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You can maximize immune system functioning by making sure you get proper nutrition and plenty of sleep.


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Don't forget exercise.

Do you suppose gyms are a bad place to go during an outbreak? So far I haven't stopped going, but seems like it could be an especially nasty hotbed of airborne and surface-based viruses.

You don't have to go to the gym to exercise. Plenty of bodyweight exercise (like push-ups, L-sits, planks, burpees, etc) can be done at home without any equipment.

Investing in a little bit of equipment, like barbells or maybe a pull-up bar, can let you do even more exercise at home.


While I could Google this, I often prefer asking people I 'know' even as tangentially as via HN comments: any suggestions for resources about this? I'd like to exercise more, and I have an entire room available, but I'm not sure where to start. I have the one-handed weight thingies, for one, but a pull-up bar is not an option. I heard one of those ball thingies with a handle is useful?

This app may be useful to you. I've used it for about 6 months and have been pretty happy with it. You can customize what equipment you have available so that it builds you a workout based on that. On the other side, you can look at what equipment it lists and determine what you want to buy.

https://www.fitbod.me


Awesome, thanks for the link!

https://darebee.com is another good site. They have lots of videos explaining various exercises. Just make sure you start with the entry-level exercises to slowly build up your strength.

I'd even recommend to not worry so much about timing your workouts as this causes too much stress, just focus on the exercises themselves in the beginning to make sure you do them properly.


if you're excercising for health, you don't need a gym. Just go for a vigorous walk, do some gardening, maybe a run, or vacuum the house. All of those count as excellent ways to get exercise.

I have no idea why you're being downvoted. Have people forgotten how to exercise without gyms?

I'm not sure I'd personally suggest that hoovering the house is an "excellent" form of exercise, but at least they didn't blindly assume the person was going to the gym purely because they were not aware how to exercise outside of it. Perhaps the community aspect of their gym is what attracts them. None of the replies actualy answer the original question of are gyms are a particularly bad place to go. I would suggest they absolutely are a bad idea as they involve a lot of air conditioning and a lot of shared surfaces. And also a lot of coughing even at the best of the times.

There is a nice book by a convict who used his time in jail to exercise using whatever available, a very inspiring read. The title is Convict Conditioning.

I know this sounds trivial, but there's data that suggests common immune-systems boosters such as zinc and vitamin C do help with covid-19.

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/j...


I'm taking modest levels of Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin D, Quinine Hydrochloride, Zinc, and standardized Forsythia Extract.

As far as I know, zinc pyrithione isn't available in any consumer product, because it is pretty toxic in moderate levels. Without it (from the article) "the concentration of free Zn2+ is maintained at a relatively low level by metallothioneins".

Zinc supplementation may of course help if you are deficient, but the study can't really tell if 'healthy' Zn2+ concentrations contribute anything to the inhibition of viral replication.


There's not really such a thing as 'boosting' your immune system - it's either working properly, or it's not. A 'boosted' / over-active immune system results in auto-immune diseases like Crohn's (which is what I have). Funnily enough I'm being treated with Stelara which actually suppresses my immune system - so it's no 'live' vaccines for me and other vaccines might not work effectively or at all, and I need to be extra careful to avoid getting ill. Working 100% remote is something I am appreciating more and more currently.

> it's either working properly, or it's not

It can be normal, over-active, under-active, and likely both. "working or not" is too simplistic for this discussion.

> A 'boosted' / over-active immune system results in auto-immune diseases like Crohn's (which is what I have).

Yes, but that doesn't mean that a temporary boost couldn't potentially help in certain situations.

Along those lines, I bet if you really needed a specific live vaccine your doctor would have you suspend that drug for a little bit.


Just get some green lentils from the bulk section. Lentils are high in zinc and It's always better to get your nutrition from actual food, rather than supplements which are unregulated and contain god knows what (not to mention it's not how your body normaly absorbs nutrients).

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