If you never get sick, please tell me your secret!

[Zoraflora]

Im 45 year old female non smoker, rarely drink, stone overweight, eat mostly healthy diet, takeaway once a fortnight and sweets / dessert probably about 4 days per week.

Get enough sleep, exercise about 3 times per week, no major stress in my life.

Im clean, my home is clean. Practice hand hygiene etc

I seem to get sick a lot (not tummy bugs) Ive had flu, covid and a couple of head colds since last Christmas. Why, what am I doing wrong?

My husband on the other hand never gets sick despite eating similar to me & never takes vitamins.

Is it just down to an individuals immune system or is there anything I can do to stop getting ill so often.

Able to continue WFH long after the pandemic. Never get colds because I never see anyone and wash hands after visiting the supermarket etc, but it's such a high price to pay :(

I think a lot of it is luck. I eat a lot more sugar than you do, maybe it is preserving my insides. Do you go out to work, and mix with lots of germs? My immune system was rubbish after lockdown, it took a while for it to build back up.

My kids don't get loads of colds any more, they did at nursery but now they don't seem to bring much home.

My house isn't particularly clean, we had to cancel our cleaner because of building work and noone has really done much since, and I probably don't wash my hands as much as I should. I also don't do any exercise.

I am never ever sick.

47, vegetarian non drinker non smoker, exercise 4 times a week. Almost vegan.

I fast from dinner to 12 or 1 the following day. 5 foot 9 and just over 9 stone. Very active and walk a lot even th bough I work in an office.

I take a cacophony of vitamins which some people scoff at but I swear they hold me together! My husband is the same.

As well as the vitamins I drink a green powder every day in a green smoothie with flaxseed and lots of other healthy goodness (turmeric, spinach etc)

I also drink 1000 mg of vitamin c every day without fail.

My sleep isn't great but I think everything else makes me bionic 🤪 oh and I never had COVID either.

I think it is luck of the draw. I never get sick (rushes round touching wood) I’m overweight, drink too much, play fast and loose with best before dates. Travel regularly to different cities for work so lots of exposure. I do take vitamin D. Couldn’t tell you the last time I had a cold and the last time I was poorly requiring medication was a UTI about 5 years ago.

It's mainly genetics, some people are more resilient than others.

Thats interesting @ElectricMagpie Im starting to think my job may be a factor. Windowless, air conditioned building, customer facing role…..

I’ve worked on a supermarket checkout for several years and haven’t had as much as a sniffle in years. Maybe my working environment has given me a strong immune system?

Mostly luck. I'm rarely sick (not had a day off sick from work in 12 years) and I don't do anything greatly different to what you've outlined. It's not for lack of exposure as I work in a hospital!

Who knows, I could end up developing a life-limiting condition tomorrow...

I’m exactly like you - eat well, v low sugar, but I’ve been hit by an awful cold this year that caused me to lose my hearing in one ear for 3 weeks, followed by pneumonia this summer. I was absolutely baffled. DH also never gets sick. We have 4 young kids so I have put it down to struggling to fit in exercise. Discussed it with a friend last week and she said she goes open water swimming and NEVER gets sick. If I didn’t always have small children round my ankles I would try that!

Do you have children?
I am never sick until I am visiting family with kids.
If so you maybe have more close interaction than you husband.

Another thing might be you are over clean. Exposure to bugs strengthens your immune system. I also don't take vitamins. I am not convinced they are good for you.

Air conditioning and enclosed spaces definitely seem to make colds and other airborne viruses more likely. I don’t get colds generally but often do if I’ve been on a long flight.

I think it's fairly obvious that if you work in an air-conditioned environment with no fresh air and lots of people coming through then you are going to be exposed to a lot more germs and therefore get ill more

No vitamin is going to save you

I don't touch door handles or hand rails with bare hands in public places.

It’s just luck, I am 50, v overweight, crap diet, loads of stress, travel constantly, eat on the run, not a great one for cleaning.

I have been dramatically hospitalised a couple times, but day to day I never get ill. Can’t remember the last time I had a sick day or a cold.

It will catch up with me I’m sure..

Almost never sick. 40. Currently single. Live alone and keep a clean house. Eat fresh food that I've made myself. Exercise about 4/5 times a week. Probably drink too much alcohol but otherwise not much sugar. Very careful about hand hygiene on my in office days (it's gross) but also attend yoga where people are heavy breathing all over the place.
I think it's lucky genetics? All of the above circumstances have been borderline opposite in times gone by and I still wasn't ever sick much. I had a mild cold a year ago after basically spending an evening in a glorified mosh pit for a concert, that's been it, fortunately.

Why are you baffled when you have 4 young children?

If you are exposed to a virus you've not had before (which you are much more likely to with children) you will get sick. Eating low sugar and vegetables won't prevent you getting ill. It may help, but its hardly baffling.

I work in exactly this environment and also run a lot of events where I mingle with huge groups of people. Still never sick.

I have a weird immune system!

3 autoimmune conditions but rarely get colds. Maybe one a year. Went four years without one at one point. I had COVID for the first time in May this year despite working in a hospital throughout - not on the respiratory wards but still must have been exposed many times!

I do take vitamin C and D. Don't always remember to take them regularly but if I ever feel a bit sneezy, or know I've been around someone who has been coughing and sniffing (ugh!) I do, also zinc lozenges.

I used to eat mud as a child. I hardly ever pick up bugs and viruses and I don't live a very healthy lifestyle. Might not work for everyone though!

I don't have children.

Anyone who has children/works with children can honestly expect to catch everything going however careful they are.

High strength vitamin c.

Outdoors between 4-6 hours a day minimum in winter, more in summer. Outdoors in the countryside or woods, forest or beaches. I live rurally and not far from the sea.

I mostly avoid towns and cities.

Mostly shop when children of a school age are at school or at an unsociable time for children.

Genetics and luck

I suspect genetics. My mother said as a child that I was "never sick". I was formula fed & am lapse with hygiene. She got told off for never taking me to doctor when I was about 15, first time in 10 years. She shrugged and said, "But why would I?"

I am susceptible to noro when it's around. <shudder> yet I have an iron stomach for food that might be past date.

Just luck I think. I'm similar to you in lifestyle and I've had half a day off work sick in the past 18 years (plus a few days when we still had to isolate for covid - but I felt fine, just a cough and a positive test).

I sleep with the window open, no matter what temperature it is outside. Supposedly great for the immune system. Perhaps it’s true, I never get sick and I’m not especially health conscious otherwise.