I have to be honest—this book was extremely reinforcing for what I believed prior to reading Immunity Fix. Sleep, Exercise, Proper Eating, Energy Balance, and Stress Management are the best allies in the battle against sickness. Part of the problem with any resource is that it comes from an incestuous circle that echoes each others’ sentiments. The motivation to read something that you disagree with to your core is simply not there with this text, at least for me. This fact however, does not change that the book is well written and loaded with citations to dive deeper into if you are interested. 

One knock I could say: it got a little ‘biohacker-ish,’ if that even is an adjective? Not that trying to optimize health and performance is ever a bad thing. It just made the book feel like all ailments can be cured by fasting, sauna, and the right collection of supplements. Coming back to the echochamber concept of absorbing similar concepts: this may be my own fault. There is an element of overly giving credit to good health practices as a cure-all for everything and the potential of jumping to conclusions without really evaluating all the details. To the authors’ credit, there was strategic mentioning of when medical interventions may be needed and how to maximize results from treatments. 

The book is incredibly current and addresses the most recent issues in health and the impacts of being immunocompromised as well as certain strategies in response. I felt like the book did an excellent job of staying neutral and giving a full spectrum of suggestions based on the research. The bottom line is that healthier people will respond better to any virus or disease. Regardless of the popular line items being portrayed in the media, like fasting, as a means to making a more robust immune system, there was in-depth analysis of how simple things like sleep and balanced diet impact immune function. It was a balance of “you could do this, but you should make sure this is in place first.” The pretense is you need to make decisions with the full arsenal of information at your disposal to make any decision. 

There was a particular section in the benefits of exercise chapter that really stuck out to me. A major marker in season for us was always preservation of body mass and lean muscle mass. The simple logic was that if we are preserving muscle mass, we are healthier. Another obvious observation was that the preservation of lean muscle mass would lead to increased performance. This chapter cited several research articles that explain in detail the connection of the endocrine/immune/musculoskeletal systems. At its most fundamental level, health is an aggregate of all systems working together. Loss of lean muscle, which more than likely means concurrent gain in fat mass, means loss of health. Metabolic dysfunction is strongly correlated to immune dysfunction. They are so synonymous, they have evolved to being one in the same. 

Endocrine Crosstalk Between the Skeletal Muscle and the Brain 

Skeletal muscle as an endocrine organ: PGC-1α, myokines and exercise

Skeletal Muscle as an Endocrine Organ: The Role of Myokines in Exercise Adaptations

Muscle as an Endocrine Organ: Focus on Muscle-Derived Interleukin-6

This book is a good resource for anyone who is a coach/health practitioner. From the vantage point of increasing performance – health is a keystone piece. If you are looking to develop optimal immune function – health is a keystone piece. The book gives the more provocative solutions, yes, but more importantly it gives simple baseline things to do daily. Sleep, Exercise, Proper Eating, Energy Balance, and Stress Management are still the most important practices to do. Preventive based health is about habits. The key is that these habits are not only logical and easy to understand, but they are supported with tremendous research.