Your bodies first line of defence agains infection.....is YOU!

Thank you Waterloo Region. You just made masks mandatory.
Waterloo council voted unanimously last night.

The two bylaws are set to take effect July 13.

Groups that are exempt: young children, people with disabilities and medical conditions which make wearing masks difficult.

Businesses are required to post signage about the bylaws but will not be required to enforce them.

Some of the indoor spaces that will require masks include:

Stores.
Shopping malls.
Laundromats.
Hotels.
Motels.
Municipal buildings.
Places of worship.

The bylaws do not cover the following public spaces:

Federal or provincial buildings.
Colleges, universities or schools.
Hospitals or health facilities.
Employee-only areas of businesses and other buildings.

It took 3 and 1/2 hours of debate. It is a controversial issue. Waterloo region now joins Toronto, Kingston, Windsor and Guelph-Wellington Dufferin. The pressure is on across the country for other municipalities to do the same and when we do, I believe, we will be able to live safely with this virus for as long as it takes to rid it from the planet or make it a manageable, non- life threatening illness for which there will be a vaccine.

COVID 19 will be with us for quite awhile. We are adapting, becoming more resilient and strong in the face of great difficulties and working well, together, as a country to keep COVID 19 under control I have taken a few days off from all things COVID. It was a refreshing break. I would highly recommend it. No news, no screens, no talk....just your own thoughts in a place where you can find peace. It is good for the soul.

As I was writing a post last week I looked down at my wrist and saw a tan line. Do you remember the days when people wore watches? A person would take their watch off before jumping into a lake and there it was, a tan line where the watch was. I don't wear a watch but, I now wear a fitbit and have a fitbit tan line. I avoid the sun and wear a lot of sunscreen which means, for me to have the slightest fitbit tan line means that I have that baby on all the time. My son bought won for me for Christmas and I was instantly addicted.

My time exercising has doubled and I have added an hour of sleep to my sleep schedule everyday. The fitbit monitors my sleep. I had no idea how little sleep I was getting. I exercise 30 min to 1 hour a day, six times a week. On weekends, I am on my bike for at least a couple of hours. I sleep 7 hours a night. I take 5,000 IU of day each day and I work very hard at controlling anxious thoughts.

We will need a vaccine for COVID 19 but each of us needs a healthy immune system that can fight this thing off well if we are exposed or infected. Not everyone can exercise everyday but even a 10 min walk, everyday, has huge impacts on the immune system and the ability to ward off chronic diseases. Not everyone can make their immune systems healthy, they are fighting diseases that make their immunes systems deficient or they may be taking life-saving medications that cause their immune systems to be deficient. They need to be protected.

Sleep has strong regulatory effects on immunological functions. While you sleep, hormones circulate that keep your immune system ready to fight infection, depression and all diseases.

Vitamin D is directly required in some of our immune responses. In the last decade, science has proven the many beneficial effects of Vitamin D. Take it. Ask your doctor or naturopath how much they recommend. The guidelines differ. The research I have done suggests that 5,000 IU's of Vitamin D a day hits the sweet spot.

Diet is key. Without a healthy diet, you are immune deficient, period. We get more out of a plant based diet than a meat based or carbohydrate based diet. It is all about balancing these foods in favour of more fruits and vegetables. Your body has a healthy balance of bacteria in the skin, the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract and the genitourinary system. We actually need these bacteria to help fight disease. A healthy diet keeps them in balance. Did you know that balancing our guts bacteria can reduce the severity and risk of depression? It's all about the immune system baby!

So much of our immune system is regulated by the brain which has it's own separate line of defence against infection. Anxiety and negative thoughts change the way your brain functions in a negative way. Work at the impossible dream of being anxiety free at least most of the time. This is a very tall order when we are living through a global health crisis but work at it. It helps every aspect of your health.

I am behind a bit but here are some fabulous numbers from July 5/20:

New cases in Canada- 217
Ontario- 138
And no ICU admission in Toronto- crushing it!

The national immunity task force started testing thousands of blood samples for COVID-19 antibodies awhile back and should be able to produce a more detailed picture of how many Canadians have been infected with the novel coronavirus within a couple of weeks. The more we know, the stronger we are.

The basics of how our immune system works so that you can understand the value of a vaccine.....coming up.

Enjoy the day and go for a safe walk!

Anne-Marie

Please Share.

And Yes, I will speak to the possibility of airborne transmission of COVID 19.

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