Building Your Immune System
Hello October, hello the ramp up of cold and flu season. Enter a discussion about your immune system and how your lifestyle, spine and chiropractic care all play a role in keeping you Chuck Norris ready to kill off pathogens.
First let’s touch upon a common belief that has very much so been proven wrong through recent years: most people believe that we inherit our immunity from Mom and Dad. We all know that some people seem better than others at fighting the flu, and it’s easy to suspect they were born that way. However, you have more control of your ability to stay well than you may think (or want to recognize).
A fascinating study of twins (back in 2005) called “Variation in the Human Immune System Is Largely Driven by Non-Heritable Influences”, was one of the first studies to show this. I’ll give you a “Cliff Notes” version of what they study showed: Researchers analyzed blood samples from 105 sets of healthy twins. They measured immune cell populations and their chemical messengers—204 parameters in all—before and after participants received a flu shot.
The results showed that genetics had almost no effect on how well individuals responded to the flu vaccine, judged by antibodies produced against the injected material. And among identical twin siblings, who have the same genome, immune system features differed more strikingly within older twin pairs than in younger sets.
These findings argue that life habits and experiences shape our body’s defenses more than the DNA passed down from our parents.
Ok, so aside from nutrition, exercise, stress, and fatigue, what else can we do to keep ourselves well during this part of the year? (PS optimize those vitamin D levels, read more here: Why You Should Be Supplementing With Vitamin D ).
The study above already alluded to one thing: prior infections. Though we never want our kids or ourselves to be under the weather, exposure to viruses is exactly what stimulates and builds our natural immunity.
What a lot of you may not realize is that your spine does play a role in your wellbeing. Structural shifts in the spine can change how the nervous system communicates with the brain. It’s also important to remember that the nervous system and immune system are hardwired to work together to create optimal responses for the body and interact with each other more often than you may think. Both systems release hormones and tiny messenger molecules that can communicate with each other and other organs in the body.
The nervous system relays information to the brain from the entire body and can directly influence receptors in the immune system. The brain has the ability to use nerve cells to communicate directly with the immune system and trigger an immune response, and vice versa. The immune system can send signals to the brain to let it know of any foreign, unwanted antigens. The brain can then tell the nervous system to react.
Some studies show increased levels of antibodies and other essential cells in the immune system following an adjustment. In many case reports, patients who were sick with colds, sore throats, and sinus congestion reported accelerated recoveries after their adjustments.
This isn’t new news to our profession as chiropractic care was first linked to improved immunity during the deadly flu epidemic of 1917 and 1918. The funny thing was: Chiropractic patients fared better than the general population. This observation spurred a study of the field. The data (from back then) reported that flu victims under chiropractic care had an estimated .25 percent death rate, a lot less than the normal rate of 5 percent among flu victims who did not receive chiropractic care.
The goal of chiropractic care is to remove any interference in the nervous system that may prevent you from natural day to day functions. This is because the nervous system controls the functions of your entire body. Adjustments on a specific area of the spine can facilitate stress on the nervous system, allowing it to better communicate with the rest of the body.
The better your nervous system can function and communicate, the better the rest of your body can function and communicate. Be sure to stay active, eat well, avoid too much sugar, sleep, take your D3 and make chiropractic care part of your wellness lifestyle, especially as we head into Fall & Winter.