Easing restrictions: Healthy living during Covid-19

The covid-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges of modern cities because it has redefined how people live and go about their daily activities. As the world struggles to figure out how to maintain the balance between the demands of our daily routine and the coronavirus, it is important to keep a healthy life as the race for a solution continues.

Many countries are beginning to lift restrictions and ease mask mandates as they move toward business as usual. As hope for more of the population to get vaccinated and the spread covid 19 drops, people may begin to let their guard down, and go about their daily activities as they used to pre-covid 19. However, doctors say it is still important to be cautious because infected individuals can be asymptomatic but still contagious.

Doctors also warn that, until the virus is completely studied to come out with its complex characteristics, people should not let their guards down because they can get infected even from people who are showing no symptoms of the virus.

Dr. Brenda Rea is a medical doctor at Loma Linda University Health. According to her, health should stay at the front of our minds, and we must be careful not to slip back into the early days of the pandemic when things were really tough and serious.

"As the world begins to get back to its pre-pandemic state, health should stay at front of mind,’ According to her, there are some basic things that one can do to protect against viruses, including the coronavirus and staying healthy.

"There are things you can do to avoid infection by SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses that could harm you."

Dr. Rea has recommended six things that can be integrated into our lives as we gradually return to ‘the new normal’ and reintegrate into the world.

The first recommendation from Dr. Rea is to eat well. Food is a powerful way to keep the mind and body running well. "Diet plays a crucial role in either increasing or reducing stress down to the cellular level" . "The fuel you put in your body can work as a defence against illness and help your body work at its peak performance level". Integrating vegetables and fruits into our daily diet can help the body stay healthy and strong.

Dr Rea also says exercise can reduce the chances of getting a virus or getting sick. According to Dr Rea, exercise increases the chances of getting a strong immune system, that can withstand diseases and fight viruses. "Exercise can increase your immunity to certain illnesses while also reducing your stress hormones, which can increase your susceptibility to disease". Exercise also strengthens the heart and lungs, and this improves our resistance to getting sick.

Drinking water helps the body to get rid of toxins that can cause disease and also fuel the body to prevent diseases. Rea also says that adequate water intake enables the brain to produce the necessary chemicals like serotonin or melatonin for optimal emotional and sleep health.

Sleep has also been found to be very important to a healthy life. Taking necessary rest and sleep has been linked to better immune health. For adults, Dr Rea recommends at least 7-9 hours sleep a night. According to her, when one does not get enough sleep, infection-fighting anti-bodies are reduced, and this makes it easy for infections from virus.

It is therefore important that as we struggle to get our lives back to normal during this covid 19 era, we take healthy living serious as recommended by the experts in the field.