Building immunity
Contents:
1. Our defensive energy
2. Important things to pay attention to
3. Herbs/ supplements/ therapies
4. Other considerations with regards to getting sick
IN OTHER EXCITING NEWS!
I had an amazing chat with Katja and Ryn from Commonwealth Herbs yesterday-- it was long, and rambling, and we ended up covering NONE of the bullet-points that we'd discussed in advance, but the conversation that did emerge was sooooo important: about self-awareness, and herbalism, and how important it is on the path of life (and in the field of herbalism) to KNOW ourselves.
Subjects touched on:
-herbalism as a living, breathing, ever-growing field.
-trauma and curiosity.
-wanting to 'know' all the answers.
-I can't remember the rest
You can give it a listen HERE.
1. Our defensive energy
The ability of our body to either take on, fight off, or completely ignore pathogens is an ability that transcends actual *systems*.
I love the Chinese medical concept of ‘Wei qi’ for describing this: basically, your Wei qi is your body’s defensive energy. This includes the immune system, but is much bigger than that, too. It’s also about your boundaries, your digestion, your thought processes, and the way you filter environmental information. All of these different things tie in to create the defensive energy of your body, which actually extends way outside the physical boundaries of your body. You can call it an aura, an energy field in the ‘woo’ sense, or an energy field in the ‘your body puts out electrical signals and these create a donut-shaped energy field around your body that can actually be measured using instruments and stuff’, but it’s still an energy field, and it’s the place where our body starts to touch the world around us. Long before things touch your skin, or your respiratory tract.
We are capable of perception with this energy field, and this field is interpreted and filtered through our super clever brains and mental patterns which have ideas, stories, and beliefs about the world, and our place in the world, that determines how we perceive the things we touch with this field.
When this energy field is super healthy, strong, bright, and shiny, it is really, really hard for things to penetrate our defenses. Note, I’m not saying that this is a physical barrier that prevents viruses from entering our energy field; it’s not something out of a sci fi film that magically bounces bad shit off into space, but it does make it really, really hard for these things in our environment to affect us. Yes, this has to do with viruses, but it also has to do with chemicals, EMFs, allergens, other peoples’ emotions, and OFTEN, people who tend to be sensitive to one of these, tends to be more aware of, or sensitive to others too. When this energy field is weak or run down, then all of these different things tend to be able to affect us more.
This defensive energy is made stronger or weaker by a variety of different factors in our day-to-day lives, that include:
Your emotional boundaries. The state of your mucosa. Your nervous system. Your gut and digestion. Your mood and emotional outlook.
An imbalance in any of these is going to lead to issues with your defensive energy, and subsequent immune weakness. Before reaching for ‘immune boosters’ or herbs that stimulate the immune system, it’s worth taking a look at the system as a whole, to see if you’re pouring more energy into a system that actually just needs a patch job.
So, let’s take a quick look at each of these different areas, below.
2. Important things to pay attention to
These are a lot of different things to look at. I don’t think we all need all of them, but if something is resonating for you, then it’s worth looking at and exploring more.
How are your emotional boundaries and barriers?
I received a text message from a company who's email newsletter I subscribe to last week, and I felt like my space had been violated somehow. It feels like our private spaces are treated like free-for-alls, like when we are not giving our attention to the clamoring news/opinions/shops/BUYME then, because there is space there, it's space that can be filled by someone else. Like people wanting to put satellite advertisements in the sky, because we look up there, and there's 'nothing' there yet.
But these spaces are important. Privacy is important. And just because it's not filled with stuff (though I'd argue that galaxies are 'stuff') doesn't make it any less important.
I know that I require more space than many people I know. And as a result I'm fiercely protective of this space, because I have to work to not fill my days up with distractions. But I sometimes wonder how many of us actually need more space than we get, and don't take it.
What does ANY of this have to do with immunity. Well, here’s where I get a bit esoteric on you.
There have been numerous studies done on the correlation between emotional outlook, stress levels, and immunity. The basic gist (which I’ll get into more deeply below) is that emotions that feel good are better for your immune system. Or, higher emotional resilience -> better immunity. If this is hard to get your mind around, then think of it in terms of the biochemistry of our bodies, when we have emotional resilience, as being more geared towards supporting immunity.
When we lack healthy boundaries, our emotional resilience takes a nosedive. Our own emotional state becomes too easily dictated by the whims of the people and events in our lives, and we easily make decisions that aren’t in our best interests, out of not being able to distinguish our own emotional needs from other peoples’. I want to be careful about making statements that sound like ‘IF YOU DO X THEN Y HEALTH CONDITION WILL HAPPEN’ because I don’t like fear-mongering or bad science (me making a case for causation when there is none I think would be classified as ‘bad science’ :P), however, I’ll point out a correlation that I’ve seen too many times to ignore, and say that I think there is some sort of connection, even if one isn’t directly caused by another, or vice-versa: I’ve seen *so* many clients over the years who have chronic health conditions, autoimmune conditions, pain, and immune weakness, and sensitivity to environmental factors, who also have big issues with seeing, setting, and establishing boundaries (often due to a trauma history).
The way I see it is, trauma causes a big shake-up to the autonomic nervous system, which can cause it to rewire to view threats where there are none, which in turn puts the body into hyper-alert mode, and then the body becomes hyper-alert to everything. Including itself (autoimmunity), including things that aren’t harmful (sensitivity to things in the environment), and eventually, maybe so worn down, that the immune system is like ‘*pfft* I has nothing’. To be clear, I don’t think this is anything to be alarmist about, and I wouldn’t start thinking ‘oh god I have issues with boundaries and therefore I’m going to end up with X, Y, Z in a few years’ OR if you do have X, Y or Z to start wondering if you’ve somehow caused it by not having strong enough boundaries (please don’t use this as a reason to start blaming yourself). Just, there’s a connection. And it’s something to pay attention to if you do happen to have both issues with boundaries, trauma history, and immune system weakness (or overdrive).
How are your mucous membranes?
Mucous membranes are your body’s first line of defense against invading pathogens. Basically, healthy mucous helps to fight microbes and clear it from your body (which is why we get super phleggo and then cough or sneeze a lot when we’re sick). If you’re prone to dry mucosa then one of your lines of defense is not working so well. If you’re super dry, AND you find yourself getting sick all the time, then try a few simple things:
-Demulcent herbs: Marshmallow, slippery elm, flax, chia.
-Oily foods: oily fish, olive oil, avocados.
-Watery foods: cucumber, chia, watermelon, jicama.
-A pinch of salt in all your water glasses.
-A HUMIDIFIER ON ALL THE TIME <— caps for emphasis. This is super important, especially during the winter which coincides with flu season when many of us have the heating on a lot, and it the dryness is out of control. If you can sleep with a humidifier next to the bed, even better. It’ll keep your respiratory tract moist AND the moisture in the air prevents the proliferation of bacteria in your environment.
Nervous system imbalances:
Stress is going to have an impact on immune function. Quite simply, the body, in a state of excitation, shuttles more energy to the muscles and nervous system to be prepared for quick action, and that leaves less energy for the internal organs, and for things like fighting pathogens. Thus, under stress, the body has lowered immunity. However, when it comes to SOLUTIONS for this, I want to split the stress up into two different types of stress. One is every day stress, and the other is stress caused by trauma.
1. Every day stress
When the lowered immunity is the result of short-term, every day stress (like a shitty job, or being overworked, or having young children, or being a caretaker, etc) the goal is to either reduce the stressors, or increase the support systems for the body that help to ameliorate the stressors in the short term. So think of adaptogens that both help build energy reserves and stress tolerance AND have an effect on the immune system like ashwagandha or tulsi. Do keep in mind that of course, reducing the stress load, increasing sleep, good nutrition are going to make a bigger difference here. I also understand that this is life, and often this simply isn’t an option so, no judgment here whatsoever: do what you’ve got to do. Adaptogens will help, big time.
2. Trauma stress.
When the body/ psyche is traumatized, different rules apply. I don’t just mean ‘having gone through a trauma’ because I think at this point, all of us have experienced trauma in some capacity or another. But sometimes trauma affects us and stays with us, not just in our memory, but in our bodies and nervous systems. Our brains themselves re-wire around the experience of trauma, and become primed for one purpose: to keep us safe. The entire body is in a state of trying to survive, and stays there until it feels safe again. What this means is that the stress load that someone is under in the ‘every day stress’ category, is basically where someone who has trauma stress lives daily.
The deeper the level of trauma in the body (note, I don’t mean the more dramatic the trauma itself— that’s going to be different for all of us based on multiple factors not just the story of what happened), the more unsafe the person feels and the more easily triggered into panic/ shut-down/ disassociation/ other survival mechanism. This can either send your immune system into overdrive as you fight everything that even LOOKS like a pathogen, or the immune system can become so suppressed that you never get sick. In either case, the reason that I brought this up as a factor is that this kind of pattern requires a lot more gentle of an approach, because the structures that a person has created to reestablish a sense of control and safety are often intricate and detailed, and can be set off at seemingly random triggers.
My main concern with a traumatized body is that the person feel that all their choices are self-motivated, and feel good and safe. So I’d suggest nervines that switch the body away from a sympathetic dominant state, while ALSO giving adaptogens, as with an every day stress state, but would really be way more careful with dosage, because the protective response is activated by even the tiniest bit too much of something. Drop doses of adaptogens, homeopathy, flower essences, all AMAZING here. The Flower Essence Society Yarrow formulas are really nice for this!
Note, I'm specifically talking about defensive energy when the body is in a state of trauma, not about healing the trauma itself, that's wayyyyy too big and complex a topic for a few paragraphs!
Gut and digestion:
I’m going to split this into two separate parts because It hink they’re both important, but different:
1. Digestion/ transformation/ building energy.
In TCM the basis of our protective energy is formed in the Spleen, which doesn’t have a direct Western physiological translation, but could equate to ‘our ability to transmute foods into energy’. When we have weak digestion, foods remain undigested to some degree or another, which weakens our system as a whole (overloads the lymphatic system, liver, kidneys, etc), but also doesn’t give us the energy we’d normally be getting from that food. This energy is the basis of our protective energy, and so if we aren’t digesting, then we aren’t building energy, which means that our ‘wei qi’ or our protective energy field, is going to be weakened too.
Try: Digestive bitters before meals and carminative teas after, eating easy-to-digest foods (whatever that looks like for you; my Scottish grandma swore by fried eggs and chips for her ‘my belly’s off’ meals). Try eating smaller meals, or at different times. Dispense with any dietary ‘rules’ you may have heard and start from scratch, asking your body what is wants and needs.
2. Gut barrier/ microbiome.
I wrote a whole newsletter about the gut and microbiome HERE which gets into much more detail about this topic. But, to keep it short, our microbiome is our first line of defense inside our bodies (actually, on our skin too). When it is diverse, healthy, has a healthy mucosal layer to live in, is being nourished and replenished regularly, then your immune system benefits.
Your mood and emotional outlook.
This might sound superfluous but it’s actually really, really important. DID YOU KNOW that for example, studies done on the immune activity of people after experiencing certain emotions differed based on the emotion? Anger for example, spiked immune activity dramatically, but then the immune system was operating at a less active level than before the anger a few hours later. Sadness, on the other hand, suppressed the immune activity dramatically. And joy/ love/ gratitude steadily raised immune system activity with no dips. This was a study done by the Heartmath Institute, based in Northern California, and their research is truly fascinating. A different study I read said that laughing raised immunity significantly, too. While ‘positive vibes only’ might be an annoyance to some and an affront to others, there’s something to be said for genuine, embodied feel-good emotions, and their effect on our nervous systems, immune systems, digestion, and overall health.
This is something I’ve been experimenting with, and creating meditations for people to explore, because I’m curious. So every time I feel as though I’m fighting something, I’ll do whatever I can to remain in a state of embodied cheeriness (by ‘embodied cheeriness’ I mean that I’m not just throwing a smile on my face and saying ‘I’M SO HAPPY’ in a squeaky voice while my innards silently weep, but am doing things, focusing on things, talking to people who make all my cells wiggle. So that it feels as though the joy itself is coming from within my body. And, er, trying my best to avoid paying attention to things that upset or piss me off. Harder than it sounds during election season :P). Anyway, I have found it fascinating so far that when I’m able to do this, I feel great. After enough self-experimentation, I called a few friends and asked them to do the same. This isn’t a double-blind study or anything, but if you feel like joining in my experiment, try it. The WORST thing that happens is that you’ve been watching comedies for hours and your sides hurt from laughing and you still get sick. The best case is that you have great core strength from laughing so hard, AND have better immunity as a result.
3. Herbs/ supplements
With regards to herbs, I’m going to list a few herbs, but then also give you some supplements that are worth taking for your immune system.
Sambucus // Elderberry and flower
One of my favourite plants of all time, and one that I am never without, elder is a pharmacy in and of itself.
On elder, jim mcdonald said a few days ago (I paraphrase):
“Elder acts as an antiviral by inhibiting the reproduction of some viruses (often but not always various influenza strains), and as a mild immune stimulant. Both of these actions make sense if you're battling an infection, or directly exposed to one, but neither in any way actually strengthens the immune system. Sure, there are a lot of wonderful antioxidant flavonoids, but a lot of other dark berries do as well. It makes the most sense to me to use elderberry when you're sick and not daily as a preventative… there are other herbs and mushrooms that actually act as immune tonics. And also, Rebecca, you're so amazing!” (ok I added the last part but don't tell anyone).
You can use the berries and the flowers, either one or the other or both. They are not interchangeable, but there is a ton of overlap. Here's how I'd use them:
Berries:
More anxioxidant flavonoids than the flowers, and more *building* in terms of building blood, building energy levels, and building reserves. Also, anti-viral, in that elderberries prevent reproduction of viruses in the body, which dramatically lessens the duration of any kind of virus, should you pick one up. The berries are slightly diaphoretic (not as much as the flowers) and are more antiviral than the flowers.
Flowers:
Freaking delicious, so let’s get that out of the way first. Come spring, I gather as many as I can to make cordials, liqueurs, syrup, to have on hand for the rest of the year, because it tastes so honey-floral-sweet. Add sparkling water and you’ve got a mocktail. Add champagne and you have a cocktail. Add a cake and you have something people will be requesting for years to come. Stir into whipped cream, yogurts, cheesecakes, etc etc. Even an elderflower tea with a spoonful of honey is insanely tasty, which brings me to:
A hot elderflower tea is a phenomenal relaxing diaphoretic, so it’s really useful if, despite all preparations, you still come down with something. It’ll relax the pores of the skin, help you get a sweat going, and be slightly relaxing in the process.
Read more on elder:
https://herbcraft.org/elder.html
Astagalus // Astragalus membranaceous
To talk about astragalus in depth, I need to give you a brief primer on a TCM concept called ‘wei qi’. In Chinese medicine, the wei qi of the body, is the protective energy field that keeps us immune from pathogens. I think that maybe someone who is much more versed in physiology and TCM would be able to draw a direct connection between Wei qi and the immune system, but I find that trying to make one system fit another is often pointless. Wei qi is more than immunity, though immunity is a part of what makes up Wei qi. But think of Wei qi more as like, your protective energy field that extends outside your body and helps your body decide what to let in or not.
Astragalus strengthens the Wei qi of the body, tightening up prolapse, and strengthening the Spleen. Another TCM translation thing— the ‘Spleen’ is more like… the function of the body that has to do with transformation, utilization, transportation, and absorption of nutrients. So, if you have a weak spleen, then digestion will be sluggish, and you’ll have some of the things that come up from poorly digested food issues (overwhelmed liver, sluggish lymphatic system). Astragalus strengthens this aspect of the body, which in turn is said to be where Wei qi comes from in the first place: digestion.
With regards to building immunity, I will say that EVERY time I’ve started adding astragalus to my bone broths and taken it regularly during flu season or when fighting something, it’s helped dramatically (and not just me— I’ve heard this from many people), but as with all herbs, I’d like to caution against thinking of this herb as a blanket ‘herb for the immune system’ because, it has specific uses. Yes, it supports immunity, but it is a herb for weakness, so taking it long-term if there is no weakness is not actually necessary. Same goes for when actively sick: this is developed on by Thomas Avery Garran:
“Some other thoughts to consider are, that although [astragalus] is used during active illness from external pathogens (common cold, influenza, et al), the caveat is this, it is only used with the patient has a clear need for it, which is to say they have qi vacuity (tiredness, weakness, low appetite, panting or labored breathing due to weakness, lassitude, lack of sweating when given diaphoretics, etc.). Otherwise it is not used because there is no need to supplement the qi of an otherwise healthy person and doing so could lead to qi stagnation and qi constraint, leading to a whole new quandary.”
Medicinal mushrooms:
All these mushrooms contain beta glucans, which build immunity by challenging it in a process known as hormesis. Basically, the beta glucans provide a slight challenge to the body, and the body rises to the occasion by adapting and becoming stronger.
These are the mushrooms I use the most often in the context of immunity.
Reishi mushroom // Ganoderma lucidum
With regards to building our body’s defenses, reishi is my favourite mushroom, mostly because it just affects so many different aspects of our overall being, from the physical to the spiritual. It strengthens the body’s resilience on multiple levels. It strengthens the resilience of the nervous system, as stressors become less and less destabilising. It strengthens the resilience of the immune system, which becomes so much more able to handle new information. It strengthens the lungs which become more able to breathe deeply. It strengthens the liver which can now handle more toxins, and transform them more easily. It strengthens the heart, or the spirit, which can handle more information as it comes in. All of these things, in combination, lead to a state of deeper resilience as a whole: the world is no longer throwing you around. You are bigger than the stressors, and capable of handling what life throws your way.
Turkey tail mushroom // Trametes versicolor
Turkey tail, named for its beautiful stripes, is probably the most studied medicinal mushroom.
It is used in cancer treatment in Asia, due to 2 of its beta glucans: PSP & PSK. Studies have shown these two polysaccharides to inhibit tumour growth while improving immune function.
Chaga // Inonotus obliquus
Chaga is packed full of antioxidants and is antiviral. Studies have shown it to be effective in fighting off viruses, especially the flu. It’s also been shown in studies to have immune-balancing effects. It’s also another medicinal mushroom being studied in the context of various cancers.
Please note, chaga is being overused, so try to use other mushrooms first if possible.
Supplements:
If you’re getting sick a lot and it’s not because you have a deeper issue (like a chronic illness that makes your immune system more susceptible to every bug that comes your way), then, before taking herbs to supplement or boost immunity, I would look at nutrients/ vitamins/ minerals. Simply, there are some nutrients that are necessary for the normal-functioning of our immune systems, and if we aren’t getting those nutrients, then taking herbs to boost immunity, when the immune system itself isn’t getting the nutrients it needs, well, you can see how this is a bit counter-intuitive.
So, for the immune system, I’d take:
Vitamin D
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with lowered immunity and increased autoimmunity. Conversely, studies have shown that taking vitamin D decreases your likelihood of getting the flu. It also helps your immune system in a variety of other ways, and inhibits inflammatory cytokine production, though, to be honest, since nobody really understands how cytokines work, or storm, it seems silly to discuss them.
More about vitamin D: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3166406/
Vitamin C
Deficiency of vitamin C results in impaired immunity and higher likelihood of infection. Vitamin C is a strong antioxidant and helps to both protect against environmental stressors, and to increase barrier function. It also supports various cellular functions in both the innate and adaptive immune systems, making it incredibly supportive to overall immunity. Deficiency of Vitamin C deficiency leads to impaired immunity and higher susceptibility to infections. Basically, take yer Vitamin C.
4. Other considerations with regards to getting sick:
Overworked? Need a day off? Desperately want to rest but don’t have the capacity (be it real, or perceived) to take a day?
Guess what. Sometimes our bodies decide for us. I cannot tell you the number of clients I’ve had who get sick and say something like ‘I’m so freaking busy I cannot afford to take this day off, but I’m secretly so glad to be able to rest’. The thing is, that our underlying wants are still there, and often our bodies find ways to provide them anyway. Yes, sometimes we miss massive opportunities due to getting sick at the wrong time. But usually, usually it works out anyway. If this is a common pattern, then I’ll say this:
Prevention is a million times better than your body deciding for you. Prevention, in this kind of pattern looks like this: make an unshakeable, forged in iron date with yourself for a day off (or a few hours off) at an interval of your choosing. Do all the things you secretly want to do, like lie around in bed, watch TV, eat ice cream, don’t answer the phone, go for long walks, whatever. Put it in your calendar before you put anything else in your calendar and commit to it like you would an important meeting. (If you have small human responsibilities, maybe a friend would want to switch-out with you so that you can both have this?)
I am not saying that making time is easy, but I am saying that it’s important.
The added benefit of this is: your body does not need to make this decision for you down the road, which means you get to actually ENJOY it, not enjoy it through the fog of fever/ headache/ misery.
Sometimes it’s not horrific:
If you’re not in one of the big risk groups, and getting sick just means some time in bed feeling utterly wretched while the house falls apart around you and you aren’t earning money, well, hard truths from Rebecca: stressing about it while it’s happening isn’t going to make it move faster. For those of us with healthy functioning immune systems, actually getting fully sick, surrendering to the tide of discomfort and misery, can be an unpleasant reset. So if it looks like it’s heading that way, there’s a point at which the fight has gone on for so long, and is exhausting in and of itself. Sometimes its better to just let it take you. Get sick. Sweat and whine. Feel like crap. Emerge like a phoenix from your own ashes no longer having to be run down and fighting for weeks on end.