Using Your Nervous System to Enhance Your Immune System

This recent podcast from Dr. Huberman on boosting the immune system was super insightful! A tad bit long but so worth the listen.

This episode teaches you a lot about the immune system, immune-brain interactions and offers 12 potential tools for enhancing immune system function. Dr. Huberman discusses how our immune system works and science-supported tools we can use to enhance our immune system.

He discusses the innate and adaptive immune systems and our various microbiomes—not just in our gut but also in our nose, eyes and mouth and how to keep them healthy. And he reviews how specific patterns of breathing and foods maintain a healthy mucosal barrier that is crucial for fighting infections. Dr. Huberman discusses how certain neurochemicals called catecholamines enhance our immune system function and how to use specific breathing protocols, types and timing of heat and cold exposure, and if appropriate, supplementation to activate catecholamines. He also discusses the role and use of serotonin for the sake of accessing the specific types of sleep for recovering from illness, and he discusses how to increase glymphatic “washout” of brain debris during sleep. Dr. Huberman also reviews fever, the vagus nerve and the use of atypical yet highly effective compounds for rhinitis (nasal inflammation).