Ideas for healthy home-living in the “lock-up” stage
- Gardening is a great pastime especially for the elderly. Light, physical work lifts your circulation and should be manageable if arthritic or fatigued.
- Herbs or herbal medicines containing: Korean Ginseng, Ginkgo biloba, ginger, peppermint, lemon balm may lift your immune system and are available to buy from our Wellness Chemist. Ask about our own selection.
- Other healthy garden herbs include: peppermint, parsley, lemon balm, yarrow, elder, oregano, pomegranate, thyme, ginger.
- Australian native medicinal herbs that may be helpful include: eucalyptus, billy goat plum (50 times higher in vitamin C than oranges), lemon myrtle, bush mint, native ginger. Use native fertiliser if growing these.
- Placing oils of tea tree, peppermint and eucalyptus and/or pine in a shallow container, or a burner, or a diffuser produces a pleasant smell, especially when combined with lavender (an oil that is noted for its health-protective properties). Other air-sanitising oils include lemon, orange, mandarin, bergamot, oregano, thyme, pine, pomegranate. Gum trees and tea-trees are quick-growing and fun to have.
- Garden vegetables and greens are especially helpful in maintaining good health, providing much better nutrition than if stored for long periods. Enrich your soil with the right fertilisers like the TV Ross family and you will have an abundant crop. Swap with neighbours (safely) if they are growing also. https://www.gardenclinic.com.au/how-to-grow-article/trace-elements?pid=44200
- Try growing veggies on your balcony if you are in a home unit, using troughs, boxes, vertical gardens, fertilisers. Get your children to help if you can’t manage. Otherwise there are plenty of volunteers willing to help. Contact your local Rotary club or Council. If you are a self-isolated oldie, hide in your bedroom while they are working.
- Go for early morning and afternoon walks in fine weather.
- Maintain hydration – drink adequate water.
- If on a blood pressure medication, discuss with your doctor if he can choose meds that are not beta blockers (that inhibit important immune-regulating melatonin production) or calcium-channel blockers (that may interfere with essential calcium metabolism generally) .
- If not growing well-fertilised veggies, ask our pharmacist to make you a single daily supplement that is designed to contain all the healthy elements that your body’s day-to-day needs (all 72 minerals and 12 vitamins).
- If you need to fortify your protective “killer” immune cells to the max, ask for a winter mix.
- if you need to both, then you can obtain separately or ask for a 50-50 blend.