80% of people with Autoimmune disorders are women!

80% of people who have autoimmune disorders are WOMEN.

I saw a stat like this recently and thought, “WTF?!?!”

This stat is haunting me.

WHHHYYYYY are women’s bodies attacking themselves so much more than men’s?

There are over 80 different kids of autoimmune disorders: rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS, hashimoto, graves, and Diabetes just to name a few.

An autoimmune disorder or disease is confusion of what’s outside, what’s inside, what's an invader, and what's normally supposed to be there.

Our bodies lose the ability to say “neti neti”...not this, not that or what’s mine and what’s not.

The scientific reasons proposed for the confusion include sex hormones, the X chromosome, microchimerism, environmental factors, and the microbiome.

I don’t have the answer to why.

No one has 100% of the answer.

I do think there are a variety of factors at play for women, that include the mind, body, and spirit: our experiences of the world, our perceptions of it, and how we interact with it. How much we take on and feel like we aren’t supported by our communities. And, our lack of ability as women to say “neti neti:” no I don’t want this in my life, but I want this…or this is mine and this isn’t so I am not going to take it on. 

What I do know…

There is a concept in Ayurveda called Svastha.

Svastha means a few things:

• “Swa:” self and “stha” to abide in.

• “To be abide in/be firmly situated within myself.”

• “Health.”

• “Mind, spirit, and body are in equilibrium.”

If you are experiencing an autoimmune disorder, if your body is attacking itself, you are not in a state of Svastha.

But, keep this in mind: to attain perfect health in this human body is impossible.

Svastha asks you to care enough about yourself to notice and respond to what is happening in your mind and body.

To me, this is part of abiding in or being firmly situated in yourself: noticing, caring, and responding.

Svastha includes balance between the body, mind and spirit. If your mind is out of sorts then you are not in a state of equilibrium.

PTSD and trauma increases your chances of autoimmunity.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are also correlated with autoimmune disorders. In fact, victims of sexual abuse increase the chance by 50%.

Stress is a well documented risk factor for autoimmune disease.

In a 2010 study done on Stress and Gender by the APA, women reported their stress levels were increasing:

• Women are more likely than men (28 percent vs. 20 percent) to report having a great deal of stress (8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale).

• Almost half of all women (49 percent) surveyed said their stress has increased over the past five years, compared to four in 10 (39 percent) men.

• Women are more likely to report that money (79 percent compared with 73 percent of men) and the economy (68 percent compared with 61 percent of men) are sources of stress while men are far more likely to cite that work is a source of stress (76 percent compared with 65 percent of women).

• Women are more likely to report physical and emotional symptoms of stress than men, such as having had a headache (41 percent vs. 30 percent), having felt as though they could cry (44 percent vs. 15 percent), or having had an upset stomach or indigestion (32 percent vs. 21 percent) in the past month.

• Married women report higher levels of stress than single women, with one-third (33 percent) reporting that they have experienced a great deal of stress in the past month (8, 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) compared with one in five (22 percent) of single women. Similarly, significantly more married women report that their stress has increased over the past five years (56 percent vs. 41 percent of single women). Single women are also more likely than married women to say they feel they are doing enough to manage their stress (63 percent vs. 51 percent).

• Married women are more likely than single women to report they have experienced the following due to stress in the past month: feeling as though they could cry (54 percent vs. 33 percent), feeling irritable or angry (52 percent vs. 38 percent), having headaches (48 percent vs. 33 percent) and experiencing fatigue (47 percent vs. 35 percent).

Now that we are Post-COVID, stress levels are even higher.

According to the APA’s Stress in America 2023 women were more likely than men to report feeling “consumed” by money woes (50% versus 44%), including those related to both essential and unexpected costs. They are also more likely than men to cite family responsibilities (58% versus 52%) and relationships (49% versus 44%) as key stressors in their lives.

We live in a chronically stressed culture and women soak the stress up like a sponge. It is well known that women internalize stress.

So many of the women I work with feel responsible to manage everything: work, kids, home, social engagements, volunteering…and want do it all 100%. 

We cannot “bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan” without getting burnt. 

Women feel overburdened, overworked, exhausted, and are obviously getting sicker and sicker. 

Now, back to the concept of Svastha: healing your body includes healing your mind and spirit. 

It’s caring enough to do something about what is ailing you, physically and emotionally.

Emotional processing and stress management are imperative to healing. 

Research done on the autoimmune disorder Rheumatoid Arthritis has been shown to improve with therapies like Internal Family Systems and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Purge Emotional Writing has also shown to decrease RA autoimmune markers. 

So, taking care of your emotions, dealing with old trauma or negative life experiences, discerning “neti neti” (what is mine and what is not is critical when your body is attacking itself), and learning how to care for yourself is a key component of managing and reducing autoimmune symptoms. This is true for women and med.

Ayurveda provides some other answers to autoimmune disorders, but that is for another post. 

For now, realize there is not one concrete answer to WHY…yet. But, managing your stress and lovingly tending to your emotional wounds is an integral part of healing.

Namaste!

Nichole

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