What is PNEI? Fancy answer, it's the psycho-neuro-endo-immunology of trauma.
What that really means is that in response to trauma, stress, negative emotions, or even the memory of trauma, each of those systems within the body plays a part in your body's reaction in order to maximize safety with minimal cost - which means it will cut processes that aren't deemed necessary for survival.
In this episode, I will explain what that all means for you and your health, and what you can do about it.
Welcome back to a magical life. I'm your host magic Barclay today. We're talking about the PNEI of trauma. What is P NEI, it's the psycho neuro endo immunology of trauma. Many of us have faced trauma sometimes in our lives. It could have been when we were a child, it could be now, and these things all add up. Psychological influences make a decisive biological contribution to the onset of malignant disease through the interconnections, linking the components of the body stress apparatus, which is your adrenals and the nerves, the hormone glands, the immune system and the brain centers. And this is all where emotions are perceived or processed. The brain, the nervous system, the immune organs and immune cells and the endocrine glands are joined together through several pathways. The PNEI system actually has a combined task of development of the individual, you, survival, and reproduction of each organism. Yes, we're organisms complex, but we still have. The interconnections of the PNEI system actually enable it to recognize potential threats from within or from outside the body and to respond to behaviors and biochemical changes coordinated to maximize safety at a minimal cost. So what does this mean? Your PNEI system wants to keep you alive at minimal cost. So it will keep going the things that you need and it will cut the processes that it does not deem a process of survival. The PNEI system is actually hardwired by the nervous system connections. The limbic system directly affects the expression and reaction of the neurosystem, which in turn supplies, the immune system. What does that mean? The things that you feel and think your limbic system or your emotional center of your brain. Directly affects the expression and reaction of the neural system or your nervous system. And in turn that supplies your immune system. The immune organs, the primary ones are your bone marrow and thymus and your secondary are your lymph and spleen. Now your lymph's job is to get rid of waste. And when we think negatively about ourselves or of other people, we're creating waste within our bodies. And these immune organs are reliant on the information transmitted via the nervous system. The information actually allows the brain to communicate with the immune system. The brain then communicates with the endocrine system, including the thyroid, the adrenal glands and reproductive organs. The hormones from the endocrine glands then stimulate immune responses and the cycle is complete. At a greater level, the PNEI system directly affects white blood cell production and health, the limp system health, and the function of neurotransmitter functions. At a more basic level, the PNEI system will seek expression through your HPA axis, which is your brain adrenal axis, and there's a compensatory and immediate action to a limbic or emotional influence. The hypothalamus sends messages to the sympathetic nervous system and the combination of these actions results in what we know as fight, flight, freeze, and to a lesser extent, fade mode. Research actually shows that it's not feasible to think there's a separation between hormones and emotions. Hormones can be active promoters or inhibitors of disease, such as malignant cancers. However, they act or react as a response to stress. Many of us are in stress at the moment. So your hormones are reacting. Now, again, they're promoting or inhibiting disease. Under stress or trauma, menstrual cycles or varying function can all be affected because your estrogen balance will go out. The way you convert your hormones will go out. That all happens in your adrenals when the HPA axis is called in to work. And guess what ladies, when you're in menopause, that's the only way you're making your hormones is through your HPA axis. You no longer have your brain ovary axis working. Same with guys. Your brain gonadal axis is not working anymore. You're using your HPA axis. Yes, guys have a form of menopause and it's called andropause. So the body's hormones are directly linked to the brain. In the brain, emotions are experienced in the limbic brain, which is the central part of your brain, this information is processed and sent down neuropathways and finds itself being flooded into the immune system. Again, none of these systems work alone to enhance survival of the organism, you. They each protect the body from any external stimulus and any internal dysbiosis. So any internal struggles will affect this system. The HPA axis or the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal nexus, will actually involve every component of your PNEI system to react to any physical or psychological threat or stimulus. To sum this up. The fight flight freeze fade reaction is the HPA axis responding immediately. Scanning for safety, responding with emotion, having the nerves conduct that information to your endocrine system, the endocrine system sends hormones out to convey the message of survival and reproduction, and the immune system responds. There's your science lesson for today. What does it mean? It means every time you think badly of yourself or others, every time you remember a childhood trauma, anytime you're facing any trauma, be it emotional or physical, it can affect the way your nervous system responds, which can affect the way your endocrine system or hormone system responds. And then your immune system will respond accordingly. Now, in our last episode, in episode 73, we had a question from a listener, which was how to survive and thrive during a lockdown. And I mentioned no system works alone. In this episode, I hope I've given you some of the science behind how that works. Now, what can you do to learn more about the PNEI system? You can jump onto innate immunity.com. There is a fantastic course, the PNEI of trauma. It's well worth jumping onto that course and learning how to help yourself, how to help your loved one. So that was innate immunity.com. I double N a T E I double M U N I T y.com. I hope you've learnt something about how your insides work today and in episode 75, we have Fiona Demark talking to us and she is the blind inspiration. I really hope you're learning all about your body and how to best treat it and how to best make it work for you. For now, listeners go forth and create your magical life.