Stress and the immune system.
To successfully fight off any infection we need a healthy immune system. Stress is something that has a direct impact on how well our immune system works. My husband left yesterday on a business trip to China. It would be dishonest of me to say I am not thinking about him and the coronavirus that has come out of Wuhan. The Chinese government has quarantined Wuhan and a number of other cities. People have died. The media is doing a poor job of providing perspective and the world is watching and waiting. We lived in downtown Toronto during the Sars outbreaks and it was an interesting experience in media literacy. Watching the nightly news reports one would have thought we were all goldfish gasping for air on the counter. In other words, out of our bowl and minutes from death.
Meanwhile there have been deaths from the flu in Canada. More than 800 people have been hospitalized because of severe flu symptoms. There are no thermal scanners at the entrances to malls. Have you gotten your flu shot?
Fear is as big a threat to our health as any microbe. Just as contagious and harder to treat. Today I saw an ad for a selection of tinctures to fight the coronavirus. It was $125. Also it was imo profiteering. I also saw a news report that called the 2019 novel coronavirus a Chinese virus. A virus does not have a nationality so the side dish of racism is not helpful. Now is the time to practice critical thinking. There is a lot – a lot – of disinformation out there.
Instead of handwringing and scrolling for breaking news about stuff that is beyond our control let’s instead focus on how we can support our immunity.
As an example, it is much like doing regular maintenance on our car to keep. Prevention is how we keep it running smooth. Looking after our health on a day to day basis leaves us with an immune system that is functioning as well as it can. This doesn’t mean we won’t ever get sick, on the other hand, it does improve our odds of contracting viral/bacterial/fungal infections and our chances of effectively fighting the infection if we do succumb.
Stress
Lack of sleep
Crappy diet
All of the above can negatively impact the functioning of our immune system and as a result leave us more vulnerable to infection. These are things we need to address daily. Today I want to focus on stress.
Fight or flight
There are few of us today who have not heard of fight or flight. Stress is the 21st century disease that we are all suffering from. Some stress is good for us. The problem is when we get overwhelmed. Our body has a very specific and structured response to stress. Developed over years of evolution to protect us from bad things. When we are stressed the body becomes focused on short term survival. It pumps out corticosteroids. We focus on living through the next 5 minutes. The body is not looking ahead to the next 5 days. Stress hormones lower the number of lymphocytes we have. There are the white blood cells that fight infection. Lower numbers of these cells mean that our immune system is less effective in its defense of us.
Stress
Stress also negatively affects us because it can make us fall back on unhealthy coping methods.
Enjoying an occasional glass of wine over dinner is not a problem. Drinking a 6 pack nightly to deal with your life is not healthy. The alcohol supresses your immune system.
When we are stressed, we may decide to skip out on our trip to the gym. Regular physical activity improves immune function and increases anti-viral and antibacterial activity of our immune cells.
We may slide into the McDonalds drive-through instead of heading home to make a home cooked meal. When our diet is lacking in fruits and vegetables, we may lack antioxidants like vitamin c, vitamin e and beta-carotenes. Stress also shuts down our digestive tract. Fight or flight remember? When our digestive tract is not working it doesn’t matter how good the meals we eat are. We cannot effectively access the nutrition within them.
Fighting stress with nervines
For stress there are many different techniques to mitigate. Yoga, relaxation response, meditation, counselling, and others. When looking into our botanical medicine cabinet for support we want to focus on the group of herbs known as nervines. These are herbs that have a calming and restorative action on the nervous system. Part of how nervines work is that they gently move us back to a state where the parasympathetic nervous system is in control.
We also want to differentiate between those herbs whose primary action is on the body itself and those whose activity is on a person’s state of mind. Nervines are not usually sedating (individual reactions may vary) and act to uplift our mood. They also are fast acting. When stressed we want to feel better as soon as possible. A good herbal tea blend made up of nervines can make you feel better almost immediately. To ensure a significant result on stress and the immune system we would need more sustained treatment.
Putting together your team
I sometimes waffle between the idea of pointing people in the direction of a single great herb (lemon balm) or working with a group of herbs. I usually come down on the side of a team. It is kind of like having the opportunity to call in the entire group of Superfriends vs just calling on Wonder Woman.
A team gives you access to a whole bunch of talents that may not exist in a single superhero. I also like knowing that even though the ends might be the same the means by which an herb acts to achieve an action may be different. Differing mechanisms of action increases our chances of getting the result we want.
When putting together the formula we want a group of nervines, usually 2-3. Every herbalist has their special herb friends. I have a friend who likes to use oat seed in her stress formulas. Me, I am more meh when it comes to oat seed because I once had a cranky reaction to oat seed. As a result, I seldom use it. On the other hand I would never put together a stress formula without lemon balm. Both of us are correct.
Herbs for stress and the immune system
Catnip Wild Bergamot Motherwort Chamomile. Lemon Balm St. John’s Wort
Ordinarily I include in all my tincture formulas a catalyst. For a nervine formula I might consider skipping the catalyst. The whole purpose of a catalyst is to stimulate. We are wanting to calm – not stimulate. If I did want to use a catalyst I would probably use rosemary because it is itself a nervine and it also improves blood flow to the brain. At about 10% of the whole it would uplift without being too stimulating.
All my tinctures are made at a 1:5 ratio so when I speak of blending together a formula I am talking about using tinctures that are that strength. There are commercial blends out there that are effective. So, select your 3 herbs. We want to make a formula that is tonic and does as little as possible. Sounds strange I know. Would you do 100 pushups to build up your biceps if 1 pushup would get the job done? If we are using the rosemary at 10% that leaves us with 90% of formula left to work with. 30% for each of the nervines works well. If I wasn’t using rosemary I would possibly divide the formula into thirds or I might put 1 of the herbs in the formula slightly higher, say 40 %, and then I could put the other 2 herbs in at 30% each.
Start out with a dose of 2 droppers and take the dose 3-4 times day. I encourage my clients to assess for themselves how well they feel a tincture is working. Many people find a cup of tea to be a calming and relaxing ritual. The tincture can be put into a cup of tea and drunk with the tea. The dose could be gradually increased to as much 4 droppers. If at 4 droppers 4 times a day a person still felt stressed I would change the formula. Stress and the immune system is not a linkage we often think of. When we think immune system we often think immune stimulants or antimicribials. That’s great short term. Long term day to day, though, we can’t be at our best when we are overwhelmed.
All herbs can have contraindications. Certain populations (children, the elderly, pregnant and nursing people) may not be suited to certain herbs. Consult with an experienced herbalist to ensure that the herbs you are working with are right for you.