The Role of Conscious Thought in a World Governed by Biology and Biochemistry
TLDR: Biology and biochemistry explain how the immune system fights illness, but they don’t fully address why some people get sick more often while others rarely do. Both conscious thought and subconscious influences (such as emotions, past experiences, and external factors) play a critical role in determining how well your body responds to threats.
What Determines How Well We Fight Off Illness?
While biology and biochemistry provide a clear picture of how the immune system works, the reason why some people get sick easily while others rarely do is more complex. Biochemistry explains the immune response, but it doesn’t fully capture the influence of mental and emotional states on resilience against illness.
Your body’s ability to fight off illness is not just a product of its physical condition. Conscious thoughts, past experiences, and subconscious emotions significantly influence how well your immune system performs.
Conscious Thought and Your Immune Response
Biology teaches us that the immune system plays an important role in protecting the body from pathogens. However, the strength of that immune response is influenced by more than just physical factors. Your mindset (how resilient or vulnerable you believe yourself to be) can impact your ability to stay healthy.
Your subconscious, which stores memories and emotions from past experiences, shapes how you react to potential illnesses. Positive past experiences can enhance your immune response, while negative emotions or stress can weaken it.
The Determinants of Immune Strength
Here’s how mental factors contribute to immune function:
External Influences: If you’ve been frequently exposed to illness or have a history of getting sick, your brain processes these external cues, shaping your perception of your vulnerability. This belief can influence how your body prepares to fight off sickness.
Subconscious Influence: Your subconscious stores emotional responses to past events. If past experiences conditioned you to expect illness, your subconscious may continue reinforcing that belief, making you more prone to getting sick. Conversely, if you have positive experiences of staying healthy, your subconscious reinforces resilience.
Mindset and Vulnerability: The prefrontal cortex, influenced by both conscious and subconscious factors, determines how you perceive your health. If you’re stressed or consumed with negativity, it weakens your immune system. Optimism and emotional balance, on the other hand, help bolster immune strength.
Immune Response: Once your brain assesses your mental and emotional state, your body responds accordingly. Negative emotions can suppress immune function, while positive mental states can strengthen it. Your mindset directly impacts how well your body fights illness.
Memories, Emotions, and Health
Your immune response is influenced by more than just diet or genetics. Memories and emotions stored in your subconscious play a key role. If you’ve consistently been healthy in the past, your subconscious signals strength to your immune system. However, if you’ve often felt vulnerable to illness, your body might be more prone to sickness, regardless of physical health measures.
While biology explains how the immune system operates, it doesn’t fully address the mental and emotional processes that either strengthen or weaken your immune function. Stress and anxiety can weaken your body’s defenses, while positivity and calm boost them. Your past experiences with illness, stored in your subconscious, guide your immune response today.
This means that your immune system’s effectiveness is not purely physical—it’s also shaped by your emotional state and mindset.
Is Health Only Physical?
This raises an important question: Is your health solely influenced by physical factors?
If subconscious memories and emotions influence how often you get sick, it’s clear that health isn’t just about physical fitness or a good diet. While taking the right physical steps to stay healthy is crucial, your emotional and mental state plays an equally important role in either supporting or undermining those efforts.
Conclusion
Biology and biochemistry explain how the immune system fights illness, but another large contributor is your mind. Your thoughts, memories, and emotions shape your immune response, determining whether you get sick easily or rarely.
The real question isn’t just why you get sick, but how your internal influences (memories, emotions, and past experiences) impact how well your body fights off illness. Your health is shaped as much by your mindset and emotions as it is by your biology.
Note: There is obviously a large physical component to health and fighting off illnesses. This post only highlights that there is also a significant mental component that can influence the body’s ability to stay healthy. Both mind and body play crucial roles in overall health.
Reflecting Thoughts
How do your thoughts impact your health? Consider how your mindset might be influencing your physical well-being. Do you often focus on feeling vulnerable to illness, or do you maintain a belief in your body’s strength? Reflect on how these patterns of thought could be shaping your immune response.
Are past experiences shaping your immune resilience? Think about how your subconscious might be storing past experiences with illness. Are there patterns from your past—positive or negative—that could be influencing how often you get sick?
Can you boost your immune system with a healthier mindset? While biology plays a key role in health, consider the potential benefits of working on your emotional well-being and mindset. Are you actively practicing optimism, stress reduction, or emotional balance? Small changes in your mental approach may strengthen your body’s natural defenses.
Rewriting the Subconscious for Better Health: Although the subconscious operates automatically, you can influence it by consciously introducing healthier mental habits. Regularly practicing affirmations, meditation, and emotional regulation can help you reshape the subconscious beliefs that affect your health. In upcoming posts, I’ll share meditations and techniques that can help rewrite the subconscious to support different aspects of health.