I read a fascinating article this morning about autonomic dysregulation as a consequence of wearing masks during this Covid 19 lockdown. What does that mean? Our autonomic nervous system controls 98% of everything that goes on in our body – just about everything except conscious movement and speech. It handles everything so we don’t have to think about it. In this particular situation, we are looking at all the things our body does to prepare for fighting, running away, or freezing our motion. These are our basic stress responses to fear; to when we don’t feel safe. So why would wearing masks make us not feel safe? I thought masks were to make us safer, even though they do nothing for us personally. Masks reduce the number of spitballs we shoot out to those around us that might contain viruses if we are sick and don’t know it. They don’t filter our inhaled air or stop air-born viruses at all.
We have millions of years of evolutionary biology acting automatically whenever we meet someone on the street or anywhere else. We look at their facial expressions to determine whether we are safe with them at that moment. If we can’t see them smiling, we assume they are a threat on some level. Hiding our expressions behind masks is producing states of chronic distress resulting in autonomic dysregulation. So what does that mean in terms of impact on us? The most immediate relevant concern is that it is our autonomic system that controls our immune system. When we don’t feel safe, our body switches into pumping out adrenaline, cortisol, histamine, and inflammatory cytokines. None of these are good for us except when we have to deal with a real fight or flight survival threat for a few minutes. It is never good for us on a chronic level. But the flow of inflammatory cytokines is specifically a major issue with this Covid 19 bug. It is the excess cytokines that push us into greater vulnerability to contracting the bug as well as generating worse outcomes once you have the bug. You have probably heard that the primary reason people die with this bug is the inflammatory cytokine storm that some people produce that destroys their lungs. Reducing things down to the very basics, on a physiologic level people are literally being scared to death. A cytokine storm is a type of panic attack of the immune system. Sometimes the panic is so bad you die.
It is an interesting irony that the more afraid you are, the more vulnerable you become. The more the media tries to scare us into compliance with “safety measures,” the more it creates the very thing it claims to be trying to stop. I have seen this pattern with so many government efforts over the years in so many different areas.
Okay, so let’s widen this subject out a bit. All of you know that when you are tense and afraid, you feel pain more. Any woman who has done natural childbirth successfully knows that by relaxing and moderating your breathing, you can profoundly decrease the pain of childbirth contractions. For the guys, how many times have you sprained an ankle or knee while playing a competitive sport and just shook it off to keep playing? You block the pain during the play. I get to see you a day or two (or month) later and see that your pain-blocking is not working so well now that the game is over. Our mindset deeply changes our perception of pain. The message today is that this change goes much deeper. Our mindset changes our immune response, our hormonal response; it goes right down to the level of gene expression of protein formation in the cells. Fear disrupts our health right down to our genes. Just being afraid triggers the release of interleukin 6, a cytokine (cell messenger) that is responsible for the yucky feelings of the flu. Fear dysregulates the autonomic nervous system, which then unbalances and crashes our organ systems, immune system, and hormonal systems. This then turns full circle in that these unbalances produce systemic inflammation which then scrambles brain functioning producing anxiety. That’s right, anxiety is caused by an inflamed brain. It is a vicious loop.
What are some other symptoms of autonomic dysregulation?
Dizziness
Headaches
Sweating
High or/and low blood pressure
Rashes
Skin Flushing/ blotchy
Stomach hyperacidity
Reflux
Coughing
Fainting
Weakness/ fatigue
Diarrhea
Constipation
Vomiting
Vision problems
Back/neck pain
Breathing problems
Erectile dysfunction
Difficulty swallowing
Urinary problems
Exercise intolerance
Bloating /poor digestion
Poor temperature control
Low libido/ vaginal dryness
and on, and on, and on
As I said, the autonomic nervous system controls almost everything so when it is on the fritz almost anything can go wrong. Good nervous system control requires that we be feeling safe and at ease. The more time we spend tense and afraid, the more out of whack our system gets. Covid 19 really puts the spotlight on this by stressing our system in such a way that our fear and the resultant autonomic dysregulation spiral into crazy land and produce the cytokine storms that end up killing folks. So like I said upfront – we are being scared to death!
If you don’t like this cycle, then you can halt it by doing things that specifically reduce anxiety and fear. This will sound strange, but it is true never-the-less, the biggest thing you can do to reduce fear and stress is to stop eating inflammatory foods and replace them with inflammation-fighting foods. It is the underlying inflammation in our body that physically causes what we feel as anxiety/stress/fear. An inflamed brain is the cause of most depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety. Your brain is saying “I am not okay!” The crazies come from trying to blame that feeling on something in your world. Get out of your stories and deal with the chemical realities in your physical brain first. Interestingly, a keto diet hugely reduces brain inflammation. The ketones you burn for energy on a keto diet are also anti-inflammatory. Some authors even suggest taking ketones orally (Beta-Hydroxybutyrate) for this reason
Sleep is huge! You must get 71/2 to 8 hours of good quality sleep every night. I don’t care that you can get by on only 5 or 6 hours, that is not enough time for your brain to clean itself out and rebuild itself. If you have any of the symptoms mentioned above then dollars to gluten-free, seed oil-free, sugar-free, low-carb doughnuts you are not getting enough sleep.
Now it is time to get groovy and do meditation, yoga, forgiveness exercises (self and others), acupuncture, massage, mindfulness, hiking, having fun with friends, being of service, and generally loving life. This is how to break the hold of fear that is taking us down.
Take care,
David