Reporting on the immune system, read a good article

Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter for The New York Times, wrote an article published in the New York Times, What is the Immune System?

Our body is filled with all sorts of organisms. It is our immune system that ignores most of them as harmless as it is looking for threats to our bodies. When they discover a threat they seek to remove it. We need the immune system and our job is to support it.

I read recently were some cancers have adapted abilities to fool our immune system. It kind of reminds me of the many ways bad people have adopted new strategies to get away with crimes and good people countered. The whole business can be complicated.

Matt writes “inflammation can feel like a stuffy nose, sore throat, tummy ache, fever, fatigue or headache. Yes, the symptoms of an immune response feel lousy, but you must suffer a little to keep the rest of your body healthy over the long term.” 

The art is to develop a balance. To know when to support immune system and help your body fight the battle in side and experience the stress of life which is normal.

There is always a priority working in the body for survival. If we think we are going to be eaten by a lion then our

body sends out chemicals that energize and focus our body to fight or flight. All energy used in the immune system is diverted to get out of Dodge while we can. As long as the threat continues our immune system doesn't work as effectively. In the modern world our predators are two legged. If, we spot a  danger we should have heightened senses and be prepared to fight or flight.

The problem Mr. Richtel points out if this threat last too long or more likely is an imagined threat lasting too long our immune system loses its ability to fight the internal bad guys.

What is real and what is imagined, it is good to identify. Letting go of unwanted stress takes work, but it is worth it. 

So our job should be to support our immune system by sleep. It is during the sleep cycle that our immune system does its best work. Good sleep is #1

Exercise can:

• “Exercise that relieves stress helps modulate the adrenaline cycle that can be so detrimental to health. 
• Aging people who exercise regularly develop more T-cells (key immune cells) than their sedentary contemporaries. 
• Exercise is crucial to avoiding obesity, and obese people experience increased inflammation.” Having less inflammation allows our body to have more resources for what matters.

When we are sick and exercise will actually work against us. There is a time to rest.

Learning to reduce stress is also very helpful. Taking time for deep breathing, meditating on the good thoughts can help the body to direct its energy to the immune system fighting the good fight inside our bodies. Let go of negative thoughts and worries and focus on the positive realities that are the opposite of painful thinking. 

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Being exposed to germs helps us fight off germs. Dirt can be our friends. It is a good article to read with links to research. Keep walking

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/smarterliving/improve-your-immune-system?searchResultPosition=1&redirect=true