14-Day Immune Boost Challenge
Join us in gearing up for fall by participating in our 2-week Immune Boost Challenge. Discover lifestyle choices you can make daily to keep your immune system strong — through cold and flu season and beyond. In this challenge we will be covering topics like sleep health, stress, diet and fitness that play a role in your immune system health. Check out all the details below!
How it works:
- Make sure you’re registered and then download the Immune Boost Challenge Tracker
- Track your activities, the goal is to complete at least one activity each day during the challenge — For a little more of a challenge, try to fill out the entire card!
- Each activity/task you complete is one point, and the people with the most points will be entered to win one of the below prizes (you will receive an extra point for each HK partner you use).
- Use the recommended brands below or any of your favorites to win prizes! Prizes available: 1st place: $75 HK credit, 2nd place: $50 and 3rd place: $25.
- Submit your completed card on or before Wednesday, October 5th by filling out this form or by sending your tracker to [email protected]
Activities & HealthKick Partners to Try
*Must be logged in to your account to view HealthKick partners
Get 7+ Hours of Sleep: While we sleep, cytokines are produced and released. These proteins target infections and jumpstart the natural healing process.
- HealthKick partners to try: HealthKick partners to try: Aura Health sleep meditations, Rootcha (magnesium supplements for better sleep), The Nue Co Sleep Drops or Sleep+ and ASYSTEM sleep gummies.
Include leafy greens in every meal: A 2019 study published in Nutrition Reviews found that leafy greens are rich in dietary nitrate, an organic compound that has anti-inflammatory properties and can help regulate the immune system. So get to eating those greens!
- HealthKick partners to try: Sakara meal programs, Realm try the tropical greens smoothie, or try the Hungryroot grocery section to grab some leafy greens.
Journal your worries away: Journaling can reduce stress by serving as an escape or emotional release of negative thoughts and feelings. With less stress, the better our immune systems are able to function!
- HealthKick partner to try: Try out Jour for 7 days free with their guided self-care journaling app.
Make a Vitamin C Rich Smoothie: Vitamin C may boost immunity by helping white blood cells function more effectively, strengthening your skin’s defense system and a smoothie is a quick and easy way to get a quick hit of Vitamin C.
- HealthKick Partners to try: Revive Superfoods, or Everripe Superfood Smoothies.
Try a guided meditation: Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress.
- HealthKick partners to try: Calm, Mind Well or Insight Timer.
Snack on a fresh fruit salad: Studies have shown that fruit provides nutrients—like flavonoids, vitamin C, and vitamin A—that can boost immune function.
Skip sugar today: Added sugars can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to infectious disease and viruses.
Try yoga session from Y7: Yoga helps lower stress hormones that compromise the immune system, while also conditioning the lungs and respiratory tract, stimulating the lymphatic system to get rid of toxins from the body.
Turn off screens an hour before bed: Your phone produces blue light. This light imitates daylight and at night, this can be problematic because the blue light will trick your brain into producing less melatonin. If your brain is producing less melatonin, you will be awake and alert during the night.
Go on a 20-minute walk: Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less.
Do a 5-10 minute breathing practice: Breathwork can be a form of preventive medicine because breathing is directly related to lymph flow, and lymph flow is directly related to immunity. It’s also a great way to reduce stress!
- HealthKick partners to try: Our Breath Collective, try a private breathwork Session with Avi Greenberg or listen to our Breath Your Way to Calm & Peace webinar recording.
Try a natural sleep supplement: Standard melatonin supports the initiation of sleep, while Proper sleep supplements contain MicroActive® (MA) extended-release has been shown to provide support throughout the night.
- HealthKick partner to try: Proper sleep supplements
Include healthy fats into your meal: Eating healthy fats provides your body with the energy and essential fatty acids it needs to optimize its immune function. Foods rich in essential fatty acids such as Omega-3 DHA & EPA help to promote eye, brain and heart health!
Take a 30-minute power nap: Power napping can boost your immune system and reduce stress. A small study found that short, 30-minute naps had stress relieving and immune benefits.
Try a boxing class: Boxing helps you blast away stress and frustrations, and it also helps you build up your confidence and belief in yourself, so let’s get to throwing some punches!
- HealthKick partners to try: Title Boxing, Rumbe TV, FightCamp or Hit House.
Eat a rainbow of colors: Eating fruits and vegetables with a variety of color ensures that our body is nourished with essential nutrients to support our immune system.
- HealthKick partners to try: OurHarvest or Farm Fresh to You.
Connect with a friend: Experts found a link between social support from friendship and the immune system. People with good friends tend to have stronger immune systems and anti-inflammatory responses that can lead to quicker wound healing and reduce the risk of illnesses.
Write 5 things you’re grateful for: Expressing gratitude can lower blood pressure, improve immune function and facilitate more efficient sleep.
- HealthKick partners to try: Jour or Aura Health’s gratitude journal feature.
Try a strength training workout: Working out and especially strength training boosts your immune system as it is pumping blood throughout the body, relieving stress and releasing endorphins.
Eat a balanced breakfast: People who eat breakfast are more likely to meet their recommended daily intakes of vitamins and minerals than people who don’t.
Do a HIIT workout: Physical activity may help flush bacteria out of the lungs and airways. This may reduce your chance of getting a cold, flu, or other illness.
- HealthKick partners to try: Fhitting Room, Barry’s or NEOU.
Skip alcohol: Alcohol consumption can kill normal healthy gut bacteria, which help to promote health and reduce risk of infection.
Book a free personal training session: A personal trainer can give you the tools and support that you need to reach your health and fitness goals. Having your fitness goals taken care of with a trusted trainer, relieves a lot of stress.
- HealthKick partners to try: FlexIt Fitness, Find Your Trainer, or Caliber Fitness.
Add fermented foods to your meal: When we eat these foods, the helpful bacteria begin living in our gut where they help us digest foods, unlock nutrients in foods, and maintain a healthy immune system.
Get 15-mins of sun first thing in the morning: Studies show that getting sunlight in the morning increases your melatonin levels at night and improves your circadian rhythm.
Drink half your body weight in ounces: One of the benefits of drinking water is that optimal hydration has a huge impact on your immune system. Water helps all of your body’s systems function at the correct levels.
We hope many of these daily activities will stay with you on your wellbeing journey to keep you feeling your best and fighting all the winter colds and flus to come!
