The Immune System

Besides the ANS and endocrine system, the mind communicates with the body via the immune system.

The central and automatic nervous systems can engage in bidirectional communication with immunologic cells in blood, tissue and immune organs.

The immune system is responsible for combating infection and ridding the body off foreign organisms and toxic substances.

The immune system can be influenced by the mind via the nervous and endocrine system. Nerves of the sympathetic nervous system connect to certain immune tissues.

There is a two way flow of information between external and internal environments and that the mind is a intermediary between the two.

The mind is an emergent property of the whole body. The brain is part of the body and plays important part in the interpretation of signals from the external and internal environments.

Many immune cells respond to the presence of the hormone cortisol as part of the stress response.

Moreover, immune system releases special chemicals called cytokines, which can affect the nervous and endocrine systems.

It is scientific evidence to indicate that the brain regulates immune functions through efferent autonomic and neuroendorine pathways.

The brain is designed to respond to incoming signals from senses and it has been suggested that the afferent signals received from the immune system are dealt with in the same way as afferent sensory information.
The Immune System