Strategies to Support Immunity This Winter 🛡️

⛽️ Are you eating enough?

Under fuelling remains a key driver for immune disturbances. Mirroring intake to training load and eating more when you train more is a primary method of illness prevention. Research shows that consuming sufficient amounts of carbohydrates, in particular, plays a key role in maintaining immune function.

🔁 Prioritise recovery

Studies have found that carbohydrate intake after training helps reduce exercise-induced immune suppression and supports faster recovery. This is one of the simplest ways to keep your immune system firing and stay available to train.

😴 Not getting enough sleep can lower immune function.

This extends to both sleep duration and sleep efficiency. It’s not just about how long you sleep, but how well! Uninterrupted, good-quality sleep is key to a resilient immune system. Keep in mind caffeine can significantly negatively impact both!

🦠 Gut health is a HUGE contributor to our overall health and wellbeing, including our resistance to and tolerance of illness. DYK 70% of our immune cells are in our gut? A diet rich in plants and fibre decreases the risk of illness.

💦 Hydration is important in keeping our nasal passages and airways strong and robust, protecting against catching bacteria and viruses. This is particularly important in team environments, crowds and during airline travel.

🧠 Our mental health and wellbeing plays a significant role in our immunity. This, in turn, can be impacted by our nutrition via optimal fuelling, gut health and hydration.

☀️ Optimal vitamin D levels play an important role in modulating our immune system. Winter is often a time of limited sun exposure, so maintaining safe sun exposure recommendations for your geographical location is important during the winter months or when your athlete spends a significant amount of time indoors at school or playing sports.

🥩 Zinc, 🍊 Vitamin C and 🦠 Probiotics are demonstrating some benefits in adult athletes to help tolerate sickness better. A food-first approach is always emphasised, and specific supplementation recommendations are yet to be researched for teenage athletes.

📌 If this topic’s hitting home right now, this is exactly the kind of support I offer inside Fuel School.

We’ve covered Performance Nutrition for Illness & Immunity, Gut Health for Teen Athletes, and so much more, all tailored specifically for busy families with sport-loving teens.

Inside the membership, you’ll get access to these masterclasses, plus full access to my step-by-step performance nutrition course, and practical tools to help your athlete stay fuelled, healthy, and consistent, even through winter.

👉 Curious? Click here to find out more about joining Fuel School.

Let’s keep your athlete healthy, training, and ready to perform — all winter long.

Ali 🥇🫶

P.S. Want to know if your athlete is actually eating enough to support their immune system, stay well, and avoid illness this season? Start by watching my free fuelling session. It’s the information every teen athlete and sports parent deserves to know.

The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne

Winter health tips + seasonal safety advice

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Cold and flu season is here

We're about to enter the chilliest months of the year and with them come some extra challenges for parents and caregivers. We've pulled together some resources to share with your network to help get through the worst of it.

Learn more about Kids Health Info

Seasonal information for your school community

The cold weather has truly set in. Help your community seek the information they need by sharing these timely resources:

Viral illnesses

Cough

What are families curious about this month?

Here's a selection of the most popular Kids Health Info fact sheets over the past month. Take a look to see if any might interest your community:

Head injury - general advice

Penis and foreskin care

Make sure you follow us on Facebook and Instagram to see our latest posts.

Here are a few pieces you might like to share with your community.

Mouthguards 101

With winter sports season well underway, this short guide helps parents and caregivers assess if their child might need a mouthguard, as well as the different types available.

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Dr Margie's guide to RSV

Dr Margie answers questions from families in our online community about treating RSV at home, when to seek medical care, and reinfection with the virus.

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Wild mushroom warning

With wild mushrooms popping up around Victoria, use these tips to help kids avoid touching, playing with or eating wild mushrooms this Winter.

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Updates from the National Child Health Poll

We recently surveyed Australian parents to better understand their intention to vaccinate.

Here's what we found:

One in six children (17%) will not be vaccinated against flu this year and parents are unsure about vaccinating nearly a quarter of children (22%).
A third of parents (36%) are not aware that healthy children can get seriously unwell from the flu.
Among parents not intending to vaccinate against the flu, almost three in four (71%) are not aware the flu vaccine is recommended every year.
Most parents who plan to have their child vaccinated against flu would prefer the vaccine was available at school (84%).
One in four children 4 years or more (27%) have an intense fear of needles and 13% have a phobia severe enough to stop them getting the flu vaccine.

Here is the advice we want to share with Australian parents:

The seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine is recommended annually for all babies and children from six months of age. In Australia, it is provided free of charge to all children aged six months to under five years. The 2025 seasonal flu vaccine became available for children in Australia in April this year.

You can share the full updated Kids Health Info fact sheets on flu and vaccination with your community:

Influenza (the flu)

Influenza (flu) vaccine

We’ve also produced some short and useful social media resources that help to explain why annual vaccination is important for children, and how families can prepare their children for a vaccination.

Navigating needle phobia

Nurse Practitioner Lynne shares her top tips to help needle phobic kids have a positive and successful vaccination experience.

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Your family's flu questions answered.

Swipe through for responses to our frequently asked questions about flu and the flu vaccine - from where to get vaccinated to why it is required every year.

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Part 2 of our Winter Wellness podcast season

Part two of our Winter Wellness podcast season is now available to help families build their knowledge around some of the recurring winter illnesses, including useful tips on what to do when gastro strikes your home!

Our next season will focus on those tricky teen years with advice for parents on how to have conversations with their teens. Covering challenging topics from sex, substance use and body image through to skin health and more.

The next season will be out at the end of July. Subscribe to Kids Health Info on your favourite streaming platform to make sure you don't miss it!

Listen to the new episodes of the Kids Health Info podcast

Arlene Lawrence

School Nurse/Wellbeing

School Captains