How to spend less time being sick this autumn!
But, being sick also costs you money. Coming down with a cold or flu always seems to happen at the worst possible time—when your life is full of commitments and things to do; you are then forced to cancel plans that were important to you because you are now confined to home due to a contagious germ. Being sick also prevents you from being with the people in your life.
Being sick costs everyone.
Being sick costs your employer money. On average, Canadians take 9 sick days per year. These sick days cost the Canadian economy over $16.6 billion annually.1
But being sick also costs you money. Coming down with a cold or flu always seems to happen at the worst time—when your life is filled with commitments and things to do; you’re then forced to cancel plans you were looking forward to because you’re now stuck at home with a contagious bug. Being sick also keeps you from being with the people in your life.
The same applies when you’re not quite sick, but you’re feeling less than your usual self, and you can’t fully enjoy what you’re doing.
The real benefit of not being sick is having the opportunity to spend less time on the sidelines and more time living your life and doing the things you love.
Do you take Vitamin C to prevent yourself from catching the circulating germs? You might be missing a piece of the puzzle.
One study found that taking a supplement can help you (and most people you know) stay healthy during cold and flu season, avoiding up to 84,000 antibiotic treatments, 500,000 sick days, $9 million in direct healthcare costs, and $100 million in lost productivity.
Can you guess what that supplement is?
Probiotics.
How can probiotics prevent you from getting sick?
Probiotics are becoming increasingly popular, and many people are starting to take them to improve their health.
But what are probiotics? How can they help you avoid catching cold and flu germs that are circulating?
It all starts with the immune system. Your immune system is a collection of cells and tissues that act like a bouncer at a nightclub – its job is to identify and eliminate germs and viruses that could make you sick.
But if you were asked to point to where your immune system is, where would you point? While the immune system helps prevent foreign invaders from taking over the body all over the body, a large part of it is located in your gut. In fact, 70% of your immune system's cells and tissues are found there.
Probiotics are important for boosting immunity by helping to strengthen and regulate the immune system. Like the immune system, probiotics can be found throughout the body. One study found that taking probiotics orally can improve the composition of our probiotic bacteria all the way up to our nasal cavity.3
The composition of bacteria in our gut is now considered "an important partner to human cells" and has been shown to interact directly or indirectly with human cells. Incredible, isn't it?
Probiotics can help prevent you from getting sick. But if by chance you do get sick as the cold weather approaches, taking probiotics might help reduce the time you spend suffering from a cold.
Two important studies found that quality probiotics help reduce the duration, frequency, and use of antibiotics due to respiratory tract infections. Moreover, taking probiotics could help reduce the duration of a respiratory tract infection by about 2.3 days.4
The less time you spend being sick, the more time you spend feeling good and the more time you have to do what you love.
How to choose probiotics?
The type of probiotics you choose matters a lot. Many probiotics on the market are made from a handful of strains, lack a delivery mechanism, and worse, may contain allergens.
This is what inspired Genuine Health to create a range of probiotics designed to deliver more hardworking probiotics to your gut.
Advanced gut health probiotic is made with 15 balanced strains of super-powerful bacteria that mimic the balance found in your gut. The strains are cleaned three times to ensure only the healthiest and most powerful remain.
Next, the probiotics are encapsulated in plastic-free, delayed-release capsules that have been shown to deliver up to 10 times the number of bacteria to the gut. Advanced gut health probiotic is free from wheat, gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish, eggs, corn, sulfites, and mustard.
Look for advanced gut health probiotic with 15 and 50 billion CFU and two new probiotics for women: advanced gut health probiotic women’s DAILY and UTI.
Feed your gut
Eating well is important for keeping your body healthy as the winter months approach – and good nutrition is also essential for a healthy gut! When you seed your gut with powerful good bacteria from probiotics, you need to nourish them – that's where prebiotics come in.
It's just as important to find quality prebiotics as it is to find quality probiotics. Based on cutting-edge research, Genuine Health created fermented organic gut superfoods+, the ultimate prebiotic superfood and the perfect partner for your probiotics! Using the latest research on prebiotics, fermented organic gut superfoods+ was prepared using 22 fully fermented organic superfoods and prebiotics to prepare the gut and nourish a healthy ecology.
Gut health is truly fascinating to us. Soon, Genuine Health will be introducing innovative products in gut and immune health.
by Stewart Brown
References:
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sick-days-cost-canadian-economy-16-6b-1.1864833
- Wijnkoop, I et al. The Clinical and Economic Impact of Probiotics Consumption on Respiratory Tract Infections: Projections for Canada. PLoS One. 2016; 11(11): e0166232.
- Cross, M.L. Immune-Signalling by Orally-Delivered Probiotic Bacteria: Effects on Common Mucosal Immunoresponses and Protection at Distal Mucosal Sites.
- Wijnkoop, I et al.