OK so we know the essential tips on this issue: wash your hands, avoid touching parts of the face, stay away from sick people, avoid gatherings...but what else can we do to stay safe?

Professor of immunology at the University of Manchester Sheena Cruickshank & President of the British Society for Immunology Prof Arne Akbar give advice on how to boost your immune system to avoid colds and coronavirus:

-Exercising-being physically active stimulates the blood flow which mobilises your white blood cells so they can do their surveillance jobs and seek and destroy in other parts of the body.

- Reducing stress- one of the many happy side-effects of exercise is that it reduces stress, which is another immune -boosting priority. There are of course other things you can do such as meditation, breathing exercises, prayer, aromatherapy, relaxing activities.

- Consume foods which boost the immune system- green vegetables, citruses, red peppers, etc. A very powerful choice is to opt for bee products: royal jelly, propolis, pollen as they have many biological properties including anti-bacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, hepatoprotective and immuno-stimulating activities. Only bee pollen itself contains at least 22 amino acids, 18 vitamins, 25 minerals, 59 trace elements, 11 enzymes or coenzymes, 14 fatty acids! Our healing pralines are an effective and delicious way to have all 5 best bee products and provide your body with a huge variety of compounds that will contribute to your health. You can find them on this website in the SHOP section

-Avoid boozing-  various studies have shown heavy drinking depletes our immune cells -Sleep sleep sleep! -it's simple: a tired body is more susceptible to bugs

-Top up on vitamin D- a hot topic in immunology as Vit. D is used by our macrophages, and is something that people in most of Europe can get quite low on in the winter. 

Stay well everyone!