Battling the Cold and Flu season

It’s not to late to Vaccinate

Flu season has hit hard with diagnosed cases double of what they were this time last year in Australia. With the flu season set to peak in the next month there’s still time to vaccinate.

One of the most important objectives of an athlete and anyone with lung disease is avoiding sickness. For an athlete it can mean missing important training sessions but for for sufferers of lung disease it can mean hospitalization and more damage to their lungs.

Athletes who need to be completing many intense sessions have to make sure their immune system remains strong to fight off any of the seasonal bugs floating around.As someone with lung disease and undertaking intense training it’s even more important to avoid cold and flu’s. Each time I have a chest infection my lung capacity is in jeopardy of being reduced and given where it is I don’t have a lot to play with.

My solution

I had to wait a week to write this post as I have been fighting off sickness and fortunately I have won this round. In March each year I have a flu injection , I also make sure my pneumonia vaccination is up to date. Like many people I take a range of vitamins but the one thing that for me makes the big difference is zinc in powder form. Since I’ve been taking zinc I haven’t had a chest infection and if I start to feel cold or flu symptoms come on they are gone within a few days and the severity is limited.

Benefits of Zinc

Adequate zinc directly affects athletic performance and strength development from training because it plays a primary role in anabolic hormone production. Research shows having ample zinc available in the body allows for a more robust release of the three most important anabolic hormones, testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Without these, you’ll miss out on muscle and strength development from your hard work in the gym.

During the winter season, it is important to think about how you can boost your immune system in order to get the better of those nasty cold and ‘flu bugs that are flying around. Immune function can be increased or decreased depending upon factors such as what we eat, which supplements we take, how much sleep we get and even our stress levels! The great news is that if your immune system is not quite fighting fit, you can support it through taking zinc

Your immune system is a collection of various cells, hormones and tissues designed to protect you against bacteria, viruses and other pathogens that attempt to invade your body. White blood cells are an important component of our immune system. The function of our white blood cells is to defend the body against disease-causing organisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. Zinc is crucial for normal development and function of our white blood cells. Therefore, zinc deficiency can cause a dramatic impairment in the body’s ability to properly respond to infections, as a deficiency reduces capability of white blood cells to fight bacteria and viruses.

There are many other benefits to taking zinc but for those of you training hard for your next race in these cooler months a dose of zinc powder daily may well keep that nasty bug from taking hold.