Is Your Body Stuck in Protection Mode? Exploring the Cell Danger Response & It’s Role On Chronic Disease

Written By Megan Taylor

Chronic disease is on the rise today. In 2020, it was reported that approximately 129 million Americans (60%) have at least one chronic disease according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and this number was expected to grow in the coming years.

In this article, let’s stop and ask the question: what if the symptoms associated with what we place under the label of “disease”or“chronic” are not just random or a life long sentence… but actually evidence of an underlying survival strategy gifted to us by our Creator for our survival?

From fatigue, heart palpitations, high or low blood pressure, allergies, air way issues, pain, gut issues, autism, Lyme disease, to other autoimmune flares and hormonal imbalances, many women and men of faith I work with have been told there is “nothing they can do,” for their ongoing symptoms except bandaid them.

As a result, they are often left feeling defeated and discouraged as their medication and supplementation cabinet expands.

But what if their bodies were speaking a deeper language and that language was being misunderstood and silenced with a “pill for the ill” rather than listened to and approached from a layered holistic perspective?

When we ask this question and approach disease from a place of curiosity and viewing the body as a whole intelligent design, rather than through the lens of fear, a whole new world opens up to us.

Take for example: the Cell Danger Response, a groundbreaking concept in biology that reveals how chronic illness may actually begin with the body doing exactly what God designed it to do…protect you.

What Is the Cell Danger Response?

The Cell Danger Response (CDR) is a biological process discovered by Dr. Robert Naviaux, a pioneer in mitochondrial and systems biology. It describes how the cells in your God designed body respond to threats, whether these threats are chemical, microbial, emotional, or even spiritual. It does this by shifting your cells into survival mode.

Imagine it like your body’s internal alarm system. When a threat is detected, cells stop everyday processes (like digestion, detox, and hormone production) and redirect their energy toward defense.

This is a good and necessary design.

But here’s the problem: when the alarm never gets turned off, the body stays stuck in protection mode... true healing can't begin, and symptoms worsen.

The Three Phases of the Cell Danger Response

Dr. Naviaux outlines three stages of the CDR response:

  1. CDR1 – Defense Phase
    The body experiences a threat and shuts down normal cell activity to protect against that threat. Inflammation increases, mitochondrial energy drops, and you may feel fatigue, pain, or sense of feeling “wired but tired.”

  2. CDR2 – Regrowth Phase
    If safety is restored, the body begins repairing tissues and generating new cells. But if the body doesn’t feel safe? It never transitions here.

  3. CDR3 – Restoration Phase
    The body resets and restores full function. In this stage, healing becomes possible, if the prior two phases are completed.

Many chronic illnesses occur when we get stuck in one of these phases for too long, especially the first.

What Can Keep the Body Stuck?

Trauma (both emotional and acute trauma such as a car accident, etc), prolonged stress (staying in a job you hate, living in survival mode), underlying infections, mold exposure, over exposure to toxins (heavy metals, air pollution, BPA from plastic), emotional suppression (holding on to grudges & resentment for example), and unresolved grief can all keep the body stuck in an alarm response.

And from a nervous system standpoint, when the brain perceives threat, even without a current danger, it keeps triggering cellular defense.

This is why brain retraining, vagus nerve toning, and somatic practices can help guide the body back to safety, allowing the healing cycle to continue and can support (and in some cases even reverse) chronic illness.

A Faith-Based Perspective

When I first learned about this process, I was in awe of God’s creation. Psalm 139 tells us we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The CDR model affirms that ancient truth.

Your symptoms are not a sign your body is broken, they're a sign your body is intelligent and responding to the environment it has been placed in. It is protecting you.

In my practice, I teach women how to partner with their physiology instead of fighting it or living in fear of it.

This involves:

  • Tuning into nervous system cues and understanding concepts like neuroception (how you respond to your every day environment and what can cause you to respond from a place of survival rather than growth and healing).

  • Supporting mitochondrial function by replenishing nutrient deficiencies, proper sunlight exposure, and decreasing exposure to toxins.

  • Letting go of a perfection mentality and applying self compassion.

  • And always anchoring the healing process in the truth of God’s Word.

If you suspect you’re stuck in a cell danger response, you may want to consider these modalities:

  • Breathwork paired with mindfulness activities like body scanning. Mindfulness has and breathwork have been shown to lower stress in the body. Here is an example of a body scan available on my Youtube channel.

  • Environmental orienting + Eye exercises (eye exercises have been proven to help shift the body into rest and digest mode rather than protection mode). Here is an example available on my youtube channel.

  • Tuning into your mineral status with HTMA and functional blood labs. Minerals are the spark plugs for every process in the body and many people are deficient. You can find many articles on HTMA testing on my website.

  • A very important question to reflect on: What was happening in my life when my symptoms began? Many clients report their symptoms of chronic illness often began at the height of a stressful event in their lives. Recognizing this creates a great place to start.

You Were Designed With a Capacity to Heal

That does not mean you are promised perfect health, but it does mean there is a lot of unnecessary suffering going on today due to lack of knowledge of how the body works. God designed your body with intelligence. When we stop trying to bandaid or suppress our symptoms, and start listening to them, take measures to come out of survival mode and into alignment with our body, mind, Spirit, and nervous system, healing becomes possible.

My clients and I are living proof.

If you want to dive deeper into nervous system regulation through a biblical lens, join me inside the Aligned and Renewed Collective, where we blend nervous system support, functional health, and spiritual formation together.

Sources:

Great book on healing holistically: Toxic: Heal Your Body from Mold Toxicity, Lyme Disease, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities, and Chronic Environmental Illness.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37120082/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23981537/

https://naviauxlab.ucsd.edu/science-item/healing-and-recovery

https://www.scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/mindfulness-meditation-to-promote-wellness-and-manage-chronic-dis

Megan Taylor