Activate the Immune Boosting Side of your Nervous System – Video

How to activate the immune-boosting side of your nervous system

There’s a part of your nervous system, called the autonomic nervous system which has 2 parts:

1. The sympathetic nervous system
2. The parasympathetic nervous system

Fight or Flight response

You may remember a little about the sympathetic nervous system from high school science class. It’s also known as the “fight or flight” response. It’s the part of your nervous system that perceives threats, either physical or emotional, and responds by getting you charged up.

Your blood pressure increases, the blood flow to your muscles, lungs, and heart also increase.

Stress hormones are ramped up and glucose is released for quick energy use.

That’s what ramps up, but what is down-regulated?

Blood flow decreases to your digestive and reproductive organs. We don’t want to spend energy digesting which could slow us down and we don’t really care about “how we feel” when we’re under a threat.

The body is designed to move fast, be stronger, and get us out of the dangerous situation.

It’s an amazing survival response but one you’re not designed to be in often.

The opposite response – rest, digest, repair, regenerate

Then there’s the parasympathetic nervous system. It carries out the opposite functions of rest, digest, repair, regenerate, detoxify – all the house cleaning functions.

It is when you are in a parasympathetic response that your immune system is active.

It slows your heart rate and respiration; your blood pressure drops and your intestinal activity (digestion) increases because your body increases blood flow there. In the parasympathetic response stress hormones are decreased.

Your immunity, sleep, and digestion work together

An easy way to remember the connection is to appreciate 2 key functions of your body:

1. Your immune cells come out at night when you’re asleep. Clearly a good night’s sleep is consistent with the actions of the parasympathetic nervous system – rest and repair.
2. Eighty percent of your immune system is found in your gut, therefore it makes that the part of your nervous system which engages the immune system also engages digestion – digest and detoxify.

COVID-19 has us all in a fight or flight state

In our current state of high alert regarding COVID-19 you’ve likely felt like your sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response, has been in overdrive. You’re not alone of course, but this reaction works against your immune system and its ability to stay strong.

In a revved-up state of fight or flight you’re likely to experience:

• Fatigue
• Sleep problems
• Decreased immunity
• Overeating to try to relieve fatigue
• Sugar or refined carbohydrate cravings
• Mood swings and irritability
• Light-headedness or dizziness
• Digestive problems

All of the above symptoms “make sense” when you’re stuck in fight or flight mode.

For health, we need to “take back” the relax and repair state

Understandable in light of all that’s occurring in our world, but you can take back control of your nervous systems.

Again, the sympathetic response is understandable but the greater good is to get yourself and those you love in a parasympathetic state where you can retain a strong immune response.

Now that we understand the problem what can you do about it?

I’ve been writing a lot of blogs on the importance of sleep, hydration, sweating, eating well (no sugar), and the best immune-boosting supplements. If you prefer watching or listening, my YouTube channel has the data as well.

We still need to answer the question, how do you get the sleep you need, relax, or get the benefit of any of these recommendations when you’re stuck in fight or flight mode?

Here’s what you can do right now

1. This is a breathing exercise designed to move you back to immune support parasympathetic mode. Take a deep breath in and hold it as long as you can. When you exhale it should be powerful because the air is being forced out with pressure because you just can’t hold it in anymore. Leave the air out until you have to take a breath in. Again, it will be a forceful inhalation because you need to take air in. Take in as much as you can. Again, hold it for as long as you can before you let it out. Repeat about 5 cycles or until you’re noticeably relaxed. You can do this several times per day as needed.
2. Take a relaxing warm bath or sauna.
3. Do something that gives you pleasure. Whether it’s a relaxing hobby, reading a book, or watching a rom-com, do what you enjoy that gets you relaxed. You may love playing video games, but loving something that’s fast-paced is not the same as loving something that relaxes you. We’re looking for the latter activity.
4. Yawning – it’s interesting, but deciding to yawn, even if it’s not naturally occurring due to being sleepy, will help to initiate the autonomic nervous system in much the same way as the breathing exercise above.

Here’s what not to do

1. Watch the news in measured amounts. We all need to keep up on current events. But you don’t need to do it all day. Assess how you feel after watching the news. If you’re feeling stressed, limit your time to just the morning. Then, since you’re all revved up and in fight or flight, put that response to good use and go out and exercise. The news will still be there tomorrow; limit your time listening to it.
2. Don’t junk out on sugar and refined carbohydrates. Unfortunately, viruses, along with bacteria and cancer cells, LOVE sugar. It’s their preferred fuel source. Do you want to empower them or you?
3. Don’t smoke. If you’re a smoker, now could not be a better time to quit. COVID-19 attacks the lungs and yours are already compromised. This is the best time to take a stand and give your lungs a break.
4. Don’t drink to excess. Alcohol is a toxin and while one glass of red wine is likely fine, now is not the time to overdue alcohol consumption.

There will be a lot more data coming your way on the topic of how to optimize your immune system.

If you found this helpful, please pass it along.

Getting to the root cause

We have excellent success in solving the cause of non-optimum health conditions.

Whether it’s the strength of your immune system, feeling over-stressed, digestive problems, or fatigue; we’d like to assist you.