(WYTV) – Right now, students are heading back to school or have already started and before we know it it’ll be fall and then winter.

With that comes dreaded sickness, so now’s a good time to instill some habits that will help bolster your immune system.

“It’s hard to avoid it. We all go through it,” said Dr. Alex Miksit, a pediatrician at Akron Children’s.

Back to school means leaving our smaller summer social circles, getting around more people, and being exposed to more germs.

“So we really try to encourage as much as you possibly can, washing your hands, especially when you get home from school day, just getting off all of the germs from the day, making sure we start the nighttime with a clean slate especially before eating,” said Dr. Miksit.

Dr. Miksit says a lot of what you eat matters as well.

“We recommend that you try to get the best diet you can green leafy vegetables, fruits, nuts. If you’re not allergic to it. Anything you can do to eat a nice, well balanced diet will go a long way,” said Dr. Miksit.

Try to avoid touching your face as well.

“I’m a face toucher myself. It’s it’s a hard habit to break personally and for the kids, which is another reason why the clean hands are so important. If we can’t always keep our hands out of our face, at least we can keep them clean,” said Dr. Miksit.

According to Dr. Miksit, how you wash your hands and what you use to do it matters.

“I hate having my own household as well as seeing is the stomach flu and stomach flu doesn’t always come off your hands with hand sanitizer. Truly, soap and water is the most potent thing you can do,” said Dr. Miksit.

And don’t forget to get some exercise and enough sleep.

“I mean, if you don’t get enough sleep, you’re going to stress out the body anytime. You’re just stressed. You’re more susceptible to any type of infection,” said Dr. Miksit.

Dr. Miksit says his family makes it point to go for a walk or play outside a little after dinner because it works for their schedule.

“If you don’t get too active, it’s just it’s hard to stay healthy when you don’t stay active and even 15, 20, 30 minutes of play every day can make a huge difference in your day to day health,” said Dr. Miksit.

As we get closer to Fall Dr. Miksit understands its a rough time for illness because kids inevitably get sick. But if you follow his advice, it should help build up some immunity.