Health

6 Healthy living tips for people living with HIV

When living with HIV, it is more advisable to protect your immune system to keep your entire health well. It is much better to equip yourself to fight off different infections including viruses by keeping your body as healthy as possible.

Individuals living with sexually transmitted infections need to incorporate the below healthy living tips into their lifestyle.

  1. Exercise body and mind

Physical and psychological exercises can keep your body and mind strong. Constant physical exercises like swimming, biking, walking, running, and other physical activity you enjoy keep you physically fit away from stress and depression in check.

Mental exercises like playing brain-challenging games and doing a crossword pule daily can help you maintain good cognitive health. Exercising attention, concentration, and memory all of which can be affected by HIV is important for your psychological well-being.

  1. Avoid sharp injuries.

Submission to HIV in the home or workplace is a major bother to health care providers. It’s a great risk for bloodborne pathogen spread as it is linked with percutaneous severe injuries involving knives, needles, blades, or any other sharp object contaminated with a patient’s blood stains.

Research revealed that people with HIV infections tend to stay longer than usual with their injuries as compared to normal individuals. The source of this research is not yet confirmed.

  1. Follow your doctor’s advice about your prescription

It is important to take your HIV prescription the right way as prescribed by the doctor. Being a non-compliant or skipping a day of medication can give room to the virus to become resistant to the prescribed drugs making the medication ineffective to the virus.

Take your prescriptions at the same time every day and have your medication when you’re away from home, you don’t have to miss a dose.

  1. Get tested for other STDs

If you have HIV, there are possibilities that you have other STD infections and it’s highly advisable to get a STD test for other infections. When the other STDs are not detected at an early stage, they can worsen HIV. This could interfere with your immune system and make the disease progress more rapid.

HIV can make other STD infections more difficult to treat and you’ll want to treat STDs at an early stage. Without testing for other STDs, you might not realize you have them unless you go for STD testing.

  1. Prevent illness and infections

Since HIV weakens your immune system making it less effective, you become more subjected to any germ, virus, or bacteria you are exposed to. To stay safe from these infections and diseases, stay away from sick people and frequently wash your hands to stay as healthy as possible.

Make sure you are well updated on your vaccinations to reduce the risk of preventable illness and infections.

  1. Manage your psychological and physical health

Depression is common amongst individuals with HIV and stress accompanied by having the virus could worsen depression symptoms. Additionally, both depression and stress can worsen the physical status associated with HIV.

Keeping pain, stress, and depression in control can help improve your emotional and physical health making HIV life easier. When experiencing depression while taking HIV medications kindly visit a mental health professional for advice and be certain to mention that you’re taking HIV medications.

Other Healthy Living Tips

  • Quit smoking
  • Avoid drug and alcohol abuse
  • Practice safe sex
  • Take a properly balanced diet.

Final Touch

The key to a healthy lifestyle for people living with HIV is under their control. Fuel your physicality with a nutritious, healthy, and balanced diet, and recharge yourself with enough sleep. Treat yourself right to enable your body to defend against infections and illnesses threatening your health. Live a healthy lifestyle.

 

 

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