Pregnancy is a time when the body has a lot of changes, so it is easy for pregnant women to get sick if the immune system is weakened or when the weather changes. Because in this sensitive period, the use of drugs must be closely monitored, so it is extremely important to protect health and boost immunity during pregnancy, especially in the current situation of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Pregnancy is a beautiful journey and the gift at the destination is something that will make you look forward to it. However, this is also a difficult journey when during 9 months, you will experience countless emotions from happiness and joy to insecurities, worries about your health and safety. baby in the belly. How to stay healthy during pregnancy when the body’s immune system is weakened?
So what should pregnant women do to increase their resistance, especially during this epidemic season? Here are 6 ways to boot immunity for pregnant women during the Covid-19.
Table of Contents
Have a suitable nutrition plan during pregnancy
According to obstetricians and gynecologists, the diet during pregnancy is very important because it can help increase resistance and prevent the risk of diseases. However, in the early stages of pregnancy, morning sickness can make you feel less hungry. To overcome, you should divide your meals, avoid foods with strong odors, and at the same time increase the foods that help “overcome morning sickness” such as ginger tea, ginger jam, cookies … so that the body is fully replenished. In addition, pregnant women should pay attention to adding foods that help strengthen immunity during pregnancy such as:
Foods rich in vitamin C: According to research, people who regularly take vitamin C supplements will reduce their risk of common diseases by up to 50%. In particular, vitamin C not only enhances the mother’s resistance but also supports fetal lung development. Some foods rich in vitamin C that pregnant women should add to their diet are oranges, lemons, bell peppers, grapes, guava …
Iron-rich foods: Iron plays an important role in preventing anemia and increasing resistance. Pregnant women should eat a lot of red meat, dark green leafy vegetables, legumes … to supplement iron for the body.
Foods rich in vitamin A: Vitamin A works against the risk of infections and birth defects in the fetus. Foods rich in vitamin A pregnant women should add to the diet are carrots, potatoes, mangoes, almonds …
Foods rich in beneficial bacteria: Supplementing with probiotics is the best way to boost immunity during pregnancy. Pregnant women can supplement beneficial bacteria by eating foods such as yogurt, oatmeal, etc.
Besides the above vitamins and minerals, you should also supplement with vitamin B, vitamin D, zinc, fatty acids… In particular, pregnant women should avoid eating processed foods, fast food because according to many studies, These foods can damage the immune system.
Drink more water
Drinking enough water is one of the ways to help boost immunity during pregnancy, which is very simple but little-noticed. Drinking plenty of water not only helps detoxify the body but also makes the skin supple, radiant and soft. Every day, pregnant women should drink 2-3 liters of water to keep moisture and remove toxins from the skin through sweat and urine excretion.
Exercise regularly
According to experts, every day, pregnant women who spend 20 minutes of physical activity and maintain 5 days a week will reduce the risk of disease by half every time the weather changes. Not only that, but exercise also helps the body become supple, increases endurance, promotes the excretion of toxins in the mother’s body, and accelerates the synthesis of antibodies. However, when practicing, pregnant women should choose gentle, simple exercises that are suitable for their health status such as walking, swimming, yoga… If you see any abnormal signs, you should stop practicing. You also need to consider not exercising after eating or on an empty stomach
Healthy lifestyle
Lifestyle plays an important role in helping the body prevent dangerous diseases during pregnancy. To ensure the health of both you and your unborn baby, you should maintain the following healthy habits:
Sleep on time, get enough sleep: Quality sleep can help boost immunity during pregnancy. According to research, pregnant women who sleep less than 7 hours a day have a higher risk of catching a cold than other pregnant women.
Stay positive, happy: Stress and sadness can increase the hormone cortisol, which weakens immune function. You can reduce stress by doing pregnancy yoga, meditating, reading, or listening to music.
Avoid using stimulants such as alcohol, beer, coffee, tobacco, etc.
Stay healthy
During pregnancy, pregnant women are very susceptible to infectious diseases, but this risk can still be minimized by:
Limit contact with people who are coughing, sneezing, or have the flu. If you sit near them in public, try to move to another place to prevent the risk of spreading the disease. In case you cannot change places, please wear a mask and wash your hands immediately afterward.
Avoid going to crowded places! If you must go, remember to bring a mask because this is a very easy place to spread bacteria.
Wash your hands often with antibacterial soap before and after eating and after cleaning. Clean hands help avoid the spread of bacterial and viral diseases.
Strengthen skin resistance
Strengthening immunity during pregnancy is extremely necessary, but few people know that to do this, the first thing that we need to do is to strengthen the skin’s immunity (increasing the skin’s resistance). . The skin is the first place of contact with harmful agents such as polluted environment, dust, chemicals … Not only that, this is also the home of a large army of disease-causing bacteria. Once the skin’s resistance is reduced, a “legion” of pathogenic bacteria residing on the surface of the skin will “take advantage” of this opportunity to invade the body, causing a number of common diseases. such as colds, flu, respiratory infections … and can lead to dangerous pregnancy complications.
To enhance the skin’s resistance function, you should take care of your body’s hygiene every day with a shower gel formulated with silver + ions (silver ions, thymol, terpineol) to protect your body from pathogenic bacteria, help optimize skin resistance. In addition, you should also maintain a nutritious diet, exercise regularly to strengthen the immune system in general and skin resistance in particular.