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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Tailgates, Halloween, Thanksgiving — fall brings lots of opportunities to eat high-fat, high-salt, and sugary foods. Save some room for salad and whole-grain breads, and autumn vegetables to help you stay healthy this fall. This is the perfect time to harvest sweet potatoes, zucchini, radishes, and beets. Choosing healthier options at the moment will add up to a better weight, better blood pressure, and better A1C at your next physical, no matter what time of year it happens.
Get Vitamin D
The days are getting shorter, which means most of us are spending less time in the sun and not getting the Vitamin D we need. Vitamin D deficiency leads to poorer outcomes for people with some diseases, like breast cancer, and can weaken the immune system, the bones, and your mental health.
Your primary care physician can order a blood test that can tell you if your Vitamin D is low, and prescribe higher amounts of Vitamin D, but the National Institutes of Health says 800 IU of the sunshine vitamin in pill form should help you maintain your levels through the autumn and into the winter.
Tick This Off Your List
Getting outdoors is crucial for physical and mental health, but National Institutes of Health scientists remind us that the rate of tick-borne disease is rising and already is higher than it was just a decade ago. You might think of ticks as a summertime problem, something that happens in the deep woods, but most tick bites happen close to home, in the fall…
Save yourself the headaches — and worse — by making your yard unfriendly to ticks. Clear the debris, trim the lawn, put in hardscaping — all actions that will keep you and your family safe from Lyme disease, Powassan virus, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever that are all carried by ticks. An added bonus? Cleaning up your yard will also get it ready for winter.
Let’s Get Physical
The cooler temperatures make fall the ideal season to exercise outside. If you’re a little out of shape, it can start with walking, or if you’re a weekend warrior, set your goals on the finish line of a local 5K race. The benefits of exercise are proven — it reduces stress, boosts your mood, lowers your blood pressure, and keeps your weight in check. This is the season to get moving — and make it a habit before the winter cold sets in.
Mental Health Check-in
If your mood seems off — take it seriously. Fall is the season when seasonal affective disorder kicks in and can leave you feeling exhausted and sad for months. It’s not the only mental imbalance that can be triggered by the shorter days and longer nights. Feeling more anxious? Call your doctor about treatment options, which aren’t limited to antidepressants. Light therapy, meditation, exercise — there’s a whole body of research that lists both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical options for boosting your mental health.
Get Vaccinated
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges everyone to get their flu vaccine this year. There’s no word on what this influenza season holds, although 2020-2021 saw an extraordinarily low number of cases, perhaps because people were staying in or social distancing.
At the same time, the CDC has authorized COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for high-risk or older people who have already been vaccinated. The government agency has also authorized vaccines for children. Kids 12 to 15 years old have been eligible since May, and the CDC granted authorization for kids ages 5 to 11 to get a pediatric dose of the Pfizer vaccine in early November. Data collected in the vaccine trials and in the real world show that vaccinated people are far less likely to get COVID, and rarely get serious cases — unless they are severely immunocompromised.
Staying healthy in the fall isn’t hard, but it is something that takes some mindfulness. Make time to stop every once in a while and check-in with yourself — and make time for the basics: getting enough sleep, and eating right. It’s advice you can use all year round.
Nutrition and fitness are Ryan Collins’ two big passions … make it three, if you count the World Cup. Oh, yeah, then there’s sleeping in on Sunday, too.