Immunity- What Are You Letting In?

When we think about immunity, we usually think about what we can do to strengthen the body.

Eat well.Sleep enough.Move your body.Get outside.Take your vitamins.Take care of yourself.

And yes, all of these things matter.

But immunity is about more than what we put into our bodies.

At its most basic level, the immune system is a system of recognition and protection. It is constantly taking in information, distinguishing between what belongs and what doesn't, and deciding how to respond.

Remember…we don’t alway consume food.

We consume information.We consume emotions.We consume conversations.We consume relationships.We consume news.We consume fear.We consume beliefs.

And unlike food, we don't always recognize these things as something we are consuming.

But our bodies are paying attention.

The conversation between your mind and body

We often talk about the mind and body as if they are two separate things.

We say, "It's all in your head," as though something happening in the mind somehow isn't happening in the body.

But biologically, the two are in constant conversation.

When we perceive a threat, whether that threat is physical or psychological, the brain activates the body's stress response. The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system respond by releasing chemical messengers such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline.

And these signals don't simply stay in the brain.

They travel throughout the body, communicating with different systems, including the immune system.

Immune cells have receptors for many of these signaling molecules. This means that the way we perceive and respond to our environment can influence immune activity.

This doesn't mean that one negative thought suddenly makes us sick.

It's much more subtle than that.

The concern is what happens when the body is repeatedly receiving the message that something is wrong.

Because our bodies are designed to respond to stress.

They are not necessarily designed to live in a constant state of it.

When the body doesn't get the message that it's safe

Think about what happens when you're faced with an immediate threat.

Your heart rate increases.

Your breathing changes.

Your muscles become ready for action.

Your attention narrows.

Your body temporarily shifts its resources toward survival.

This is an incredibly intelligent response.

If you're being chased by a bear, your body doesn't need to be thinking about digestion or long term cellular maintenance.

It needs to get you out of danger.

The problem comes when the bear never seems to leave.

Except in modern life, the bear may not be an actual bear.

It might be an overflowing inbox.

Financial stress.

Relationship conflict.

Constant notifications.

Disturbing news.

Social media.

Work pressure.

Uncertainty about the future.

Or even the thoughts we repeatedly have about ourselves and our lives.

The body doesn't always know the difference between something happening in the outside world and something we are continually perceiving as a threat.

And when that stress response is activated again and again, the biology begins to change.

Chronic psychological stress can alter the normal regulation of cortisol and other stress signals. Over time, immune cells can become less responsive to cortisol's anti inflammatory effects, a phenomenon known as glucocorticoid resistance.

This matters because inflammation itself isn't the enemy.

We need inflammation.

It's part of how the body responds to infection, repairs tissue and protects us from harm.

But inflammation that remains elevated for too long is different.

Chronic stress has been associated with changes in inflammatory signaling, including increased activity involving NF kappa B and inflammatory cytokines such as IL 6 and TNF alpha.

So perhaps it isn't quite accurate to say that stress simply "weakens" the immune system.

Stress can disrupt the balance of the immune response.

And balance is everything.

What happens at the cellular level?

This is where the conversation gets even more interesting.

Because if our thoughts and experiences can influence the nervous system, and the nervous system can communicate with the immune system, what does that actually mean for our cells?

Our cells are not isolated little machines working independently.

They are constantly receiving information.

From hormones.From nutrients.From the nervous system.From neighboring cells.From inflammation.From their surrounding environment.

And those signals can influence what cells do.

They can influence how immune cells communicate, how they move, how they activate and how they produce inflammatory molecules.

In other words, the environment surrounding a cell matters.

This is one of the ideas that made the work of Bruce Lipton so interesting to so many people.

In The Biology of Belief, Lipton explored the idea that cells are responsive to their environment and that our biology is influenced by the signals surrounding us, rather than our genes acting as a completely fixed blueprint.

There is an important distinction here.

So, cells responding to their environment is very much part of modern biology.

Cells receive signals.

They interpret those signals.

And those signals can influence cellular behavior and gene expression.

That gives us a more grounded way of thinking about the mind body connection.

Our thoughts don't simply float around in our heads with no physical consequence.

When the brain interprets something as threatening, it can initiate a cascade of biological signals.

Hormones change.

The nervous system responds.

Immune cells receive those signals.

Inflammatory pathways can be affected.

And over time, repeated signals can influence the cellular environment.

This is where the invisible becomes physical.

A thought is not a toxin.

A difficult emotion is not a disease.

But our ongoing perception of the world can influence the signals our body is receiving.

And if those signals are repeated often enough, they can become part of the environment in which our cells are living.

The invisible diet

And this brings us back to the idea of diet.

We're becoming increasingly conscious of our physical diet.

We think about protein, sugar, fiber, vitamins, minerals and processed foods.

We understand that what we consume becomes part of the environment our cells live in.

But what about everything else we consume?

What are you reading first thing in the morning?

What are you watching before bed?

What conversations are you repeatedly having?

What fears are being reinforced?

What stories about the world are you consuming every day?

What beliefs about yourself do you rehearse over and over again?

This is what I think of as the invisible diet.

And just like our physical diet, our invisible diet can become habitual.

We can become accustomed to checking the news before we've even gotten out of bed.

We can scroll through other people's lives and compare them to our own.

We can repeatedly expose ourselves to conflict, outrage and fear.

We can listen to the same negative story about ourselves until it starts to feel like a fact.

And the more familiar something becomes, the easier it can be for the nervous system to accept it as normal.

This is not an argument for avoiding everything negative.

We cannot protect ourselves from every difficult thought, emotion or experience.

And we shouldn't try to.

Fear is part of being human.

Stress is sometimes necessary.

Grief is part of life.

Anger can tell us something important.

Difficult emotions don't need to be eliminated.

They need to be felt, understood and moved through.

The goal isn't to become permanently positive.

The goal is to become more regulated.

To notice when the nervous system is responding to a perceived threat.

To recognize when we are carrying stress that no longer belongs to the moment we're actually in.

To create opportunities for the body to return to a sense of safety.

And perhaps most importantly, to become more discerning about what we repeatedly give our attention to.

Immunity is about discernment

There is something beautiful about the way the immune system works.

A healthy immune system doesn't attack everything it encounters.

It distinguishes.

It recognizes.

It responds.

It remembers.

It knows that not everything requires the same response.

Perhaps we can learn something from that.

Because not every thought deserves to be believed.

Not every fear deserves our attention.

Not every opinion deserves residence in our minds.

Not every story needs to become part of our identity.

And not every piece of information deserves access to our nervous system.

This doesn't mean we can control everything that happens to us.

We can't control the news.

We can't control other people's behavior.

We can't control every stressful event.

We can't control every thought that enters our minds.

But we can become more conscious of what we repeatedly invite in.

We can decide when to step away.

We can put the phone down.

We can change the conversation.

We can question a belief we've been carrying for years.

We can spend time outside.

We can breathe.

We can sleep.

We can sit in silence.

We can spend time with people who make us feel grounded and connected.

These things may seem simple.

But simple doesn't mean insignificant.

Sometimes the most supportive thing we can do for the nervous system is give it an experience that says:

You are safe right now.

Becoming wiser at the gate

So yes, eat well.

Sleep.

Move your body.

Get outside.

Support your physical health.

Take care of the body you've been given.

But perhaps also pay attention to what your nervous system is consuming.

Because the body and mind aren't separate systems operating independently.

They are in constant conversation.

And maybe one of the most interesting questions we can ask about immunity isn't simply:

"What am I putting into my body?"

But:

"What am I allowing to become part of my internal environment?"

What are you repeatedly watching?

What are you repeatedly listening to?

What are you repeatedly thinking?

What are you repeatedly telling yourself?

What are you allowing to become familiar?

Because what we repeatedly experience, perceive and respond to can influence the chemical signals moving through our bodies.

And those signals can influence what our cells do.

Maybe immunity isn't only about building a stronger body.

Maybe it's also about becoming more aware of what we're allowing through the gate.

What are you letting in?

Sources: Current Directions in Stress and Human Immune Function · Stress circuitry: mechanisms behind nervous and immune system communication that influence behavior · Chronic stress, glucocorticoid receptor resistance, inflammation, and disease risk · Neuroendocrine Interactions in the Immune System · The Biology of Belief by Bruce H. Lipton