Increase your Immunity & Reduce Anxiety through your thoughts
As a therapist who specialises in helping people with anxiety and as someone who has suffered from this for many years myself, I am fascinated with how we can influence every aspect of our health through our thoughts.
The situation we are seeing with the Covid 19 virus has caused a vast number of people in the world to be hit with sudden and crippling anxiety. This has many symptoms, from sleepless nights, onset of mental illness to panic attacks and domestic violence.
Another outcome of feelings of anxiety that is less visible but no less deadly is the effect on our immune systems.
The objective of this article is to help people to keep their anxiety as low as possible and their immune systems at an optimum level in these unprecedented times. The direct link between anxiety and its suppression of the immune system should be far more widely published at a time when the world is in the grip of full panic; as revealed by the large scale panic buying, imminent economic stand still and the fear of the unknown. A simple search, will unveil multiple links between anxiety and stress and their effects on the immune system documented all over the internet; from the NHS website to healthline and other mental health websites.
There are many widely published ways to boost your immune system. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables, using spices such as ginger and turmeric, taking supplements like vitamin C, zinc and vitamin D, exercising and not smoking are but a few. However, reducing anxiety and creating time for personal connection, wellbeing and nurturing the power of positive thought processes will do wonders for your general immune response and as difficult as it may seem, in these strange times there are things we can do to help you relieve the stress and anxiety and boost your mental and physical health.
So, how does anxiety and stress put strain on our bodies? It works like this: Cortisol and other stress hormones directly suppress our immune system. This stress response that our body creates from panic is done to protect us from attack, but it’s meant for a short term response - not an ongoing one.
Our bodies produce these chemicals so that we can have a burst of adrenaline and stress hormones to help us run away from a perceived attack. In the old days it was a Sabre Tooth tiger… However in the current instance, it's the threat of Covid 19 leaving us vulnerable and in unknown territory (in the throws of a pandemic and economic panic)
The current Covid 19 anxiety situation is heightened by a society already prone to high levels of anxiety - so we are layering anxiety and stress upon anxiety and stress - which is a lethal mix for our already strained immune systems at a time when we need them to be on top form!
It is therefore vital that we try and keep stress and anxiety to a minimum and do everything else that we can to keep our immune systems shipshape.
The first step we can take to reduce anxiety and stress is to take a step back. This may seem difficult to get your head around considering we are in the thick of a bizarre moment in time. But it’s precisely that, which we have to consider. This is a moment in time. This time will pass. However awful it may get - it will pass. It always does.
World wars have been fought - plagues have been survived and we will get through this and we will return to a more normal way of living once again. We know that. Yes, there may be changes as a result of the current situation, but we will return to some sort of stability. So by thinking in this way and reminding ourselves of this, we have an anchor - a certainty amongst the fear of the unknown.
The 1st Century Roman philosopher Seneca said:
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality” and so let us not preempt disaster and consider the world is nigh before it happens. Yes there are challenges but if we remain practical and level headed we have a far greater chance of getting through this with minimal damage in all areas; than if we let the panic take us over. Let us try and bring our minds back to the present as much as we can and focus on our families, on our hobbies, on the positive things that we do have right now and not about all manner of possibilities that may or may not happen. Yes - let’s be sensible, yes let’s take precautions, but we can try and do so from a rational and objective place
To help with this we can also reduce our exposure to negativity and anxiety by reducing our news consumption. I am not saying don’t watch it at all. At a time like this, there is a need to know what the key developments are, but we can limit the time we spend on news channels and social media and give ourselves set times for essential catch ups. For instance you could set a filter on your computer or phone or give yourself a check in time every day so you stay in the know but give yourself a chance to focus on other things at other times. Ask yourself - is it healing to be in constant exposure to the flow of news? It is not changing the situation, it's not changing your likelihood to catch the virus, and yet by listening to it constantly you are in a constant stream of negativity and stress. You have control over this so take control and put boundaries up.
Be wary with social media - as it’s a rabbit hole into “news” and quite often fake news... and by taking the relevant apps off your phone and setting times to check in if you need to do so you can catch up with friends or what is trending (if you need to) and be strict with yourself about this - hence reducing the negative impact of the news on your nervous system.
We can also take steps to reduce stressful discussions in our households, creating boundaries for when stressful topics can be discussed. It may be difficult to stop these altogether, but by trying to stick to certain times when discussions can be had means that you can focus your attention on other tasks or more positive distractions at other times.
If we use the time we would otherwise be spending on news and disturbing discussions with more positive anxiety reducing activities we would see a benefit to our general mental health and in turn our immune systems.
Social distancing and working from home provides us with an opportunity to take up some new habits and hobbies and meditation is one such habit that your mind and body will be grateful for at a time like this.
Meditation literally changes the way our brains work and increases the proteins directly responsible for self healing and improving the immune system. Dr. Joe Dispenza has done rigorous scientific testing including brain scans, blood tests, and heart monitoring to prove this.
Dr. Joe says in his blog: “Amongst countless other results, what we’ve found is that by people simply changing their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and energy, they can produce profound positive effects on their genetic expression, neurology, immune system, longevity, heart and brain coherence, and overall health”
Bruce Lipton Phd renowned bioscientist and author of “The Biology of Belief” says how: “Stunning new scientific discoveries about the biochemical effects of the brain's functioning show that all the cells of your body are affected by your thoughts”
With these latest developments in mind, ensuring that we do everything we can to nurture our thoughts and the way we think should be high on our priority list. Not only adding extra protection from Covid 19, but protecting us from depression and anxiety in the long run. If we spend time nurturing our minds, maybe we can come out of this current situation with some helpful new tools in our box for when life does return to something resembling normal, having formed some new and positive habits to take with us on the rest of our journey.
Meditation is a great daily exercise to engage in - which gives you time away from the norm - enables you to connect with your inner self - and gives you a chance to reset your mind. You can spend minutes or hours meditating and there are so many ways to do this - all of them beneficial.
When people talk about meditation they often think about having to shut off all of their thoughts, which can seem very daunting when your “supercomputer” is on overdrive with worrying thoughts. There are countless incredible meditation sites out there, including thousands of free options on YouTube that offer various kinds of guided meditation or Yoga Nidra that can help bring you to a place of neutrality and peace without forcing yourself not to think.
Many Yoga teachers around the world have set up online classes which also help bring calm and relaxation into the mind and the body. There is something for everyone out there. We live in a world full of online offerings from sites like Glo yoga to live Joe Wicks workouts.
This is also a great time to take up a new hobby or do an online course. If you have a garden, then gardening is a great way to get outside and connect with nature. There are so many affordable courses on Udemy and other sites to suit every interest that we could all be engaging in some wonderful personal growth right now. When you are learning new and exciting things you don’t have time for anxiety. You are literally taking your mind off it…Our minds find it very difficult to focus on being happy and sad at the same time so our minds reduce the discomfort and allow us to come back into balance - a term which is referred to as cognitive dissonance. If you have children then this can be a juggle but - this is a time to set boundaries. We all need personal space and creating a time for your wellness will benefit the entire family. If you are feeling calm and fulfilled, then you are much more likely to be able to give unreservedly and with love the rest of the time. If the only time you have to do this is when the children go to be then it’s better to do this than sit up worrying about the future.
If you do find yourself having a panic attack or feeling particularly anxious, there are many breathing exercises you can do to give immediate relief. One is to hold your right nostril and breathe through your left nostril. This helps to activate your parasympathetic nervous system - which is related to rest and digest activity. It controls homeostasis and slows your heart rate.
Another lovely breathing exercise is to close your eyes, hold your hands on your heart and breath as if up and down your spine. Holding your hands on your heart will automatically calm you as the element of touch is comforting. Breathing up and down your spine will slow your thoughts down and enable your body to relax out of the fight or flight response. There are many other breathing techniques you can use to reduce immediate effects of a panic attack and I go through the examples above on my YouTube channel if you need a more visual demonstration.
Being grateful is another wonderful practice. It may seem trite to say this when so many people have lost their jobs and are worried about the future, but if we compare ourselves with some of the world's poorest people right now who are being forced to walk hundreds of miles without food just to get home, like we are seeing in India - we are lucky. Lucky to have shelter, lucky to have a phone we can contact loved ones on - lucky to have food to eat. Lucky to have a health service that is there for us. Let’s be grateful for what we DO have and not what we don’t have right now.
And finally - let’s connect with loved ones on the phone, let’s tell them how much we love them and allow ourselves to put our differences to one side so we focus on what is important. Stay connected!
Staying connected to yourself through activities like meditation and staying connected to loved ones is one of our greatest weapons against depression and keeping on top of our mental health. Reach out to those who are not so good at connecting. These are the friends or the neighbours who need us - and by sharing your love - you will feel the love more yourself too.
I am a clinical hypnotherapist and I have created this relaxing recording to reduce anxiety and boost your immune system. It is especially for those who want to switch off and allow their subconscious mind to plug in to a more positive way of being right now. This will have a similar effect to a guided meditation and through regular listening to my words when you are in a hypnotic state your conscious mind will begin to behave in this positive way and allow a more peaceful state of mind to prevail. I have included positive suggestions about your physical health so that your subconscious creates exactly that. I am not an M.D and this is not a cure, it is meant as a therapeutic gift during a time of anxiety and stress in the world and if you don’t like it then there are so many wonderful offerings out there by other therapists.
Please take the time to subscribe to my YouTube channel while visiting it: Guided Meditation to Increase Immunity & Reduce Anxiety
Take this time to explore what works for you. Everyone is different and what works for one person may not work for another. But one way we are all the same is - we need self love, we need connection, we need to be present to stay strong in mind and body and spirit.
If you are struggling with chronic anxiety, I offer specialist Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) for anxiety online or can do one to one RTT or general hypnotherapy sessions online. If you are spending time at home this is a great time to do deeper work on yourself. Contact me via my website: www.charlotteferrier.com or charlotte.ferrier@gmail.com for more information.
