If you find you've been getting colds and sore throats more often than normal over the last few months, it could be time to take control of your immune system and give your body a fighting chance.

With such a cold winter behind us and spring not looking much warmer yet, it's so important to fuel your body and to boost your immune system naturally.

Here are a few easy ways to better protect your body…

1. Eat clean
Greasy, fatty foods work against your body's production of white blood cells, so try to eat cleanly and healthily with lots of protein to keep your body fighting fit. Avoid sugar where possible – sugary foods are believed to impair immune function.

2. Floss daily!
Keeping your teeth clean and flossed doesn't just help to combat bad breath. The bacteria responsible for gum disease can also cause inflammation in other parts of the body, so it's important to remove them by flossing each evening. Flossing is also believed to help prevent heart disease and cancer and to improve life expectancy. What are you waiting for?!

3. Try acupuncture
Not only can acupuncture help to relax you, it also boosts your body's "natural killer" cells (that really is what they are called!) which work against viruses in the body. Experts recommend an acupuncture session four times each year.

4. Exercise regularly
Getting 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day hugely reduces stress (a key immune weakener) and also enhances metabolic function in the body, strengthens your virus-killing T-cells and improves general immune function.

5. Get some shut-eye
Ever notice that when you're tired and run-down you're more prone to illness? There's a reason for that! Sleep is your body's best friend – getting eight hours a night allows your reparative and growth hormones to really do their work.