Immune health plays a crucial role in defense and protection against various chronic diseases via both adaptive and innate immune responses. Eighty percent of our immune system resides in our gut microbiome, therefore, demonstrating the significant role that gut health plays in our overall immune health via immune signaling. More specifically, such immune signaling travels through the vagus nerve, which serves as the primary communication pathway between the gut and the brain, and is regulated by the enteric nervous system. As a result of this phenomenon, it is important to note that our psychological processes play a direct role in the strength of our immune health and protection against the onset of dis-ease.
Psychological processes play a variety of roles in maintaining our immune health and overall well-being. They affect our mood and emotional health by altering areas of the brain that play primary roles in mood and emotion regulation, including the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. Additionally, psychological processes may also alter areas of our brain that play a primary role in learning and memory, such as the hippocampus. Therefore, psychological processes rooted in health-promoting thoughts, resilience, optimism, growth, and overall healthy cognitive processes enhance psychological, spiritual, emotional, mood, and physical health, thereby improving our ability to sustain optimal health and prevent the onset of disease. Conversely, psychological processes rooted in health-degenerating thoughts, fear, scarcity, and lack, as well as overall unhealthy cognitive processes, contribute to a decline in psychological, spiritual, emotional, and physical health, ultimately decreasing our ability to sustain optimal health and prevent the onset of disease.
Health-degenerating psychological processes affect many areas of our health as a result of their interconnectedness with prolonged periods of chronic stress. The onset of chronic stress causes muscle tension, neck tension, migraines and headaches, decreased gut motility and gastrointestinal inflammation, which impair digestion, and shallow breathing, resulting in a decrease in oxygen flow to vital organs, among other effects. There are many more symptoms that relate to chronic stress, but the aforementioned are a few that stand out.
Prolonged periods of chronic stress contributed to prolonged periods of elevated cortisol release, which causes HPA axis dysfunction. The HPA axis refers to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and it is a key marker of stress resiliency. Dysfunction of this axis leads to both gut dysbiosis and adrenal dysfunction. Health-degenerating psychological processes can cause the onset of gastrointestinal inflammation due to HPA axis dysfunction, or further exacerbate present symptoms of gut dysbiosis. Moreover, HPA axis dysfunction leads to adrenal dysfunction, and it is important to note that the adrenals sit on top of the kidneys. Therefore, adrenal dysfunction, resulting from dysregulation of the HPA axis, may lead to kidney dysfunction. This is crucial to prevent as the kidneys are one of the primary organs involved in the body’s natural detoxification process. Impairment in the body’s natural detoxification processes leads to the onset of dis-ease, inflammation, and neuroinflammation amongst a variety of other health concerns.
Moving forward, it is essential to recognize that adrenal dysfunction exacerbates the body’s stress response mechanisms. The adrenal glands are responsible for the secretion of key hormones that regulate the body’s stress response, including cortisol, DHEA (also known as dehydroepiandrosterone), and adrenaline. When there is an extended period of cortisol release that exceeds the stress hormones’ capacity to function, DHEA levels typically drop, indicating adrenal dysfunction. Also, too much release of certain stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, may lead to symptoms of anxiety and nervousness.
Finally, psychological processes may contribute to inflammation by contributing to intestinal permeability, also known as leaky gut where inflammatory molecules cross the intestinal epithelial layer contributing to gastrointestinal inflammation, which leads to neuroinflammation as these inflammatory molecules also cross the blood-brain barrier, which is the brain’s innate filtering system that allows passage of health-promoting chemicals and protection agasint pathogenic chemicals and bacteria under normal operation. Did you know that inflammation during maternal and prenatal health may contribute to the onset of neurodegenerative diseases later in a child’s life, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Ultimately, psychological processes either enhance or diminish our immune response via adaptive and innate immune responses. Therefore, it is essential to recognize that our psychological processes also influence our ability to navigate both daily stressors and long-term stressors. Our psychological processes are directly correlated with the pathophysiology of dis-ease and indicate an imbalance spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally, therefore leading to the physical onset of dis-ease. The onset and pathophysiology of dis-ease is a multi-layered process that does not occur overnight or within hours. It is a process that, if neglected or not assessed at its root cause, can contribute to life-threatening dis-eases and health complications.
Any next steps you may ask? Yes, absolutely! With an understanding of the relationship between psychological processes and the pathophysiology of disease, it is crucial to prioritize your spiritual health and engage in mindfulness activities that promote brain resilience. This creates neuronal resistance and synaptic plasticity, strengthening your nervous system functioning through the healthy regulation of psychological processes. Next, identify at least one lifestyle and behavioral goal that supports your spiritual health and psychological health. For example, you might commit to praying daily and carving out thirty minutes each day to spend time with God in solitude, thereby enhancing your spiritual well-being, connection with God, and sense of purpose and internal fulfillment that extends beyond the material and physical world. Such an activity will naturally alter your psychological processes, as intrinsic value, validation, and motivation are more closely associated with healthy and resilient psychological processes. Additionally, you may commit to coloring or journaling for at least ten minutes each day after dinner to help manage your stress levels. A reduction in stress levels can decrease brain fog while increasing mental clarity, thereby contributing to healthy and resilient psychological processes. Lastly, deprogram your brain from the world’s programming, and reprogram it to function according to God’s laws, free from external stimuli, and in accordance with your most authentic self at the core of who you are. Completing a social media fast, avoiding consumption of toxic television and movies, and reducing intake of emotionally-inducing music will heal your brain to function at its optimal capacity, like it is designed to and wants to. Brain health is essential as it influences our psychological processes, which are directly associated with the pathophysiology of dis-ease, and is related to our Inner Wealth, connection with God, and connection with ourselves!