Understanding the Cell Danger Response (CDR)
TLDR - Our cells have a protective response when they encounter or perceive stressors. This is called the cell danger response.
What is the Cell Danger Response?
The CDR is a protective mechanism cells use when they encounter various stressors, such as infections, toxins, or injuries. This occurs to protect the cells and the body as a whole.
Examples of Protective Mechanisms:
Metabolic Shift: Cells prioritize defense and survival over normal activities, often switching to more conservative energy production.
Activation of Defense Mechanisms: Various defense pathways are activated, including immune responses and stress response pathways, to combat threats.
Limiting Cellular Activities: Non essential functions may be suppressed to conserve energy for defense and repair.
Ways CDR is Triggered
Direct Harm: Stressors that cause physical damage to cells or disrupt biological processes can trigger the CDR. More detailed examples and explanations are in following tiers of the Avoid Danger Response section:
Response by Association: Sometimes, the body incorrectly associates a harmless item with danger due to past stressful experiences. For example:
Eating a specific food during a stressful event may cause the body to associate that food with “bad” and deploy the danger response next time you come in contact with it.
Consuming pesticide laden fruits or vegetables can cause the body to link “bad” with the food itself, even if the pesticides are the actual trigger. When you have the food without the pesticide in the future, your body may still think it is “bad.”
Imbalances in Biochemical Processes:
Deficiencies: Example - Vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption, bone health, and immune function. Insufficient vitamin D can result in weakened bones, impaired immune response, and increased susceptibility to infections. The immune cells may activate a danger response due to the impaired immune function, leading to chronic inflammation and increased risk of diseases.
Excess: Excessive intake of vitamin A, particularly in its preformed form (retinol), can lead to hypervitaminosis A. This condition can cause a range of symptoms, from mild to severe, including nausea, dizziness, headaches, and even liver damage.
Homeostasis Disruption: Cells can sense danger in various ways. If homeostasis is disrupted, bodily functions may not run smoothly, triggering a danger response. The response may be unnoticeable or immediately apparent. Each situation is unique, but if the source of the problem is not resolved, further imbalances and additional danger responses will occur. This is another reason to always be striving towards homeostasis when thinking about health.
Additional Examples
Toxins and Chemicals: Pesticides, heavy metals, BPAs, food additives, etc.
Nutritional Imbalances: Deficiencies or excess intake of nutrients.
Microbiome Dysbiosis: Imbalances in gut bacteria.
Environmental Stressors: EMFs, pollution, noise, lifestyle factors.
Stress: Chronic or acute stress.
Disrupted Circadian Rhythm: Misalignment in biological processes. Lack of specific wavelengths of light.
Hormonal Imbalances: Dysregulation of hormones.
Other: Dental issues, improper breathing, excessive exercise, processed foods etc.
Symptoms of CDR
The symptoms of the CDR are unlimited, as cells throughout your entire body can be affected. Danger responses in cells in your arm can differ significantly from those in your stomach. Our bodies are also highly interconnected, so a danger response in one area of the body may cause a symptom somewhere else. Below are example symptoms for the specific example of danger responses to food sensitivities:
Fatigue
Brain fog
Anxiety and depression
Muscle or headaches
Stomach ache, bloating, acid reflux
Rash
Managing the CDR
To manage the CDR, it's crucial to reduce exposure to stressors and support the body's natural defense processes. The foundational diagram has mitigation practices for each stressor.
Natural Detoxification Processes
When you ingest a stressor, such as a toxin, allergen, or harmful substance, your body may initiate the CDR as a protective mechanism. If the stressor is not effectively detoxified and removed, the danger response can persist, resulting in ongoing inflammation, oxidative stress, and tissue damage.
Initial Ingestion:
When you consume a harmful substance, your digestive system is the first to encounter it. The stressor can disrupt the normal functioning of your gut cells, triggering an immediate danger response.
The immune system in your gut may recognize the substance as a threat and activate an inflammatory response to neutralize and eliminate it.
Systemic Spread:
If the stressor is absorbed into the bloodstream, it can travel to other parts of the body, affecting various organs and tissues.
Cells in different parts of the body may sense the presence of the stressor and activate their own danger responses, leading to inflammation and cellular dysfunction.
Chronic Activation:
If the stressor is not effectively detoxified and removed, the danger response can become chronic. This means that cells remain in a heightened state of alert, continuously producing inflammatory signals and stress molecules.
Chronic activation of the danger response can lead to persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, and tissue damage.
Ways We Detox
Liver: Central organ in detoxification, processing various substances.
Kidneys: Filter and excrete waste products and toxins.
Skin: Eliminates toxins through sweat.
Respiratory System: Removes volatile substances and gases.
Gastrointestinal System: Eliminates toxins through feces.
Lymphatic System: Removes cellular debris and toxins.
Immune System: Neutralizes toxins.
Endocrine System: Manages stress response and influences detoxification.
Mind Over Matter
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a significant role in triggering the danger response. The Autonomic Nervous System and the Subconscious Mind post discusses how you have an influence on your ANS via your mindset and emotions. While it is important to reduce exposure to things that cause a danger response, your mindset as you approach these stressors may be equally important.
Scenarios:
Let’s say you have to walk through a room that you know contains chemicals. If you remain calm and relaxed, believing that you are strong and will detox the chemicals just fine, your body may react appropriately. Conversely, if you walk through the room and start to panic or stress about the potential harm, your body enters an extra state of fight or flight. This heightened stress can impair your ability to detox the chemicals effectively, potentially leading to a more negative response.
Ignorance is bliss: This may explain why some people can go about their days without worrying about the harmful things around them. By staying calm, their resilient bodies are better able to handle stressors compared to someone who is constantly stressed about everything. Obviously the physical load would eventually overburden their bodies detox system, but you could say the relaxed mindset would help to an extent.
Similarly, let’s say you just read an article or book about the harmful effects of EMFs. Now you are scared about the unknown EMFs you may be exposed to at work. Your body goes into a state of fight or flight when you walk into your office building and doesn’t stop until you leave. During this time, biological processes are disrupted, and you may even create a worse danger response to the EMFs than you originally would have had.
While EMFs are certainly harmful and should be limited when possible, it is also important to maintain a positive mindset and reinforce that your body has defense mechanisms to handle limited amounts of EMFs and other environmental stressors. Stressing about something you cannot change in the immediate moment will only make things worse.
Reversing Inappropriate CDR
Some danger responses will always occur due to the physical harm they cause. However, incorrectly associated dangers can actually be reversed. The post below walks through ways to reassociate your danger response to physical and emotional triggers.