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Recent neuroscience shows when we perceive ourselves to be under constant emotional threat, brain/body respond to those stressors as if they are biological pathogens, upping 
inflammatory hormones and cytokines that harm immune health.
inflammatory hormones and cytokines that harm immune health.
We need to feel socially & emotionally safe in order for our brain (which cross chats with our body's immune system) to function optimally. Happily we have a lot of agency in terms of how we manage our stress-immune response. Micro-choices matter if we're to flourish in crisis.
Ask yourself on and off today:
“ #Hello Brain: what messages am I sending you right now?”
Most of us are sending our brain non-stop danger-alert signals from #pandemic news that our stress-immune response at a time when we need our immune system to be healthier than ever.
“ #Hello Brain: what messages am I sending you right now?”
Most of us are sending our brain non-stop danger-alert signals from #pandemic news that
our stress-immune response at a time when we need our immune system to be healthier than ever.
There are many positive actions we CAN’T take right now (seeing friends, holding loved ones). So we have to get creative and double down on 
positive experiences that we CAN take to 
our stress threat response, spend more of our day actively stacking in positive experiences.
positive experiences that we CAN take to our stress threat response, spend more of our day actively stacking in positive experiences.
Here is some of what I'm doing to my threat-stress inflammatory response and healthy stress hormones like oxytocin.
#HelloBrain: Let's do Hanami (Japanese art of blossom viewing watching light and wind play on blossoms while contemplating the transient quality of life).
my threat-stress inflammatory response and healthy stress hormones like oxytocin. #HelloBrain: Let's do Hanami (Japanese art of blossom viewing watching light and wind play on blossoms while contemplating the transient quality of life).
#HelloBrain: Let's do a little daily Qi Gong to our threat-stress inflammatory response and healthy stress response for healthy immune regulation:
our threat-stress inflammatory response and healthy stress response for healthy immune regulation:
#HelloBrain: Let's put our hands in the dirt & plant vegetables and healthy stress response while also getting good nutrition. And while we're at it let's plant pots of starter violets to leave on the porches of our elderly neighbors. Giving to others healthy immunity too.
healthy stress response while also getting good nutrition. And while we're at it let's plant pots of starter violets to leave on the porches of our elderly neighbors. Giving to others healthy immunity too.
P.S. For more of the deep in the weeds science on how our brain is in an intricate moment by moment dance with the world around us in ways that shape our immune response and well-being, here's my article in @WIRED: https://wired.com/story/the-tiny-brain-cells-that-connect-our-mental-and-physical-health/ from my book, The Angel and the Assassin.
