In a recent instagram Q&A Jordan got asked about not washing your hands to build up your immune system and he(you? I’m not sure if this should all be second or third person) compared it to smoking to strengthen your respiratory system. I understood the point of how absurd the idea is but i realised I don’t actually understand why we adapt to some things while not to others. I only know that the stimulus must not exceed our ability to recover with the classic example of being hit by a car not making you stronger but if that is all there is to it that would mean there is a frequency, volume and intensity of smoking cigarettes that would result in a positive adaptation and as Mac from It’s Always Sunny would say: “That doesn’t sound right but I don’t know enough about [all this] to dispute it”. Could you give an explanation if it isn’t too much of a bother? Thank you.
The way I like to frame these things is that while we do adapt to anything that’s “different” enough from what we’ve been habituated ourselves to (and doesn’t kill us), adaptations are not always positive.
In some cases, “the dose makes the poison”, where a given stimulus can cause a positive, neutral, or negative adaptation. Think about rest from exercise. A small amount, such as a rest day, is likely neutral to positive, depending on context. A large amount, leading to insufficient activity, would be maladaptive.
In other cases, there is no beneifical dose from a physiological standpoint, which is the case with smoking or large, uncontrolled exposures to to a myriad of pathogens, and setting yourself on fire.
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