For most people, having to undergo surgery means a long road of rest and recovery until they’re able to get back to full health and mobility. However, if you don’t take the time to rest and recover the way you should, your health and overall lifestyle could take a dramatic hit. So to help ensure that you’re able to effectively meet that challenge and get back to your normal self as quickly as you can, here are three tips to help with a speedy recovery from surgery.

Follow Your Doctor’s Advice

Following your surgery, your doctor will likely give you a lot of advice and counsel on what medicine to take, what to avoid, and how to care for your incisions. And to ensure that you’re taking the best care of yourself, it’s going to be a good idea to follow these directions strictly. According to Kara Mayer Robinson, a contributor to WebMD, trying to do too much too soon, not doing your exercises, and not taking your medications how you should could all make your recovery longer and harder. So if your doctor tells you to do or not do something, you should probably do as he or she says.

Fuel Your Body Correctly

To heal quickly and give your body the energy it needs to fight off infection, it’s important that you’re careful with what you eat while you’re recovering from surgery. But according to Jennifer Whitlock, a contributor to Very Well, eating well after surgery can be hard if you’re feeling sick, constipated, or simply not hungry. Regardless of this, it’s vital to your health and wellness that you eat foods that will help you heal. This should include eating plenty of fruits and veggies and lots of fiber and protein.

Stop Drinking

One habit that many people have and indulge in but that could be very harmful when recovering from surgery is drinking alcohol. According to Jeff Hayward, a contributor to ActiveBeat.com, it’s been found that those who continued to drink a few times a week as they were recovering from surgery tended to have more problems with their recovery. Their wounds wouldn’t heal as fast and they were more likely to develop infections than those who chose not to drink until they were fully healed. So if you usually have a few drinks a week, you may want to prepare yourself to cut back following your surgery so you can give yourself the best chance to heal properly.

If you have an upcoming surgery you’ll be undergoing, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you recover quickly and healthily from your operation. By following the guidance given above, you should be able to heal your body in no time.