Healthy Lifestyle Strategies for People with MS

By Connie Brichford

Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD

Exercise at least two to three times a week, eat a well-balanced diet, and get plenty of good quality sleep. That advice holds true for everyone — but it is particularly important for the more than 400,000 Americans living with multiple sclerosis, according to the National MS Society.

And Tanuja Chitnis, MD, assistant professor of neurology and director of the Partners Pediatric MS Center at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children, agrees. She recommends that everyone living with MS adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Multiple sclerosis, she explains, is an autoimmune disease, which means that the immune system — the part of your body that wards off outside assaults such as infection by bacteria — begins to attack its own tissues. A healthy lifestyle is key to helping the immune system function in an optimal way.

Living with MS: Tips for Maintaining A Healthy Lifestyle

Following the general good-health guidelines outlined below can help people living with MS not only to manage their multiple sclerosis more successfully, but also to live a better life overall. Key points include the following:

Protect yourself against infection. Because infections can trigger flares of MS symptoms, it’s a good idea to take measures to make yourself less susceptible to wayward germs. To begin, minimize time spent with people who are sick. If you work with the public or ride public transportation, washing your hands frequently will help minimize the number of potentially harmful substances that you are exposed to. Take extra care of yourself during cold and flu season and talk to your doctor about getting vaccinated against common infections, such as influenza (the flu). Finally, UTIs, or urinary tract (bladder) infections, can also trigger MS flares, according to Chitnis. A study by researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute found that cranberry juice has properties that help prevent bacteria from attaching to cells in the urinary tract. Making cranberry juice a regular part of your diet is a simple way that you can help combat UTIs.

Exercise Regularly. Dr. Chitnis says she recommends that people with multiple sclerosis do two to three exercise sessions a week. But before you start any exercise program, you should check with your doctor, she adds. For people living with MS, exercise has definite benefits, but there are also a few considerations to keep in mind as you work out. One of the most important: avoiding overheating. “While overheating does not appear to do permanent damage, it does make symptoms temporarily worse for people living with MS,” says Chitnis.

Weight-bearing exercise is a good way to strengthen bones and protect against osteoporosis, a bone-thinning disease that is more common in people living with MS. Weight-bearing exercises might include aerobics, running, dancing, and stair climbing. To prevent overheating, take frequent breaks and pay attention to how your body feels, especially when doing high-intensity exercises.

Eat a healthy diet. We’ve all been told to eat more fruits and vegetables, go easy on the caffeine and alcohol, and add whole grains to our diet. This is also true for people living with MS. A diet rich in vitamins and other nutrients helps ward off illness and keeps energy levels high. And people living with MS may have other issues to contend with, such as bladder and bowel problems, which are affected by the foods they eat. Read more about the effect of diet on multiple sclerosis.

Stay emotionally healthy. Evidence suggests that stress can trigger an MS flare, and this idea is confirmed anecdotally by many people living with MS. Rick Sommers, a social worker who specializes in helping people with chronic illnesses, was diagnosed with MS in 1994. Being stuck in traffic or having a rough day at work is not the kind of stress that triggers flares, he says. It’s the more long-term stressors, such as anxiety about the economic downturn, that seem to hit his patients harder than the average person, he adds. Sommers notes that because living with MS and other chronic illnesses means living with constant uncertainty, finding some stress-reducing techniques, be it acupuncture or yoga or music, to help you cope in a positive way is an important part of staying healthy.

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