New Research Reveals That Our Immune Systems May Activate Just by Seeing Sick Faces

New Research Reveals That Our Immune Systems May Activate Just by Seeing Sick Faces

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In case you needed any more confirmation that the human body is capable of doing amazing things, researchers have just discovered that our immune systems begin to act before we even get ill. Just the sight of sickness from afar will trigger our immune systems, and activate them to get ready to fight off illness.

Surprised? This observation may seem like a given, especially considering the human tendency when we encounter a visibly sick person to keep our distance. But now, we have a scientific reason that explains this pattern of behavior, thanks to a new study published this year in Nature Neuroscience.

In this incredible study, scientists generated images of faces that looked sick or healthy, and showed them to participants using virtual reality headsets. While they showed the subjects these images, researchers recorded the participants’ brain activity and immune response. The results were astonishing: they found that the brain has a system to identify potential sickness threats, which in turn, immediately signals the immune system to activate and begin fighting off any potential infections.

The speed of communication between outside signals, the human brain, and the immune system is especially impressive. As senior author Andrea Serino writes in the study, “Our immune system adopts fight anticipatory strategies, allowing our organism to react to immune threats not only once they are in the body but also when they overcome the primary functional boundary of self-environment interaction.”

This research aligns with our lived experience of preventing or dealing with sickness. Generally, it’s advised to keep your distance when you see that an individual looks to be visibly sick. Now, we know that it’s also just human nature, literally. In a way, we could also say that our immune systems enter fight mode, and our brains enter flight mode, simultaneously.

The researchers who published this story have yet another way of thinking about it: “Although surprising, our finding that immune responses can be triggered by simulated infections presented in VR is consistent with the principle of the smoke detector in biological systems.” This groundbreaking research not only gives us more insight into our body’s innate defense mechanisms, but also highlights how finely tuned our bodies are to protect us, even before we may know we need protection.

A new study finds that our immune systems kick in before we even get sick.

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According to the research, just the sight of sickness from afar leads the brain to activate your body's immune system.

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Participants in the study were shown computer-generated images of people who looked sick and healthy in VR headsets.

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Scientists recorded their brain activity and immune system response when participants were shown the images, and found a link between the two.

Photo: photography33/Depositphotos

Source: Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response

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READ: New Research Reveals That Our Immune Systems May Activate Just by Seeing Sick Faces