Using Your Nervous System to Enhance Your Immune System

362 snips

Nov 1, 2021

Explore the fascinating connection between your nervous system and immune health. Discover effective techniques to boost immunity, including breathing patterns and gut health tips. Learn how certain neurochemicals enhance immune function and the importance of sleep for recovery. Delve into the impact of your microbiome and gain insights into managing sickness behavior. These science-backed strategies provide a unique approach to enhancing overall wellness and resilience.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ADVICE

Boosting Immune Defenses

Breathe through your nose, not your mouth, to filter viruses and bacteria better.
Avoid touching your eyes, a primary entry point for infections.

ADVICE

Gut Health and Immunity

Eat 2-4 servings of low-sugar fermented foods daily to improve gut microbiome health.
This reduces inflammatory cytokine activity and supports a healthy mucus lining.

INSIGHT

Sickness Behavior and Immunity

Sickness behavior, like lethargy and reduced grooming, aids healing by slowing blood circulation.
This allows the lymphatic system, crucial for immune function, to become more active.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

This episode teaches you a lot about the immune system, immune-brain interactions and offers 12 potential tools for enhancing immune system function. I discuss how our immune system works and science-supported tools we can use to enhance our immune system.

I discuss the innate and adaptive immune systems and our various microbiomes-- not just in our gut but also in our nose, eyes and mouth and how to keep them healthy. And I review how specific patterns of breathing and foods maintain a healthy mucosal barrier that is crucial for fighting infections. I discuss how certain neurochemicals called catecholamines enhance our immune system function and how to use specific breathing protocols, types and timing of heat and cold exposure, and, if appropriate, supplementation to activate catecholamines. I also discuss the role and use of serotonin for the sake of accessing the specific types of sleep for recovering from illness, and I discuss how to increase glymphatic "washout" of brain debris during sleep. I also review fever, the vagus nerve and the use of atypical yet highly effective compounds for rhinitis (nasal inflammation).

Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman

LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab

Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman

Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman

Timestamps

00:00:00 The Mind & Immune System, New Findings: Acupuncture & Fascia

00:03:16 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up

00:07:41 Foundational Tools & Practices for a Healthy Immune System

00:11:20 Immune System Basics: Skin/Mucous, Innate & Adaptive Immune System

00:17:08 Killer Cells, Complement Proteins (“Eat Me!” Signals), Cytokines (“Help Me!” Signals)

00:21:06 The Adaptive Immune System: Antibodies

00:28:00 Tool 1: Nasal Microbiome and “Scrubbing” Bacteria & Viruses; Nasal Breathing

00:30:33 Tools 2 & 3: (Not) Touching Your Eyes; Gut Microbiome & Fermented Foods

00:34:20 Some Interleukins Are Anti-Inflammatory

00:34:56 Sickness Behavior

00:39:08 Some People Seek Care When Sick, Others Want to be Alone

00:42:00 Sickness Behavior & Depression: Cytokines

00:43:40 Reduced Appetites When Sick: Protein, Iron, Libido

00:46:45 Vagus-Nerve Stimulation: Fever, Photophobia, Sleepiness

00:53:03 Humoral (Blood-Borne) Factors, & Choroid Change Your Brain State

00:55:04 Tools 4, 5: Reducing Sickness: Glymphatic Clearance, Pre-Sleep Serotonin, 5HTP

01:07:03 Tool 6: Hot Showers, Saunas, Baths & Cortisol, Heat-Cold Contrast

01:10:53 Feed a Fever & Starve a Cold (?), Adrenaline

01:12:36 Tool 7: Activating Your Immune System w/Cyclic-Hyperventilation, Alkalinity

01:29:10 Brain Chemicals & Cyclic-Hyperventilation; Catecholamines, Dopamine

01:32:10 Mindsets & Immune Function; Yes, You Can Worry Yourself Sick

01:37:00 Tool 8: Healthy Mindsets, Hope, Dopamine; Tool 9: Tyrosine; Tool 10: Cold Exposure

01:42:05 Once You’re Already Sick: Accelerating Recovery; Tool 11: Spirulina, Rhinitis

01:46:09 Histamines, Mast Cells

01:49:22 Tool 12: Acupuncture: Mechanism for How It Reduces Inflammation; Fascia, Rolfing

01:53:40 Mechanistic Science & Ancient Practices

01:58:00 Synthesis, Ways to Support Us (Zero-Cost), Sponsors, Supplements, Social Media

Disclaimer & Disclosures

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices