The Hidden Link Between Immunity, Stress, and Resilience: Breathwork Explained

Ep 105. Unlocking True Resilience: How Your Immune System and Breath Control Can Transform Stress into Strength

Resilience isn't just about "toughing it out" or pushing through environmental stress. True resilience is biological. It begins deep within the body—at the level of humoral immunity, your blood-based immune response. This internal defense system doesn’t just protect you from viruses and bacteria—it shapes how you feel moment to moment.

Our perception of wellness—ease, effort, stress, or burnout—is deeply tied to immune function and the chemical messengers in our bloodstream. Hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and glucocorticoids, along with neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, GABA, and NMDA receptors, directly influence how we interpret the world around us. Are we thriving, or are we merely surviving?

When life becomes uncertain, overwhelming, or ambiguous—whether it's work, relationships, isolation, or public settings—our body prepares to fight or flee. This triggers a flood of stress hormones and often leaves us in a loop of anxiety and fatigue.

But there’s good news: you can regulate this system—instantly.

Breath control techniques are a scientifically-backed, rapid-response tool to rebalance oxygen and carbon dioxide, reduce anxiety, and stabilize stress chemicals in the body. With conscious breathing, you activate a neurological and immunological reset—allowing you to respond to life with clarity, calm, and internal strength.

The first step toward resilience is awareness. By understanding your internal biology and practicing nervous system regulation, you build both environmental resilience and immune defense—from the inside out.

So, breathe deep. Stress less. Your body knows the way—now your mind does too. Walk well

Transcript

Welcome back folks to episode 105 of the Running Man Self Regulation Skills Project Podcast with me, your host Dr. Armando Dominguez, PhD in Health Psychology, licensed professional counselor and an adjunct professor at a local community college. What we're going to be discussing today is going to involve the blood flow in our body and blood itself. And we're going to be focusing on immunity. And if you look at the science studies, the term humoral immunity has to do with the immune

cascade of chemicals going on in our blood to protect us from viral and bacterial insult that come from our environment. But what I'd like to point out is that we have varying degrees of immunity that occur in what we would call our lives and some of it extends even to the social and the development of skill and our general resilience to the stress or allostatic load from living in a stressful environment. And we're to point out some details that are going to be useful that really do play deeply into what self-righteousness

self-regulatory skills are and why we have to use them in the first place. But on top of that, we're going to discuss where the beginnings of our resistance that self-regulatory skills are a behavioral, would say expression of it, the farthest in behaviorally trying to stop change or maybe mitigate the effects of stress and that sort of thing such as anxiety. But we're going to look at the humeral immunity, the immunity that flows in our body and how it's impacted by our psychology.

like in psycho neuro immunology and also the neurological stress that we may experience whenever we are under load and how that impacts resilience generally and also our wellness and health and how we actually respond when under a great deal of stress when trying to improve our lives and get to that next level so to speak. So immunity and resilience are things that we need to develop one in the conceptual sense whenever we're dealing socially with

with people, whenever we hear things such as being immune to certain comments or opinions or beliefs for that matter that might not be particularly constructive or helpful or healthy for that matter, we discuss being resilient. We may make comments such as just resist or better than that, don't believe what they're saying or just stop listening to them, just ignore them altogether. And those are all behavioral expressions of not interacting one with a concept and also subjectively in our own mind as a result of

armando (02:56.891)
the impact of having heard words for instance, may have impact, especially with people that have influence in our lives, loved ones and whatnot, maybe even our bosses. But yet leaving a residual effect is particularly negative or makes me feel unwell. And I say unwell as in emotionally and mentally feeling stressed. But knowing that that state of mind and that state of emotion that we experience as a cascade of chemicals at the physiological level impacts our health generally. Now, if it's

just a very one-off type of thing where we have a stressful event and we know that in studies of immunity that if you have a one stressful event that spikes your stress levels in your body, your body's humoral immunity, your blood flow carrying immune response to stress in the environment, it goes up, which isn't a bad thing. If you have something that was encroaching, you might wipe it out. But whenever we have a chronicity of stress, when we have a chronic

relative to my life, everyday type of stress, and I have moderate levels of stress response in my body. At some point the body starts to exhaust. At some time in the future, once you've had the beginning of the stress, and then you realize, well, it's not going away anytime soon. And this isn't hammering on babies, but like whenever one has a baby, the beginnings of that.

They're not going to be over for probably about 18 years if you're an involved parent this sort of thing. So there's going to be a chronic level of stressors, raising little ones, and also parenting, especially when they get into teen years. And one realizes that one never really gets out of that parenting factor. Now I use that analogy half jokingly, but half seriously as well in that you have a chronic level of stress involved with raising children, this sort of thing in parenting. But the big thing is,

that when we have something that's long term like that, and let's say we have a level of upset and anger that continues as a result, let's say a resentment at work or a resentment about something someone said or maybe you feel as an individual like you're not measuring up something's wrong or I can't do certain things and that can be very frustrating, but those negative emotions release immune function in our blood flow as well as a result of whatever perceived stress even if it's at the psychological

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level, where I'm subjectively thinking about the negatives versus negatives actually happening. And it's just merely my interpretation and the quality of belief that supports that. And therefore I have emotions and feelings in my body that may support whatever idea I had. And it's not really facts on the outside and you know that at the higher cognitive level, but at the base level, wherever you think and feel that our body, our subconscious mind doesn't have the luxury of that rationale to stop the reaction.

activity because it takes is whatever we're feeling to support that thought as a fact or as it's occurring and it's not so much that our body is dumb but it tends to believe and it's our believer as much of our life is experienced it experiences the good things too it also takes on the reaction to those beliefs we may subjectively take on without necessarily thinking about the intensity of it and trying to mitigate that so we're gonna be pointing out some things and once again self-regulation

to help minimize the negative effects.

of something that might have been heard in passing or believed or something that we didn't really put up a cognitive defense for to be able to rationalize away and say, that's dumb or that's not true. No facts there to be able to defend against, so to speak. And it may arise later. And it's not so much that it always has to be repeated, but sometimes we will ruminate on things when we go back and think about it. Well, you know, so-and-so said this and maybe they shouldn't have said that. And that really kind of honks me off now, but yet I didn't have time to

address it at the moment and then we start making narrative and adding meaning and weight to things which means we have not only a quality of belief because I've invested energy into it, energy being attention, maybe some emotion as a result and some judgment, some opinion which is basically my thoughts of the matter with the emotional load which necessarily just enhanced.

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Not only the impact, but the memory itself. It basically guaranteed that we're surely going to be thinking about this again. And it doesn't get relegated to those things that go into the back burner that are subconscious, but not really in the junk pile, but in the catch 22 file, to be shredded later. So what we have done is added value to it. And once it has valence like that, now it's an environmental threat of sorts that we categorize with other things that are threatening, not because it's of like threat, like something.

is going to harm me physically, but rather the fact that there's a common occurrence that we associate and that's discomfort, a sense of threat and threat chemicals and all those things that go with that. That if you really look at all things from the zoomed out lens, all things that are negative have a response to things that are painful, threatening or scary. And we tend to at some level have some correlation that even though we're not identical, they're similar at some level. So therefore we categorize them because they all have a stress chemical response involved, for instance.

Now, whenever we were thinking about humoral immunity, whenever we have any kind of stress, this is how our human body is made for the most part. Physiologically, whenever we bump our arm, our body will release stress chemicals because of a stressful event, the pain. Also, what we'll call the TH1, TH2 cells, that's going to be the inflammatory response first to bring inflammation and stability of an area that needs to be immobilized. That's why you have

swelling of a joint or if you bump something you have a little red swelling this sort of thing to help not only isolate but to stabilize the area but th2 to 2 cells flow through there are anti-inflammatory factors and they come in to kind of sweep away what may have penetrated our defense which would have been at the very first our skin so the integumentary system the skin system is broken we might have like bleeding at first and then the coagulation then we have these little

fibrin to start to develop so we develop not only a clot but the beginnings of some closure where we start healing over time if we have an open wound for instance and during this time we also have inflammatory cytokines the cytokines are the terms that during that big illness thing that went on number of years back we started getting really familiar with and heard the cytokine storm type of thing but anytime we have stress cytokines are released whether it be viral bacterial or even a physical

armando (09:46.663)
We have a huge pain or damage to a leg will have that release as well. But the pointing out that I'm doing here is the fact that regardless of it, it's a physical impact or it's viral or bacterial this sort of thing. The response that we have to the stressors in our blood in our body's immune system. It's the same. It treats the bump like a virus, like a bacteria, exactly the same. And that it releases within the blood, the body does all

those chemicals that would otherwise be released and this includes stress chemicals. Now we're talking about mitigating the effects of these stressors at the humoral level. Now what else gets released to stress chemicals? We're talking about glucocorticoids to help enhance not only performance of the body and a fight-flight response but also cortisol and this is one of the terms that has become a media honey and made the rounds for a number of years already but cortisol isn't a bad thing. Usually it elevates when we get up in the mornings

and have any yet and that some of the the natural response to the diurnal rhythm and whenever we get about mid morning those levels go down when other things you also have a spike in in the blood sugar and the elevation of insulin to manage that for instance because we need the energy to go out and foraging that sort of thing but the important thing is about cortisol people talk about cortisol belly if you have a chronic stress one that is a perceived stress you're not physically threatened but you're

armando (11:29.877)
the ease you'll have some adrenaline release another thing that's released into the blood flow it's a hormone once again so it has to get into the blood flow to metabolize just like blood sugar would and so does cortisol and these things are released from

the kidneys in particular and That is part of our immunity against physical threat by becoming stronger and faster But they also kind of help out the blood level of cortisone not cortisone, but rather That is also released by the way with the glucocorticoids But cortisol in particular is a blood coagulant it thickens the blood So if you are bleeding out you're more apt to coagulate more quickly more effectively, especially with that

is we're letting out is needed to live. We want it to stay in the body. So the thickening of the blood in that sense for a spike stress in our body. Yes, makes sense. No kidding. But if the chronicity of stress is such that I'm not being laid open or cut or bleeding out, but yet I have stress, then that corrosive quality goes up in cortisol in that it's not supposed to be in our body for a long time in high levels. And that starts to corrode it's corrosive.

again to muscle tissue in particular skeletal muscle also can get weakened over time with an excess amount of cortisol and we wind up hearing about people with strains and cramps and injuries to skeletal muscle in motion that otherwise would be for the most part normal movements but the body can't resist the stressors of sudden stress or shocking stress whenever the muscles take off like it's fight flight and all sudden boom I've just pulled a muscle on top of that the smooth muscle the flexible

the

armando (13:45.756)
the blood pressure goes up go up because there are smaller openings for the blood to flow through but also the elasticity of those structures because of the lesion among other things starts to stiffen those smooth muscle structures where we become more at risk when we have atherosclerosis or the hardening of the arteries over time many years part of that and the cortisol and of course the cholesterol starts coming into play we do know that cholesterol is a good thing we need it from the

fats that we eat to support our neuronal structures and making myelin but when we're under stress our body is treat things as if it's a fight-flight I'm going to get eaten going to die response and it releases cortisol chronically our body can't handle that level of continuous elevated level of cortisol he's supposed to have some every day but not to the excesses that we experience in a stressful life so to speak so when we're talking about humoral immunity

These are protective factors that whenever we have chronicity of stress go out of whack and then they're no longer protective but damaging and Just like the sword can be protective an individual in the right hands If you don't sheath that thing back up whenever you're not using it Some book someone could follow and cut themselves this sort of thing and it's not meant to be hurting the individual on the good side of things but rather Protect against those things that would be trying to damage the self the village and tribe this sort of thing So that's the concept the idea

behind what we're talking about today. There are a number of memes out there and also shows and some music they talk about being just a little unwell and there is definitely a state of wellness whenever we feel good to go and not in chronic pain and generally are able to go about doing our things with a general state of ease. These are good things. Now whenever we're in a sense of feeling unwell, often whenever we are under stress, our blood flow gets the largest amount of stress response.

that we can say because it's throughout, it's replete through the body, not just in certain areas, but on top of that, it affects our wellbeing, generally how we interact with people, our mood.

armando (15:55.258)
Our general wherewithal our feelings and stuff that are the underlying base that give us a sense or a tone of who we are how we are generally and how We interact with people that mood that can go up and can go down So people talk about having a bad mood or mood swings if there is that kind of volatility There's definitely a whole lot of stress going on and it's not necessarily a diagnosable mental health disorder It could be very much a physiological health disorder and that can happen when we don't eat

well and we don't sleep well and whenever we are in pain chronic pain or have been injured and often sometimes just with the concept of expectation of threat or worry or loss that there's enough belief in there that a body stresses and ramps up even though we have no answer for it we are not all Zen Buddhist master priest wherever we can just shut off the emotions and wait till it happens and not stress until the moment required we're not like that you can get very skilled and minimize

the effects of a day-to-day life but very few of us get to that level to where nothing perturbs us and we maintain and even keel throughout and it's not personal our lives are personal in a modern sense because that's what we have that's what we do and much of what we draw meaning from and who I feel that I am who I've become how I identify as an individual as a human stems from the experiences that I've had and that gives me value in the eyes that are my loved ones the people with whom I interact and also gives me value in

the of those that I might work with, work for, and also help for that matter. So these are important things. And whenever we have a chronic state of stress, it unravels those things that give me that sense, not only of ease, but a sense of comfort, not only in my environment, but in my sense of self. We start to question not only what we do, but even ourselves, we question our judgment. Those things arise as a part of not feeling so well. And the feeling of wellness is

physiological first before it ever becomes thinking. By the time we are depressed physically, our thoughts start to resemble those thoughts. Whenever we have that sense of I can't change things or that sense of

armando (18:08.11)
What we call learned helplessness that we studied incessantly, also that sense of hopeless. Nothing will change. know what to do, but it's not going to change. have no power to change this. notice what I stated sounds as if I'm speaking a very deeply seated belief. And often there is that what else supports that? Well, the physical aspect, how is the state of body? Is it stressed? How is the state of my blood flow? Is it full of stress chemicals that will definitely affect my general sense of wellness and

how I perceive myself in my environment and whether or not I believe or feel somehow that I can overcome those stressors in my environment, even if it's not threatened my body in any way that I feel like I'm going to be in danger of, of injury or death or even illness for that matter. But there's definitely a quality of being overcome and overwhelmed. And those are things that we need to address. Now I did talk about self-regulation and much of what I'm pointing out

here are the things that we kind of work at trying to self-regulate. One of the most important things is recognizing the fact that we have to breathe. Whenever we have suspension of breath, that is one of the fastest ways to mitigate the effects of the humeral immunity response. Not that you don't want to have immunity, yes, but the stress response in particular and breathing, being able to relax and slow down our breathing. This does not mean deep breathing when you're under stress in the middle of something that otherwise would

cause you panic, that's wrong. You want to make sure that you can manage your breath and not be hyperventilating. You want to be able to take in a long deep breath whenever things are slow and when they're safe and you're about to relax and go into a meditative state. But what if you're in the middle of it? We've talked about this before, the four count breath where you inhale count of four, not under pressure, hold for a count of four and try to prevent that quick

exhale out as soon as you breathe in which is one of the things that we do when we should be running and when we're very anxious but rather holding for a moment that gives us a little more time to absorb the oxygen we just took in and this also creates a release of co2 that whenever that builds up once we exhale

armando (20:22.725)
and hold again, we're not allowing ourselves to hyperventilate and quickly try to inhale and exhale because if we have too much CO2, because we have our engines running faster than normal after a sudden stop, we're going to build up more CO2 than we will have oxygen coming in. And that will create an imbalance between oxygen and carbonic gas. And then we start getting the hyperventilatory response and feelings that we want to faint or like we can't catch our breath. So doing the four count breath is one of the first things also.

If you have a sudden start, this is something that was, elucidated in the human podcast. there's one of Rydler under first. And was really happy to see that. And that's something that I had done whenever I used to run a lot and I didn't know it's a natural thing we all have where we do the double sniff technique when we inhale and we exhale normally, but we do a quick sniff with, with our nose twice, kind of like whenever we're little and we were crying and we're babies or this sort of thing. You might

see a child wherever they're breathing and talking, they're doing the sloppy cry a little bit and you hear the whenever they're inhaling to be able to talk to you. This is one of the most effective tools that I found second only to the four count breath in the last 17 years. Then I would encourage you to try it and look it up on the human podcasts. Most definitely a useful tool. That's wherever I got it. And I'm telling you about it because it is that useful and it does involve the breath and that does directly impact our, our blood flow and our humoral immunity.

because our relative state of what we will call environmental stress or allostatic load will be perceived as less and then our body starts to ramp down. It starts to calm and feel better very quickly. So these two tools are incredibly effective. Now, what we're talking about is that the end product of the behaviors having to do with mitigating stress and also how we in effect, manage stress in our environment. And those are the things that we do like to.

breathing. Sometimes walking is one of the best things we can do. And if you're in a stressful environment, let's say things are uncomfortable and you are not bound by any rule or guideline that you have to be there and you can walk away. It's okay to do that and say, Hey, you know what? I'll be back in a minute. You don't have to tell them why go to the restroom. Go wash your face, wash your hands. If you're in a building where we have to go to work or excuse yourself for a moment. And sometimes just walking will alleviate a lot of the stress because when things get stressful, our heart rate goes up.

armando (22:52.145)
and our breathing changes saying that hey we need to get out of here this isn't comfortable that means that we probably should have been walking away or running at least whenever we're cave people long time ago now what I want to do is tell you that I really have enjoyed kind of talking about this on the heels of much of what we've been discussing about not only stress but neurotransmitter and I want to in effect just focus more on the blood flow and what it carries relative to stress and just to point out that you don't have to know

all the details or know how much dopamine or serotonin and what they all do. But knowing that whenever I have stress, it's good to have understanding, but you can only go so far. We get too granular into the molecular and into the small mitochondrial things that are going on. Those are good things to know. We lose our capacity to in effect create a good strategic behavioral change. One that requires me to move myself out of here to go over there. So that way I haven't

less stress and feel better.

It's okay to know this stuff. The idea is not to get bogged down in it. And I love looking into this stuff just to educate folks. It's always good to know more, but also knowing more can get in the way if you don't pay attention to when this occurs, what it looks like and how am I supposed to do something about the stress that's causing that in the first place? That's where I come from. I'm much more pragmatic than a lot of folks and I'm not a junk collector. I don't just like gathering stuff just to say that I know things because I know a lot of

That's not particularly practical and I don't think a whole lot about it because it's a waste of time Whenever we're trying to create better quality of life in greater quantities in our life So that way we can enjoy ourselves with less stress then I think we're doing something and that's the area I like to focus on so for now I just want to tell you thank you for sharing this Sunday evening with me and I loved off deal I certainly have enjoyed the comments I've gotten one through email and sometimes in YouTube when people are kind enough to leave

armando (24:53.889)
me

I to tell you thank you again. Thank you for listening and take care. Walk well.