6 Words to fight fear and increase immunity

There’s undeniable medical research concluding that your nervous system, which is responsible for the way your body responds to stress, has a direct effect on your immune function.

You’ve probably experienced a season of high stress that ended in getting sick shortly after… Exams, big trips, projects at work, relocating, job changes, busy holiday seasons… once the dust settles it’s not unlikely for the common cold or flu to set in. Among other factors, it’s largely due to the over-activity of your nervous system eventually impacting your immune system.

As in all things of life, we can’t overwork one system without compromising other functions.

So what’s the connection between stress and the immune system?

Believe it or not, it’s not that you “just don’t handle stress well.” It’s actually the fact that your body IS handling it all, and it’s raising a hand to let you know it’s a little over-worked, under-paid, and needs some TLC before bigger issues present themselves in the form of serious burnout or disease. The body is always working on your behalf, and signs and symptoms are indications to tune in and make shifts to prevent further damage.

Your nervous system is constantly asking you the question, “Are we ok?” as a means to protect you.

If it senses danger emotionally or physically, it will turn on your fight-or-flight response (your heart races, eyes dilate, you feel light-headed as blood rushes towards your limbs….all a primal response to RUN and escape the situation you’re in). The problem is that in our society, stress isn’t typically due to a wild animal chasing you….instead you’re left sitting at your desk or in the car as your adrenal system fires into overdrive because of a stressful conversation or an unexpected bill.

As your fight-or-flight response goes into over-drive, it causes your other systems to go into “under-drive.” The immune system is one of the first compromised because during stress, the hormone corticosteroid is released, which reduces the body’s ability to fight off antigens, thus suppressing the effectiveness of the immune system. (simplyphychology.org)

Well shoot…stress can’t always be avoided. Whether it’s caused by external sources of life, or by internal sources like a physical condition, stress is an inevitable part of life. So now what?

We deactivate stress by deactivating fear.

Fear is the root of the majority of stress in one way or another. Fear that you won’t be able to pay the bill, fear that you’ll be late, fear that your boss will be angry. It can even be on a subconscious level such as pain in your stomach causing a cellular fear response, increasing your heart rate.

Fear activates stress —> which activates the dysregulation of the nervous system —> which reduces the function of the immune system.

This means the more you can deactivate fear, you take a weight off of your nervous system and thus better support all systems, including immunity.

Let’s return to that initial question that your nervous system is constantly asking in an attempt to keep you safe… “Are we ok?….because if we aren’t ok, I’ve got your back and I’m going to fire signals like crazy in your body so you know to escape whatever situation you’re in.” To counter this questions would be to constantly remind the body that it’s safe and doesn’t need to be afraid.

It may seem simple, but it’s a primal questions we need answered as early as infancy as a mother calms a child. We all just need to know we’re going to be ok. Your head, your heart, and your body and nervous system all need to know it. We need permission to take a deep breath when it feels like we can’t breath, to close shifting eyes, to hold hands to racing heart, and to speak these 6 simple words to our body….

“However this goes, we’ll be ok.”

You and I, body, we’ll be ok.

You and I, heart, we’ll be ok.

You and I, mind, we’ll be ok.

If the call never comes, we’ll still be ok.

If the conversation doesn’t go well, we’ll still be ok.

If we get sick and miss something really important, we’ll be ok.

If we look foolish in public, we’ll be ok.

If the job offer doesn’t come, we’ll be ok.

If dinner is late and burnt, we’ll still be ok.

If the heart breaks and tears cry through swollen eyes, we’ll be ok.

It may not feel that way in the moment, and I don’t say these words lightly as a sentiment of “you’ll be fine.” It’s an act of gentle love and trust in the mystery of a story far greater than our own understanding. It’s faith and courage taking the hand of fear and fatigue.

In that moment, you don’t have to know the “how” or the “when,” just that you’ll be ok. Somehow, you’ll be ok. In the small frail moments, and in the big crushing hours. Somehow, someway, the mystery of a daily manna will sustain you for this moment, and for the next, and Love won’t leave you.

May you offer your body the comfort of a mother, grace through chaos, and an invitation to still, listen, and let gentle words become oxygen that diffuse fear, dismantle your primal fight-or-flight response, and promote greater health for your incredible body that is endlessly working on your behalf.

Exhale.

We’ll be ok.

All of my love and light,
Christina