Evolved Defense Mechanisms
Evolution has selected defense mechanisms that protect against injuries and infections. These include
- Anxiety
- Fever
- Hyperalgesia
- Hypoferremia
- Itching
- Lethargy
- Depression
- Morning sickness
- Nausea
- Pain
- Sleepiness
- Sickness behavior (Lethargy, Depression, Anorexia, Sleepiness, reduction in grooming, and failure to concentrate)
- Expulsions: Sneezing, Vomiting, Coughing, Diarrhea
- Management
Evolved defense mechanisms can be costly, due to increased energy use (fever increases BMR by 10-15% for each degree rise in body temperature), and due to the risk of damaging the body (vomiting can risk aspiration). A fitness advantage therefore exists in deploying defense mechanisms selectively only when the potential benefits outweigh such costs. Their deployment is controlled at several levels, including through biomolecular pathways using factors such as proinflammatory cytokines, and through higher neural top down processes in cerebral cortex areas such as the insular cortex. Neural control provides advantages in that deployment can be based on tradeoffs between costs and benefits that take into account relevant health circumstances. This evolved regulation functions as a health management system.
Read more about this topic: Evolutionary Medicine
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