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Keeping Your Quality of Life Up with an Autoimmune Condition by Jeremy Bowler

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By: Jeremy Bowler

Women stretching in a yoga studio

Source: Pexels

Writer Jeremy Bowler shares a few tips for a healthy lifestyle while managing the symptoms of an autoimmune condition.

There are a lot of differences between individual experiences of autoimmune disorders, as well as differences between specific conditions. However, if you have recently been diagnosed with one, you might want to know what you can do to live well and manage the symptoms associated with the condition. Here, we’re going to look at a few tips to help keep your quality of life up.

Disorders like type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, IBS, and rheumatoid arthritis all have their own circumstances to consider, so don’t apply any of the following tips over those that you already know work for your condition.

Make Some Dietary Changes

One of the first changes you might want to make, with an autoimmune condition, is to cut gluten out of your diet. Gluten allows undigested proteins to enter the bloodstream, which can activate an autoimmune response.

Other dietary changes can include ensuring you get plenty of calcium-rich foods and whole grains, as well as keeping high-fat foods out of your diet when possible.

Get Moving

Exercise is one of the best things you can do to manage autoimmune disorders. However, exercise can cause your autoimmune condition to flare up because it causes stress. There are autoimmune-friendly workouts such as yoga and endurance training that might be more suited to your needs.

Recognize and Manage Inflammatory Triggers

People who experience autoimmune conditions tend to be more prone to experience inflammatory conditions, such as uveitis, tonsillitis, and so on. Being aware of the symptoms of these conditions and working to treat them quickly can help ensure they don’t take over your life for too long when they strike.

You can look for things like chronic uveitis treatments to make sure that you’re consistently keeping it back. Otherwise, these conditions can start to become a very common and prevalent part of your life.

Manage Stress

Living with an autoimmune condition, managing your medication, and avoiding risks can take its mental toll. It should be no surprise that people with autoimmune conditions tend to experience stress more often.

To make sure the mental toll isn’t getting to you, it might be worth talking to a therapist or a counselor and learning some techniques to help you manage stress, such as meditation, breathing exercises, and so on.

Sincere stress also causes flare-ups of autoimmune disorder responses, you should be mindful and try to control it as best as possible.

Ensure a Good Night’s Sleep

Another essential part of keeping your stress levels low and preventing frequent flare-ups of your autoimmune condition is to make sure that you sleep for at least seven hours a night. Make sure you have a scheduled bedtime routine and avoid things that would keep you up at night, like keeping your eyes on a screen or eating before bed.

In Conclusion

If you’re looking to make any changes to your lifestyle that can affect your health, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor first. The tips above are just recommendations, but you should always keep your health care provider in the loop.


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