We cannot focus on "Your Immunity" for a month and not cover the fast-moving plague of autoimmunity. Conventional medicine (CM) can no longer ignore the clear and obvious connection between high stress, physical and psychological trauma, and the rise of autoimmune diseases.
We now have research that provides us with natural stress reducing solutions, that allow the nervous system to re-align with your bodies innate drive for homeostasis, or balanced homeodynamics, because the body is never in a state of inactivity. Let us go through step by step, what happens when we experience a stressful event. Something happens, your body immediately needs sugar, so it releases glucose from the liver, and your blood flow diverts from your digestive system (not needed in an emergency) to your arms and legs (you need it to fight, flee or freeze).
Your bronchi and lungs open up to allow more oxygen as energy requirements increase.
Energy from your immune and reproductive systems is also rerouted to deal with the imminent crisis, and your stress hormones go into overdrive, in an effort to get all the resources to action stations!
Then to your brain!
During an emergency, there is zero need for certain parts of the brain.
You don't need your learning, memory, or decision-making centres, but what you need is reptilian instinctive engagement.
It doesn't matter whether you're running from a bear or angry in traffic, this ancient sympathetic fight or flight nervous system will run full throttle.
So if you feel stress every day, be it in huge hits or hundreds of micro-experiences, how can you expect not to develop serious health conditions?
Let's recap: Throughout my day, I am stressed at most things. My brain can't engage in intellect, I am constantly glucose starved, my digestion is barely engaged, my heart and lungs have a higher demand for oxygen, so my breathing is all over the place, I have no energy going towards my reproductive system, and to top it all off, my immune system is running on empty. How obvious is it now that I'm almost guaranteed to get sick? And for most people, this sickness is immune based, as the immune system is so confused and out of balance, and actually begins to attack my own healthy tissues. This is seriously bad news. How does Conventional Medicine tackle this issue? A classic example would be that you are told "it's all in your head." CM is outdated and does not understand well enough that our thoughts affect our physical body, and that affects our mental state. For this reason, stress is a crucial factor in immune health and the cause of autoimmunity. The pathway to balancing your immune system begins with a step to understanding the pathology of stress and its effects on the physical body. When you understand how your stress levels (conscious or unconscious) are causing certain symptoms, you can begin to put awareness on those stressful thoughts, feelings and behaviours. From there, you can slowly become more aware of those stressors, and do your best to reduce and eliminate them. Smile, breathe and choose joy.
Simon Brazier. Dip HN, NNCP
simon@truehope.com
