, urine.
• Throw out disposable facemasks and gloves after using them. Do not reuse.
• When removing personal protective equipment, first remove and dispose of gloves. Then, immediately clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Next, remove and dispose of facemask, and immediately clean your hands again with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Avoid sharing household items with the patient. You should not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, bedding, or other items. After the patient uses these items, you should wash them thoroughly (see below “Wash laundry thoroughly”).
• Clean all “high-touch” surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, every day. Also, clean any surfaces that may have blood, stool, or body fluids on them.
• Use a household cleaning spray or wipe, according to the label instructions. Labels contain instructions for safe and effective use of the cleaning product including precautions you should take when applying the product, such as wearing gloves and making sure you have good ventilation during use of the product.
• Wash laundry thoroughly.
• Immediately remove and wash clothes or bedding that have blood, stool, or body fluids on them.
• Wear disposable gloves while handling soiled items and keep soiled items away from your body. Clean your hands (with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) immediately after removing your gloves.

• Read and follow directions on labels of laundry or clothing items and detergent. In general, using a normal laundry detergent according to washing machine instructions and dry thoroughly using the warmest temperatures recommended on the clothing label.
• Place all used disposable gloves, facemasks, and other contaminated items in a lined container before disposing of them with other household waste. Clean your hands (with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) immediately after handling these items. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
• Discuss any additional questions with your state or local health department or healthcare provider. Check available hours when contacting your local health department.

If you or someone you know has symptoms of COVID-19, take our free online screening today.

Free onlne COVID-19 Screening

QuaranTEEN

Tips for parenting teens in the COVID-19 crisis

By Kathaleen Bruce, LMSW

This week in Michigan, school was officially cancelled for the remainder of the year in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. For many students an occasional snow day is a welcomed site, but trading once-in-a-lifetime events like prom and graduation, fun with friends, concerts and performances, sports and end of year class parties for several weeks or months of quarantine is a different story. With the announcement this week, your child, especially teens, may be left feeling a sense of loss. As parents, you want to support your children as they navigate this unprecedented stage of life, but you’re also working through these changes while trying to keep up with working from home, homeschooling and keeping the family healthy. We’ve got you covered! Read on for some quick tips on how to support your teen through quarantine.

It’s OK to feel angry.

High school seniors have lost out on much of what they’ve been working for over the last 12 years, and teens in general are missing out on high school and college rites-of-passage. Understandably, they may be feeling angry, sad, disappointed, and just plain miserable. For parents, expressing empathy for their current situation can go a long way in helping them cope.

Say this: “I’m sorry that you’re missing out on so many things you were looking forward to. This will end and life will get better, but I understand that you feel miserable right now.”

It’s OK to feel happy.

On the flip side, your teen may feel a huge sense of relief with the premature end of the school year. For some, the stress of studies, pressure of performances, or social struggles means quarantine is actually a welcomed change. It’s important to allow your child to feel both disappointment and relief.

Say this: “It’s okay to feel relieved that some of the things you were worried about are now not going to happen.”

Be ready for friction.

For teens, friendships can be as important and their relationships with their family members. Expect that they are not going to enjoy being forced to stay away from their friends for many weeks. Be ready for arguments and anger as you keep them home to keep them well. This will be even more challenging as other parents may not follow the rules and allow their children to interact with friends outside their homes.

Say this: “I’m following the advice of medical experts during this quarantine, and I can’t allow you to go to someone else’s home or have someone over to ours, regardless of the choices your friend’s parents are making.”

Give them a voice.

As you navigate a new family schedule, be respectful of the fact that your teen has their own idea of how they would like to see their day go. Layout your expectations for schoolwork, help with younger siblings and housework. Ask for their input and come to an agreement together.

Say this: “I need some things from you during this quarantine, and I know you have needs too. Let’s look at our weekly schedule together and come up with one that works for both of us.”

Take breaks.

When you’re working from home, it can be more difficult than ever to disconnect from work. It’s important to give your family, and especially your children, undivided attention, sans work. Set aside time every day where you can put your devices away and focus on family.

Say this: “At five-o’clock today, let’s head outside and take a walk before dinner. It’s important to get our work done, but we need to make time for time for each other. Spending time with you is one of my favorite things to do!”

Know when your child needs help.

Despite your best efforts, your child’s response to the stress surrounding COVID-19 may require some outside help. The IHA Pediatric Behavioral Health team is here to support you. Call today to learn more.

Say this: “I can see you’re struggling, and I want to do what’s best to help you. I know someone that can help.”

Learn More