The word evolution often sparks debate about whether we were created by a divine being or we come from primordial slime. Personally, I like to think that we are more than the descendants of slime. Evolution on a personal level, in terms of adaptation and survival of the fittest makes sense: The idea that a species should get stronger and more capable of survival as time goes by is logical. I think it’s important to view the immune system as something that evolves, adapts and should become more capable of survival as time goes on.
If it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger is a way of describing the evolution of our immune systems throughout our lifetime.
From the moment you are born, you’re exposed to millions and billions of microorganisms. A healthy body (healthy is defined as functioning properly) with a healthy immune system will learn to live with these microorganisms. Even when the body gets “sick”, it’s a good thing. When a novel virus or bacteria comes along and the body goes through symptoms like fever, cough, congestion, runny nose, etc., it’s just the body figuring out how to live in existence with that particular microorganism.
If your body is functioning well, you come out on the other side of that “sickness” even healthier, because now your body is familiar with one more germ. I’m putting quotation marks around sickness because that’s how we’ve traditionally thought of having symptoms associated with exposure to a new microorganism. More than ever, I’m starting to view this idea of sickness as inaccurate. I believe it would serve us better to view these symptoms as a transition or process our bodies go through when we are learning to live in harmony with a new microorganism.
Think about how many times this has happened throughout your life. Was your experience with Covid a good example of this? For me, it was. I came into contact with Covid in February of 2020 and had a chest cold for a week. After my body learned how to live in harmony with the virus and all my symptoms went away, I came out of that experience better, stronger and healthier. My body adapted and evolved to the presence of a new virus, and I was better off for it. When was the last time your body learned to exist with a new microorganism?
Dr. Brandan Lee