Module 4 – Immune system
You’ve heard of your immune system. But how much do you know about it?
Your immune system works daily to root out germs and other invaders that have no business in your body and intend to do you harm, and fights to rid your body of them. We know this… but this is not all it does. Your immune system plays a big part in your central nervous system, stress response, body weight, inflammation, sleep, organ function, mental health and overall emotional well being.
The immune system is actually quite complicated, as you can imagine. But to simplify things the way I like to, you can actually split the immune system into two parts.
1.
Cellular immunity (think T cells), deals with small things. Which is what we talk about with infections – viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, amoeba, those things are really small. They’re smaller than an immune cell. So if something like that comes into your body, and you have to induce a survival technique against it, if it’s small enough, the immune system will engulf it. Meaning that it will eat it and remove it.
So, in summary- if the thing’s smaller than an immune cell, it will ‘flush it out’. That flushing reaction happens with sneezing, runny nose, coughing, watery eyes, sweating and fever.
2.
If the thing that’s come into your body is too big to be engulfed and removed, like parasites, allergens, pollutants, dust, pollen, food, they get flushed away by the humeral immunity (B cells) defense mechanisms… they will be flushed away in a more severe way like excessive mucus, intense fever, itching, a rash, vomiting and diarrhea.
When we look at ‘snot’ or mucus, for example, if your immune system has engulfed and eaten something small, it usually makes green or yellow snot. Lots of colored pus, lots of colored mucus and that sort of stuff. So you know there’s been a bug that’s been killed and that’s in there somewhere. But if your immune system is just flushing away allergens and hasn’t got some dead cells in there it’s usually clear, watery snot.
SEE SAW
Its also important to understand that the immune system is that it’s like a see saw. When one side goes up, the other side goes down. So coming into spring now we will see a lot more exposure to allergens, which drives up our humeral defense (because these particles are generally bigger than a cell), and thus drives down our cellular defense, which will make you predisposed or a lot more open to infections, which is why coming into changing season, they call it the cold and flu season. Not necessarily because there’s more bugs around, but because your immune system is more challenged or has been suppressed because there’s more allergens around.
We need a strong immunity to make sure we ourselves are strong on the inside and out
We need to make sure our T cells, natural killer cells, cytokines and other immune responses are functioning properly… otherwise when faced with an attacker, we will not be able to fight it off efficiently and with as little damage as possible.
I do not want to over complicate things because there is lots more in your immune booster guide, but what weakens and what strengthens the immune system?
Weakenss
Poor nutrition. Excessive consumption of poor foods, especially trans fats and simple sugars, inhibits the immune response, drives up inflammation, increases insulin resistance and opens you up to a whole cascase of illnesses. Eating sugar puts your white blood cells into a temporary coma. It inhibits white blood cell activity by 40% for up to 5 hours.
Nutritional deficiencies. Goes hand in hand with the previous point but if you do not have the vitamins and minerals your body needs to be its best, then you and your cells (including immune cells) will not function at your best. Zinc deficiency causes the receptors that the immune cells use to be alerted that there’s an infection here, to not work work.
Chronic stress. When we’re stressed, the immune system’s ability to fight off antigens is reduced. That is why we are more susceptible to infections. The stress hormone corticosteroid can suppress the effectiveness of the immune system (e.g. lowers the number of lymphocytes).
Poor sleep quality… causes cells to not repair, regenerate and fill up on energy properly (poor mitochondrial function). Not getting enough sleep can lead to higher levels of a stress hormone. It can also lead to more inflammation in your body, which further increases stress.
Lack of exercise, especially outdoors causes cells to weaken and not function properly. This has a direct impact on the immune system by slowing down WBCs ability to circulate more rapidly, inflammation, insulin resistance and vitamin d levels, which we looked at in the previous section.
Over use of antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, smoking and vaping.
Boosts or supports;
Good nutrition
provides your body with the tools it needs to be its best and have a fully stocked army (immune cells) with resources to fight off invaders or pathogens. “Food is medicine”.Eating foods which are rich in nutrients like vitamins C and E, plus beta-carotene and zinc. Lots of focus on fairy dust, modbiotic and SIRTfoods, including berries, citrus fruits, kiwi, green apples, garlic, onions, spinach, sweet potatoes, and dark chocolate. Medicinal mushroom varieties — such as chaga and shiitake — can also help your immune system… refer to the medicinal mushrooms PDF in the biohacking group.
Practice self care and stress management.
We have all noticed that we are more prone to illness when we are overly stressed and not taking care of ourselves. During this time of increased stress we need to try our best to stay calm, use the self care, anxiety and stress hacks and advice you have learned as much as possible.
Try your best to get good quality sleep
for 7-9 hours a night. During sleep, your immune system releases proteins called cytokines, some of which help promote sleep. Certain cytokines need to increase when you have an infection or inflammation, or when you’re under stress. Sleep deprivation may decrease production of these protective cytokines. In addition, infection-fighting antibodies and cells are reduced during periods when you don’t get enough sleep.
Regular exercise
- helps with blood and lymph flow which is essential for moving immune cells around the body, and removing dead cells and toxins. Exercise also supports good cellular function, increases that activity of antibodies, white blood cells and reduces the stress hormone. All essential for fighting off a pathogen.
Avoiding excess toxic exposure
from car fumes, smoking, vaping, alcohol (although red wine can be an exception), pharmaceuticals and antibiotics gives your cells, DNA and organs a fighting chance. “Your own immune system is the only way to fight any virus and the way to make that immune system strong is not to vaccinate or drug up…. when you have natural exposure, not only do you have immunity to that but also a broad immunity to broad viruses in general. ” – Dr Andrew Saul.
I leave you with these words from the famous American chemist Linus Pauling…
At the first sneeze, take some C!
Vitamin C that is 😉
URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS or UTI’s
Urinary tract infections are one of the most common complaints I heard from women. Over half of us will have at least one at some point in our lives. Up to 20% of women currently have some urinary discomfort or a bladder infection every year, and as many as 20% of us gals will have a recurrance six months after an infection.
Durning perimenopause and beyond, the same hormonal changes that cause vaginal dryness can also cause recurrent infections. Both the gut microbiome and vaginal ecology play a role in preventing UTI’s by keeping the bad bacteria and pathogens in check.
These recommendations will help you prevent recurrent UTI’s;
Emphasize healing your gut and vaginal ecology (your vaginal ecology should be slightly acidic to keep pathogens out).
Stay well hydrated and pee as soon as you feel the urge. This is important for flushing the kidneys, bladder and detoxification.
Cranberry/D-mannose supplement, 500mg twice a day. Increase to 2g daily or 1000mg twice a day if you feel a UTI coming on.
Berberine 500mg daily with your carb meal. Increase to 1000mg if you feel and infection coming on - 500mg with your carb meal and 500mg in your evening routine.
1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar each day to support good pH throughout the body. 3-4 tbsp a day if UTI's are recurrent for you- spilt doses.
A good travelers probiotic and or a Saccharomyes Boulardi supplement can be helpful.
Methylene blue as per my conversation below with Melissa Kramer can be helpful with infections as it is a potent antibacterial.
Lots of modbiotics in your daily diet. Choose bitter tart sour adn astringent fooods as much as possible. Foods like fresh berries, fresh cranberries, fresh herbs, vinegars and spices.
Teas that should be a part of your life to prevent infections are; 100% pure Cranberry tea, Hibiscus tea, Burdock root, Marshmallow root and Uva ursi (aka Bearberry).
During an active infection it is wise to take "Caprylic acid plus". 2 capsules twice a day until the bottle is empty.
*Vitamin A in doses of 20,000iU taken 3 times a day while an infection is present, has been show to work in tangent with Caprylic acid at pushing down fungal infections.