How to Increase Your Chances of Getting Sick: Seven Habits That Work Against Your Health
Most health advice is written as a list of things you should do. Sometimes it is easier to understand the basics by looking at the opposite question: what habits make it easier for illness and poor recovery to disrupt your life?
There is no lifestyle that can guarantee you will never catch a cold, flu, COVID-19, stomach virus, or another infection. Exposure, age, vaccination status, medical conditions, and plain bad luck all matter. But everyday behaviors can influence sleep, immune function, recovery, and the likelihood of spreading infections from one person to another.
So, if your goal were to make staying well harder, the following habits would be a pretty effective place to start.
1. Consistently Cut Your Sleep Short
Sleep is one of the easiest health basics to sacrifice because the consequences are not always immediate. One short night may simply leave you tired. Repeated short or poor-quality sleep is different.
Sleep supports many parts of normal immune function, along with attention, mood, metabolic health, and physical recovery. Adults generally do best when they consistently allow enough time for sleep rather than trying to “catch up” only on weekends.
If you want to support better sleep, keep a reasonably consistent schedule, create a wind-down period, reduce late-night screen use, and talk with a healthcare professional if you have persistent insomnia, loud snoring with pauses in breathing, or excessive daytime sleepiness.
2. Skip Handwashing When It Matters
Respiratory and gastrointestinal infections can spread when contaminated hands touch the eyes, nose, mouth, food, or shared surfaces.
Plain soap and water remain one of the simplest ways to remove germs. Handwashing is especially important before preparing or eating food, after using the restroom, after coughing or blowing your nose, after caring for someone who is ill, and when hands are visibly dirty.
When soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol is a useful alternative in many situations.
You do not need antibacterial soap for routine household handwashing. Plain soap works by helping loosen oils and material from the skin so germs can be rinsed away.
3. Smoke or Regularly Inhale Tobacco Smoke
Smoking harms far more than the lungs. Tobacco smoke damages respiratory tissues and affects immune function, which can make the body less effective at defending itself against infection and recovering from illness.
Smoking is also associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, and numerous other health problems. There is no chiropractic adjustment, supplement, or wellness routine that can cancel those effects.
If you smoke, quitting is one of the most meaningful health changes you can make. It can be difficult, and evidence-based cessation support, medication, counseling, or a combination can improve the odds of success.
4. Use Heavy Alcohol Intake as a Stress Strategy
Alcohol can affect sleep even when it initially makes a person feel sleepy. Heavy or chronic alcohol use can also impair immune defenses and affect the liver, heart, nervous system, and mental health.
An occasional drink is not the same as heavy alcohol use. The point is that alcohol should not be treated as a health or sleep aid, and using increasing amounts to cope with stress deserves attention.
If you are concerned about your alcohol use or experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop, seek medical guidance rather than attempting an abrupt change without support.
5. Eat as Though Nutrients Do Not Matter
No single food “boosts” the immune system into an invincible state, and a supplement cannot compensate for an overall poor diet.
The body needs adequate energy, protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fluids to perform normal functions. A practical eating pattern emphasizes a variety of vegetables and fruits, protein sources, whole grains or other high-fiber foods, and adequate hydration while limiting the foods and beverages that tend to crowd out more nutritious choices.
People with restrictive diets, gastrointestinal disease, eating disorders, pregnancy, certain medications, or other medical conditions may have specific nutritional needs and should get individualized guidance.
6. Stay Completely Inactive
Physical activity does not create a force field against infection, but regular movement supports cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, and overall health.
For adults, public-health guidance encourages moving more and sitting less, with a weekly goal that generally includes at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity plus muscle-strengthening activity on two days. People who are currently inactive do not need to jump straight to the full target. Some activity is better than none, and gradual progression is usually more sustainable.
Walking, cycling, swimming, strength training, recreational sports, and yard work can all count depending on intensity.
If pain is what keeps you sedentary, the answer is not always to “push through.” An assessment can help determine whether a joint, muscle, neurological, or movement problem is limiting activity and what a safe return might look like.
7. Ignore Stress Until It Controls Your Routine
Stress is a normal part of life and not something that can or should be eliminated. The problem is when chronic stress consistently disrupts sleep, physical activity, eating, relationships, or other health behaviors.
Stress management does not have to mean a perfect meditation routine. It may mean walking, spending time outside, setting clearer work boundaries, maintaining social connection, limiting doomscrolling, or speaking with a mental-health professional when anxiety, depression, or overwhelm is affecting daily life.
Mental health is health. Persistent symptoms deserve evidence-based care just as physical symptoms do.
What About Chiropractic and the Immune System?
Older wellness messaging sometimes suggested that spinal adjustments directly “boost” immunity or prevent colds and flu. Current evidence does not support presenting chiropractic care as a treatment for infectious disease or as a replacement for vaccination, hygiene, medical care, sleep, and other established health measures.
Homberg Chiropractic's role is different. We help patients address musculoskeletal problems that may interfere with movement, exercise, sleep, and daily function. If neck, back, or joint pain is keeping you from being active or sleeping comfortably, improving that physical problem can support a healthier routine—but that is not the same as claiming an adjustment prevents infection.
Prevention Still Includes Medical Care
Vaccination is an important tool for preventing or reducing the severity of certain infectious diseases. Appropriate screening, management of chronic conditions, and timely medical care matter too.
If you develop high fever, trouble breathing, dehydration, confusion, severe weakness, persistent chest pain, or another concerning symptom, seek appropriate medical care. Do not rely on a wellness routine when an acute illness requires evaluation.
At Homberg Chiropractic & Wellness in Knoxville, our focus is functional restoration. When musculoskeletal pain or restricted movement is making it difficult to sleep, exercise, work, or take part in the routines that support your health, we can evaluate the physical factors involved and determine whether conservative care is appropriate.
Medical Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, vaccination guidance, diagnosis, or treatment from a qualified healthcare professional.