I guess there’s no better time to talk about long-term stress and your immune health.
Most of us think about how to strengthen our immune system with natural remedies and supplements. Yes, these are important, and we will talk more about immune health later in this article, but first I’d like to talk about how stress affects of our immune health.
In my clinic over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have witnessed a significant rise in long-term stress and immune health and its related symptoms. But what effect does stress have on our immunity, our ability to adapt to the environment and handle more stressors? I will not focus too much on the medical jargon here but instead, keep it simple and logical.
When we are under stress (this includes anxiety and depression), our body kicks into ‘flight or fight’ – a sympathetic nervous system response. The adrenal glands get a message from the brain to release lots of hormones, like adrenaline and cortisone. These hormones help to increase sugar in the blood for extra energy and increase our heart rate and blood pressure to rush blood to our muscles and brain so we can respond appropriately. This is great when we are in immediate danger, say for instance, we are being chased by a tiger. However, these hormones also reduce inflammation and alter the immune health system, hang on that means reducing our immune health response, right?
All our resources are diverted to help us escape the danger, which also means suppressing our digestive and reproductive systems. Eating or making babies is not important when our life is in danger. We can see how prolonged periods of stress can affect our ability to defend against foreign pathogens, increase our blood pressure which may lead to heart problems, cause digestive issues and may affect fertility.
What can we do to help get out of chronic stress? What things can we do to reduce the sympathetic response and increase the parasympathetic response (rest and digest), and raise Vagal nerve tone?
Deep and slow breathing – Let me share two of my favorite techniques to overcome long-term stress and your immune health.
- Breathe in your nose and out your mouth, counting each breath up to 10 Inevitably your mind will wander, and you will lose track of your counting. When you noticed this has happened, DON’T STRESS, gently return to 1 and start again. The aim is not to get to 10 but just to do the practice.
- Place your hands on your lower abdomen, one on top of the other, and breathe through your nose deeply into your hands, filling your lower abdomen for 10 breaths. Then move your hands between your chest and naval and repeat the first step, breathing deeply into this area. Now move to your upper chest and repeat step one again and breathe deeply into your chest. These 3 steps of 10 breaths can be repeated 3 times for a total of 90 breaths.
Using a heat/warm pack on the chest can support immune health.
Place a warm (not too hot) towel or heat pack on the middle of your chest for about 10 minutes, your Vagus nerve runs through this area and this technique will increase vagal tone and decrease the flight fight response.
Acupuncture – It has been shown to be effective in calming the nervous system and treating anxiety. A double-blinded randomized parallel clinical trial in 2022 showed acupuncture and electroacupuncture to be effective in treating anxiety on their own or as adjuncts to pharmacological therapy (1). A randomized control trial in 2018 showed acupuncture to be effective in reducing exam-related anxiety in university–level students (2).
Other more common methods that may help support immune health are yoga, tai chi, qi gong, meditation, physical activity, and social support.
Let’s discuss supplements, lifestyle, and immune health briefly.
Vitamins and Minerals. I call these my fab 3 – Vitamin D (and Omega 3s), Vitamin C and Zinc.
Vitamin D and Omega 3 fatty acids – They have many great benefits, and one is helping the immune system. A 2010 study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that vitamin D3 supplementation during the winter may reduce the incidence of influenza A (3). A randomized control trial in 2021 showed Vitamin D supplementation for five years, with or without omega 3 fatty acids, reduced autoimmune disease by 22%, while omega 3 fatty acid supplementation with or without vitamin D reduced the autoimmune disease rate by 15% (4). That’s impressive!
Vitamin C is an antioxidant, helps us absorb iron, enhances wound healing and boosts the immune health system. An observational study in 2018 suggests that treatment with intravenous high-dose vitamin C reduces allergy-related symptoms (5).
Zinc is a trace mineral, meaning that the body only needs small amounts. however, it is involved in many chemical reactions in the body. Including the creation of DNA, cell growth, building proteins, healing damaged tissue and supporting the immune system. In 2020 a Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial found that elderly taking multi-vitamin and mineral supplements (MVM) for 12 weeks significantly increased zinc and vitamin C levels in the study participants. Although they did not observe statistically significant changes in immune outcomes, they did observe a statistically significant decrease in the reported length and severity of illnesses in the MVM arm versus the placebo arm (6).
Lifestyle
A good amount of sleep helps our body regenerate and fight all those invaders we come in contact with in our daily lives, not eating too much, or eating too late at night, eating lots of fresh veggies and whole foods with vitamins and minerals listed above can all help improve your immune function.
If you would like to know more about how we can help you or learn more about what we do at On Point Natural Medicine. Please contact us or make a booking here.
Author
Adrian Taricani
Registered
Acupuncturist, Chinese Medicine Practitioner, Sports and Massage Therapist
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References for long-term stress and your immune health article
(1) Amorim D, Brito I, Caseiro A, Figueiredo JP, Pinto A, Macedo I, Machado J. Electroacupuncture and acupuncture in the treatment of anxiety – A double-blinded randomized parallel clinical trial. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2022 Jan 30;46:101541. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2022.101541. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35124475.
(2) Andreia Vieira, Mariana Hinzmann, Karine Silva, Maria João Santos, Jorge Machado. Clinical effect of auricular acupuncture in anxiety levels of students prior to the exams: A randomized controlled trial,. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, Volume 20, 2018,
188-192, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2018.05.012.
(3) RT Journal Article, Urashima, Mitsuyoshi, Segawa, Takaaki, Okazaki, Minoru, Kurihara, Mana, Wada, Yasuyuki, Ida, Hiroyuki. Randomized trial of vitamin D supplementation to prevent seasonal influenza A in schoolchildren, JF The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
JO Am J Clin Nutr. YR 2010. DO 10.3945/ajcn.2009.29094
(4) Vitamin D and marine omega 3 fatty acid supplementation and incident autoimmune disease: VITAL randomized controlled trial BMJ 2022; 376 doi: The BMJ (Published 26 January 2022)Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:e066452
(5) Vollbracht C, Raithel M, Krick B, Kraft K, Hagel AF. Intravenous vitamin C in the treatment of allergies: an interim subgroup analysis of a long-term observational study. J Int Med Res. 2018;46(9):3640-3655. doi:10.1177/0300060518777044
(6) Fantacone ML, Lowry MB, Uesugi SL, et al. The Effect of a Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement on Immune Function in Healthy Older Adults: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Trial. Nutrients. 2020;12(8):2447. Published 2020 Aug 14. doi:10.3390/nu12082447
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