20 Tips To Stay Healthy While Living With HIV Virus

Health is wealth, therefore, the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV virus are important.

The truth is, being HIV positive does not hinder you from living a healthy lifestyle.

 With the right treatment and care plus a healthy balanced diet and exercise,  you can live over 50 years with HIV and AIDs.

It is true that several things can get in the way of taking your meds properly  or maintaining a healthy body while living with HIV such as:

  • job concerns
  • depression
  • fear of the medicines
  • laziness
  • taking care of children or other family members
  • forget to take the pills
  • feeling good
  • not refilling on time
  • language barriers
  • hospital stays
  • vacations
  • sleeping a lot
  • no side effects present
  • Saturday and Sunday schedules
  • drinking  alcohol or taking illegal drugs

Among others, which can block you from taking your drugs or living a good life while HIV positive. But with these tips, you should be in a position to live a happy life.  

How To Stay Healthy While Living With HIV Virus

To boost your body’s immune system, you need to follow the tips below to stay stronger and healthy

  1. Starting antiretroviral treatment

Antiretroviral drugs help in boosting your immune system, therefore, enable you to stay healthy and stronger.

You need to start taking the drugs immediately after you are tested positive and this should be part of your life.

The antiretroviral drug only boosts your immune system but does not cure HIV.

Antiretroviral has some side effects on some individuals. If it is you, then you need to consult with your doctor in order to switch to another drug regimen.

Note that the drugs should be taken at a regular time that is, taking the drug at the same time of the day.

For instance, if you take it at 6:30 am as prescribed, then you will take it at that same time every day.

Do not skip doses or take it at a different level of the day. The fact is, the drug will not function effectively and can cause severe health complications.

So, this is the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV

  1. Eat a Healthy balanced diet every day

All that you need is a well-balanced diet whether you have HIV or not.

Nutritious diet help in boosting your immune system, brain health, and general body functions.

Furthermore, a healthy diet help prevents chronic illness such as cancer, diabetes, hepatitis, heart attack, and blood pressure.

It can also prevent and regulates cholesterol level and reduces body inflammation.

Therefore, eating a well-balanced diet is another best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV

Here are 12 tips on the type of foods to eat while living with HIV

  • Eat plenty of fruits and vegetable like carrot, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, berries, and oranges
  • Eat whole grain
  • Include nuts and seeds like peanuts, flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, and cashews
  • Intake of green tea and chamomile tea
  • Drink porridge
  • Eat whole grains like oatmeal, brown rice, and corn
  • Include cinnamon in your diet
  • Eat food rich in omega-3 fatty acids like fatty fish, salmon, walnut, and sardines
  • Eat mushrooms and sweet potatoes
  • Includes spices and ingredients such as garlic, turmeric, onion, chili pepper, and ginger
  • Avoid added sugar foods and drinks
  • Avoid excess salt in your meals

Related: 36 Natural Foods That Boost Immune System Faster

  1. Start regular exercise

Physical inactivity can lead to other chronic illnesses including obesity and overweight.

Exercise makes you fit, healthy, and stronger.

It also improves your body’s immune system and increases serotonin production and blood flow.

Furthermore, exercise improves neurotransmitters in the brain.

The fact is, some people who are living with HIV happen to lose muscle mass and strength.

So, doing regular exercise will help you develop lean body muscles and make you stronger.

In addition, regular exercise help boosts moods and anxiety, stress, and depression.

 It also improves the quality of sleep. Therefore, regular exercise stands as one of the effective tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV

  1. Avoid consumption of alcohol

While exercise increases the production of serotonin, on the other hand, alcohol reduces its production.

Alcohol also reduces blood flow and the body’s immune system. Therefore, alcohol can worsen issues brought on by HIV and its treatments.

Furthermore, alcohol reduces the neurotransmitters in the brain. This can cause other chronic disorders being that it is a depressant.

For you to stay healthy while living with HIV, you need to avoid alcoholic drinks and focus on a well-balanced diet to stay healthy.

  1. Avoid smoking and drug abuse

Use of miraa, cocaine, tobacco, marijuana and illicit drugs such as opiates can affect blood flow reducing the production of serotonin.

This reduces the body’s immune system resulting in heart disease, high blood pressure, hepatitis, stroke, and diabetes.

 Therefore, it is crucial to replace the use of illicit drugs with whole food to stay healthy while living with HIV.

  1. Avoid processed foodstuffs

As you know, processed food and refined flours contain saturated fats, trans fats, and a lot of added sugar.

All these are very harmful and can cause other complications while taking antiretroviral drugs.

For instance, eating processed foods can cause an increase in the risk of developing blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and type 2 diabetes.

Processed food can also lead to heart attack, stroke, and obesity. This can worsen your health conditions despite being HIV positive.

In addition, you can as well avoid artificial food products as they contain a lot of added sugar.

Avoiding processed, refined flour and artificial foodstuffs are the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV.

  1. Practice safe sex by using a condom

This is one of the most important tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV.

Remember doing sex without protection only worsen your health condition instead of improving it.

There are some old myths, that spending with HIV negative person reduces your HIV virus.

This was a big lie; I tell you. Using protection during sex is essential. Infecting others won’t help you anymore, therefore, reduce the risk of infecting others by simply using condoms.

Practicing safe sex protects both your lover and you to fight off other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as well as a chronic diseases.

For this very reason, safe sex by using a condom is one of the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV in your family.

It keeps the family cohesive and worthy to stay longer.

  1. Get quality sleep

Getting enough sleep is important for general health. It helps improves your moods, recovery of muscle, and other body functions.

Insomnia is a major symptom of anxiety that can hinder your immune system.

Good sleep also helps relax the blood vessels and increase blood circulation. Thus, easing issues brought on by HIV and its treatments.

  1. Maintain a healthy body weight

Excess fats in the body can cause unhealthy weight and lipodystrophy caused by unhealthy fats, which is a potential side effect of HIV.

In addition, unhealthy weight gain may result in obesity. By maintaining a healthy weight, can help you reduce the risk of other chronic complications.

A healthy weight (below 25 BMI) also boosts your immune system and enables you to stay healthy and stronger.

So, ensure that you eat a healthy diet and do regular exercise, as these are some of the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV.

  1. Involve in open communication

Involving in open communication can help prevent anxiety, stress, and depression.

All that can affect your immune system, relationship, family, and lifestyle.

The truth is, you can feel fatigued, for example, when you have an intense work schedule, caring responsibilities, or even life stress.

Getting involved in an open conversation with co-workers, friends, family, and neighbors may reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.

  1. Managing anxiety and stress

Anxiety can cause a low immune system. For instance, when you are stressed, the arteries tend to be narrower.

Therefore, restricting blood circulation and potentially slowing down the immune system.

Managing stress and anxiety is important as taking care of yourself while living with any type of disease despite HIV/AIDs.

So, this is one of the best tips on how to stay healthy while living with HIV

Here are 8 tips on how to manage stress and anxiety?

  • Breathing exercises
  • Eating a healthy diet
  • Meditation
  • Creating time for your favorite hobby e.g. playing, dancing, and swimming
  • Having regular exercise either three times a week
  • Creating time for your lover, in order to feel the affection part
  • You can as well talk to a therapist
  • Involve in open communication with co-workers, friends, family, and partners
  1. Get Involved in your hobby

Living with HIV doesn’t limit you from enjoying your hobby.

It might be watching actions, playing football or gaiter, reading novels, swimming or dancing.

Some people feel that when they have been diagnosed with HIV positive then they think like quitting their hobbies.

No, your hobby is very important as they help you reduce anxiety and stress. For instance, when I am stressed up and anxious, I go to the gym to exercise.

After the gym, I feel relieved and stronger. So do not stop from what you like because you are found HIV positive.

  1. Get tested for other STDs

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can result in severe HIV infections such as a massive reduction of the immune system and faster spread of the HIV disease.

This can make the body more susceptible to other chronic illnesses like heart disease, blood pressure, cancer, and diabetes.

Furthermore, HIV on the other hand can harden the treatment of STDs. For that very reason, you need to get tested for STDs before it is late.

     14. Stable Access to HIV Drugs

Stable access to drugs is basic for their compelling use. Individuals can’t remain on a routine in the event that they don’t have steady access to their medications.

While it might sound self-evident, numerous individuals taking HIV prescriptions at times wind up running low on some medication for an assortment of reasons.

This is frequently a direct result of a lack of common sense. Skipping dosages since you’ve run out of medication is as yet skipping your dose, which is not good. Therefore, you need to plan so that you have stable access to your drugs.

Individuals differ in their capacities to cling to their eating habits and this is impacted by their way of life and different variables.

Individuals with wretchedness are likewise bound to experience issues with adherence. In the event that you experience the ill effects of sadness or psychological maladjustment, you need to talk to your emotional well-being physician or doctor.

A word From Tannos Online

In reality, no one but you can conclude whether you’re prepared and submitted enough to keep a consistent course of treatment.

On the off chance that you are not prepared or not in a situation to put forth a genuine attempt at adherence, you might be in an ideal situation postponing treatment.

This doesn’t endanger your capacity to utilize successful treatment later. Conversely, abusing your medications can endanger your future choices by empowering drug obstruction.

This can influence the whole class of HIV treatment.