It’s the “flu season” again. Here are some thoughts on improving your health this winter.

Get plenty of sleep and rest. Taking a break from life’s challenges can be wonderful and good sleep is essential. Adequate quality sleep allows your body to restore itself and to gird for the next day.

During a good night’s sleep, your tired muscles recover, your brain organizes what it has learned and your nervous system re-tunes itself.Plenty of sleep at regular hours strengthens your immunity and decreases stress levels. Poor sleep may reduce the production of infection-fighting antibodies and protective cytokines.

Incidentally, poor sleep also increases your risk for obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression. Try to get eight hours uninterrupted sleep if at all possible.Your natural sleep rhythms are 10 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Exercise most days. There are many ways to meet this requirement. The benefits of exercise are many. Deep breathing and movement increases blood and lymphatic circulation. This helps deliver nutrients, oxygen and immune cells to your tissues. A good workout can make you hot and sweaty. Being hot is like having a temporary fever, an excellent way to kill flu viruses. Sweating gets rid of waste materials. Exercise also improves the balance of hormones, blood sugar and stress,leading to better overall health and greater disease resistance.

What you eat, or don’t eat, influences immunity. Fresh fruits and vegetables provide vitamins and antioxidants; lean meat, chicken, fish and beans are good sources of protein. Added sugars, especially fructose – as in high-fructose corn syrup – suppress the immune system, as do excess caffeine, fat and alcohol.

Vitamins A, C, D and E help your defenses in various ways. Most notably, Vitamin D produces 200 to 300 different antimicrobial peptides that kill viruses, bacteria and fungi. This is one reason Vitamin D acts as a very broad-spectrum antimicrobial in your body. By contrast, the flu vaccine may also only address a few. It’s important to get the proper amount of Vitamin D. Dr. Joe Prendergast, a Vitamin D researcher, believes Vitamin D is probably more powerful than any vaccine you could take.

Medicinal plants can strengthen immunity and fight pathogens. Several thousand years experience and recent scientific studies shed light on their safety and usefulness. This is an area of much study, but a short list of my favorites would include garlic, ginger, goldenseal, myrrh, echinacea, elderberry and cayenne.

There can be problems with product quality, or misuse, so use natural medicines carefully or consult a knowledgeable source.

Dr. John Winters isnaturopathic doctor and owns Winters Naturopathic Clinic in La Grande.