Support your immune system

Keeping up to date with vaccines, including the flu vaccine, can help build a stronger immune response and provide better protection against viruses.¹  

Things you can do to support your immune system include:

• Get enough sleep. While sleeping, your body produces and releases cytokines – a protein that targets infections.²
• Exercise regularly. Physical activity prompts antibodies and white blood cells to travel throughout the body more quickly, ready to identify illnesses.^3,4
• Minimise stress. Over time, increased cortisol levels can have a negative effect on several parts of the body, including the immune system.⁵
• Keep up to date with all vaccines. Vaccines are one of the simplest, most effective things you can do to help prevent and/or reduce the severity of a viral infection. 

Learn more about looking after your immune system

Feeling under the weather?

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Sources

1. Harvard Medical School. Can the flu shot hurt my immune response? https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/can-the-flu-shot-hurt-my-immune-response. Accessed 31 October 2022.
2. Sleep Foundation. How sleep affects your immunity. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/how-sleep-affects-your-immunity. Accessed 22 April 2022.
3. University of California. How obesity can rewire the immune system and the response to immunotherapy – and how to change that. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2022/03/422511/how-obesity-can-rewire-immune-system-and-response-immunotherapy-and-how-change. Accessed 30 March 2022.
4. Medline Plus. Exercise and immunity. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/007165.htm. Accessed 29 January 2022.
5. Mayo Clinic. Chronic stress puts your health at risk. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037. Accessed 8 July 2021.
6. Telehealth services may not be available in all jurisdictions. In general, to be covered by your plan, services must be medically necessary and used for the diagnosis or treatment of a covered condition. Not all prescription drugs are covered and prescriptions are not guaranteed to be written. Providers are solely responsible for any treatment provided and are not affiliated with Cigna. Not all providers have video chat capabilities and video chat may not be available in all areas. Telehealth providers are separate from your health plan’s provider network.
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