Safety, Regulation, and the Immune System: What the 2025 Nobel Prize Reveals About Healing
In 2025, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to researchers including Shimon Sakaguchi for the discovery of regulatory T-cells (Tregs)—a specialised group of immune cells that prevent the body from attacking itself.
This was a pivotal moment in medicine.
Because it confirmed that health is not just about how strongly the immune system can respond—but how well it can regulate.
From attack to regulation
For decades, the immune system was understood primarily as a defence mechanism:
identify the threat, attack it, eliminate it.
But the discovery of Tregs revealed another equally essential function:
the ability to switch off.
These cells act as the body’s internal regulators. They:
calm excessive immune responses
prevent autoimmunity
support resolution after inflammation
Without them, the immune system can become overactive—leading to chronic inflammation and disease.
The missing piece: safety
What is often less discussed is this:
Tregs function optimally in environments that signal safety.
When the body perceives threat—whether from infection, chronic stress, or unresolved emotional patterns—it shifts into defence:
inflammatory pathways increase
regulatory pathways are reduced
In contrast, when the body experiences safety:
the nervous system softens
parasympathetic activity increases
regulatory processes, including Tregs, are supported
This is not abstract. It is biological.
The immune system is in constant communication with the nervous system—what science now calls the neuroimmune axis.
A Chinese medicine perspective
This modern discovery echoes principles that have existed for thousands of years.
In Chinese medicine:
Yang represents activation, heat, and defence
Yin represents nourishment, containment, and restoration
Regulatory T-cells can be understood as a Yin function within the immune system—preventing excess and protecting the body from its own overactivity.
Health arises not from maximising Yang (fighting harder), but from harmonising Yin and Yang.
Why this matters for women in midlife
Many of the women I work with—particularly in perimenopause and menopause—have spent decades in states of:
high responsibility
emotional suppression
chronic stress
disconnection from their bodies
Even when life appears stable, the body may still be operating from a baseline of subtle threat.
This can contribute to:
persistent inflammation
autoimmune conditions
hormonal dysregulation
fatigue and burnout
From this perspective, symptoms are not simply problems to fix.
They are signals of a system that has not yet felt safe enough to regulate.
The role of somatic and integrative healing
This is why body-based work is not an “extra.”
Practices such as:
somatic awareness
breath and nervous system regulation
acupuncture and Chinese medicine
gentle movement and qigong
…help shift the body out of defence.
They create the conditions where the system can recognise:
“I am safe.”
And from that place:
inflammation can resolve
hormones can rebalance
the immune system can regulate
A new understanding of healing
The Nobel Prize recognition of regulatory T-cells brings modern science closer to an ancient truth:
Healing is not driven by force.
It is made possible through regulation.
And regulation depends on safety.
A simple truth to take with you
Your body is not failing you.
It may simply be waiting for the conditions in which it no longer needs to defend.
If something here speaks to you, you can work with me in person at my clinic in Preston and at The Yin Palace gatherings in Melbourne, or online through my qigong community and Rage Rising. The Three Treasures Pathway is offered both in person and online.
With Love,
Anny 🌹
