#3 Structural Shifts and Children’s Immune System!

Welcome, this week we take a look at the Immune system.  What you need to know is that a healthy Immune System is about elevating one’s natural resistance to germs and disease rather than avoiding them and eliminating symptoms. There has been a definite shift by the general public towards this ‘Chiropractic’ type of understanding during our lifetime. Now days if you go to any bookstore you can find the health section lined with books about how to BOOST your immune system and many of them are very good with great information. That being said there is far less information on just how the immune system is driven directly or indirectly by proper nerve supply.

If you were to Google the words “Immune system boost”,  you will find in excess of 16,500,000 hits, so clearly this is a topic that is important to the public.

Parents may feel that the health of their children is not great, and they also suspect that long held traditional views of health may not tell the full story.  More and more, this topic is being talked about openly in public, in books and magazines.

Dr. Robert Ader, a psychologist at the University of Rochester School Of Medicine, performed key experiments to prove the brain-nervous system- immune system connection. I will summarise the essential evidence regarding the connection between the brain, the nervous system, and the immune system:

• NERVE ENDINGS ARE FOUND IN THE TISSUES OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.

The central nervous system is linked to both the bone marrow and thymus, where immune system cells are produced and developed, and to the spleen and lymph nodes, where those cells are stored.

• CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ALTER IMMUNE RESPONSES AND TRIGGERING AN IMMUNE RESPONSE ALTERS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ACTIVITY.

Researchers have found that inducing an immune response causes nerve cells in the hypothalamus to become more active and the brain cell activity

peaks at precisely the same time that levels of antibodies are at their highest. The brain monitors immunological changes closely.

• LYMPHOCYTES ARE CHEMICALLY RESPONSIVE TO HORMONES AND NEUROTRANSMITTERS.

Immune system cells have receptor-molecular structures on their surfaces that allow them to receive information from the nervous system and other parts of the immune system.

When babies put  things into their mouths, it is a natural way of gradually exposing their immune systems to tiny antigens, which the immune system must attack and destroy — a process which strengthens and  protects  the immune system.

“Through  the  process  of  developing and   then   conquering   infection,  the child gets rid  of  acquired  toxins  and poisons from the body and also gets a generous  boost  to  the  immune system.”- HEALING ARTS PRESS

“Whenever the immune system deals successfully with an infection, it emerges from the experience stronger and better able to confront similar threats in the future. Our immune system develops in combat. If, at the first sign of infection, you always jump in with antibiotics, you do not give the immune system a chance to grow stronger.” –ANDREW WEIL, M.D.

This blog places  particular emphasis on immune system development in the first year of life and this will be a topic that will be threaded through many other weeks as well.

The immune  system  consists  of  the tonsils,  adenoids, thymus, bone marrow, spleen, appendix, Peyer’s patches, lymph nodes, and circulating white blood cells. The job of the immune system is to protect and defend the body against infection from disease-producing microorganisms  such  as  viruses,  bacteria,  fungi,  and parasites that live in our environment.

Remember that  MANY OF THE CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS OF ILLNESS, FROM NASAL DISCHARGE  TO  FEVER  AND  SWOLLEN  GLANDS  ARE  SIGNS  THAT  THE NORMAL IMMUNE RESPONSE IS PROCEEDING ON SCHEDULE.

“Symptoms represent the body’s best efforts to heal itself. By treating symptoms, you are suppressing the body’s natural response and inhibiting the healing process. Instead of treating symptoms, doctors should stimulate the body’s defenses to allow for completion of the healing process.” – DR. STEPHEN CUMMINGS

.

Watch a Killer T Cell in action

The nervous system controls the entire growth and development of the immune system. An infant’s immune system is immature at birth; fortunately, a newborn carries passive immunity from the mother for the first several months of life.

Breastfeeding provides the infant with the antibodies and immune enhancing factors that develop the immunity.  A  baby’s  lymphocytes  are not  yet  capable  of  producing all  the antibodies necessary to fight disease. A baby acquires this ability over the first year of life.

Human breast milk is biologic specific, that is, each drop of milk is alive with millions of tiny white  blood  cells  and immunoglobins (infection-fighting proteins) that circulate through the baby’s body, ingesting and destroying   harmful    bacteria-like    miniature pac-men.

As the infant is exposed to microorganisms, the lymphocytes start to make antibodies and memory cells so that when the baby comes into contact with those micro-organisms again, the baby will mount an immune response more quickly.

…

KEY POINTS

• When a  baby  is  born  they  have   an   immune   system,  but   it   is  not   yet developed— therefore they are initially dependent on breast milk for their immunoglobulins.
• The raising of the head and the crawling motion develops not only the shape of the  spine,  but  also  enables  immune  system  development  because  the cross-crawl  motion  causes  the nerves  to fire into the major  immune system organs.
• As babies  begin to crawl,  they  widen their perimeter and begin putting more things in their mouth—this is a natural way of exposing their developing immune system to more antigens which further strengthens their immune competence.
• The immune system develops in combat—symptoms, ALL symptoms are either a direct part  of  or  the result of—the body’s  normal, natural healing process. So not only are  symptoms, normal-they are downright beneficial—and we will see in future weeks how this process maximizes the body’s internal signaling and communication process—which benefits the person throughout their life.

All of the above involves NORMAL nerve supply and NORMAL supportive and protective  structures

We would love to welcome THE FLOAT SPACE to our Preferred Patient Program.

Now our patients can enjoy a relaxing float with a discount using your Preferred Patient Card.

We now stock this great book for new and not so new parents alike!!!

Receive discounts on this, Structural Pillows and Structural Lumbar rolls with your Preferred Patient Card.

Have a Great Week!!!