I have shared numerous times in the past that inflammation is at the root of most, if not all, chronic diseases. We know that eating packaged, processed, and fake foods increases inflammation, as does the use of vegetable and seed oils, trans fats, gluten, sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup, and processed meats.

However, here’s something else that drives destructive inflammation that may surprise you. Anxiety.

According to Dr. David Hanscom: “Anxiety is a physiological response to a threat. Your whole body is on fire. You need to decrease anxiety, decrease cytokines, decrease stress response. If your body is inflamed, you will feel anxious. “

Every cell in the body has cytokines. The term “cytokine” is derived from a combination of two Greek words: “cyto” which means cell and “kinos” which means movement. Cytokines are cell signaling molecules that aid cell-to-cell communication in immune responses and stimulate the movement of cells to sites of inflammation, infection, and trauma.
By reducing or resolving stress and anxiety, it reduces the levels of inflammatory cytokines. This not only allows your immune system to work better, it also relieves pain. Anxiety is a symptom of inflammation. Inflammation is a symptom of anxiety. The whole vicious cycle. They are directly connected.
The antidote to anxiety is control. When you lose control, your body secretes more stress hormones, more cytokines, which trigger anger and anxiety. When you are angry or stressed, you are in a constant state of threat. When you are trapped by anything, especially chronic pain or even trapped at home by COVID, you get frustrated, increasing your inflammatory cytokines. While there are situations you cannot control, you can learn to control your response to them.

Prayer, meditation, time in nature, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) are proven and effective ways to deal with anxiety and stress, and finding the way that works best for you will go a long way in helping you not only reduce stress and inflammation also support and enhance your immune system.

Your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is activated in response to threats, while your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digestion) is activated through the relaxation response. The vagus nerve is the connection. There are simple ways to activate your vagus nerve, triggering the relaxation response, such as deep breathing, humming, cold showers, probiotics, practicing EFT, prayer, meditation, intermittent fasting, and expressing gratitude.

Because even in the best of cases most people spend their days in a state of constant chronic stress, the relaxation response, which should kick in after the threat has passed, gets stuck. The sympathetic domain weakens the response to rest and digestion, detoxification and healing, and many are no longer able to activate it effectively when needed. Another thing to keep in mind is how electromagnetic fields affect us all. There is definitely a correlation with the vagus nerve.

Since most of your immune system resides in your gut, taking specific steps to keep your digestive system healthy is of the utmost importance. There is no denying that anxiety and stress compromised bowel function.

If you are chronically stressed, your vagal function is most likely compromised. By simply taking steps to support and improve your vagal tone, and intentionally looking for ways to reduce anxiety and stress, you will reduce inflammation, helping to improve your immune function.