You can eat organic, filter your water, avoid unnecessary toxins, prioritize movement, and be incredibly intentional about your health, but what happens when your body is still showing signs that something isn't right?
That's a question I found myself asking when my bloodwork revealed elevated inflammation despite years of being intentional about what I put in and on my body.
My hs-CRP, a blood marker associated with inflammation, was 5.53 mg/L. I was doing so many of the things we know support good health, yet there was clearly more I needed to understand.
One area I hadn't given nearly as much attention to was the relationship between chronic stress and my nervous system. I knew stress could affect how we feel, but I wanted to understand what it might be doing inside our bodies, especially when it comes to inflammation and immune function.
That research eventually led me to take a closer look at elderflower, a botanical we've been growing right here on our farm for years.
Your Body Doesn't Separate Stress From Physical Health
Think about what happens when you're startled or suddenly faced with something stressful. Your heart starts beating faster, your muscles tense, and your body becomes more alert. You don't have to consciously tell any of those things to happen because your nervous system is already responding.
This is your sympathetic nervous system at work, activating what we commonly call the fight-or-flight response.
It's a normal and necessary part of how God designed our bodies to protect us. Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol help prepare us to respond to whatever is happening around us, and once the immediate stress has passed, other parts of the nervous system help us return to a more restful state.
The problem is that stress doesn't always come and go so neatly. Sometimes it's ongoing, whether we're dealing with emotional strain, inadequate sleep, physical demands, or the responsibilities of everyday life. When our bodies experience prolonged stress, the systems responsible for helping us respond and recover can begin functioning differently.
Researchers have found that chronic stress can influence immune function and the body's inflammatory responses.
One possible mechanism involves changes in how immune cells respond to cortisol, a hormone that normally helps regulate inflammation. So while cortisol often gets a bad reputation, it isn't something our bodies should simply eliminate. It's an important part of a much larger system.
This was particularly interesting to me because I had spent so much time focusing on nutrition, ingredients, and environmental exposures without giving the same consideration to how well my body was recovering from stress.
Why Inflammation and Nervous System Regulation Matter
Inflammation isn't inherently bad. It's one of the ways our immune system protects us when we're injured or exposed to an infection. The body initiates an inflammatory response to help address the problem and support healing, then uses a variety of mechanisms to bring that response back under control.
Chronic inflammation is different. Instead of resolving as expected, inflammatory activity can persist or become poorly regulated.
There are many possible contributors, including underlying medical conditions, metabolic factors, and prolonged stress. That's why elevated inflammatory markers deserve a closer look rather than being attributed to any one cause.
Our nervous and immune systems are constantly communicating through hormones, nerve pathways, and chemical messengers. This means supporting nervous system regulation isn't simply about feeling relaxed. It's also about giving our bodies opportunities to recover from the demands placed on them.
For me, that has meant being more intentional about rest, movement, prayer, and time in God's Word, while continuing to pay attention to nutrition and the other things that have always mattered to our family. It has also encouraged me to research the plants and naturally occurring compounds that have been part of traditional wellness practices for generations.
What Made Me Take a Closer Look at Elderflower?
You probably know Above and Beyond Shop for our organic elderberry syrup made from the certified organic American elderberries we grow on our farm. But every year those plants produce beautiful clusters of white elderflowers before the berries begin to develop.
While elderberry is much more familiar to most families, the flowers have their own history in traditional herbalism and contain a different combination of naturally occurring compounds.
Elderflower has attracted scientific interest because of its flavonoids and other polyphenols, including compounds such as rutin and phenolic acids. Researchers have studied elderflower extracts for antioxidant activity and their interactions with inflammatory processes, although much of this research has taken place in laboratory settings rather than human clinical trials.
Oxidative stress and inflammation are closely connected.
Our bodies naturally produce reactive molecules during everyday processes, including immune activity, but an excess of these molecules can contribute to cellular damage and inflammatory signaling. The antioxidant compounds found in elderflower are one reason researchers have become interested in studying the plant and its potential relationship with inflammation.
The research doesn't establish that taking elderflower tincture will lower inflammatory markers, but it did give me another reason to learn more about a plant we were already growing.
During the period I was researching elderflower and making changes to support my health, my hs-CRP decreased from 5.53 to 2.65 mg/L, approximately a 52% reduction. Seeing that improvement was encouraging, especially after trying to better understand what might be contributing to my elevated inflammation.
I was making several changes during that time, so I can't say elderflower was responsible for the improvement. What I can say is that the experience changed how I thought about supporting my body and deepened my interest in the flowers we'd been harvesting from our own plants.
Can Elderflower Support the Nervous System?
This is where I think it's especially important to distinguish between what we're learning about the body and what research has actually demonstrated about elderflower.
We know chronic stress can influence inflammatory signaling and immune function. We also know certain plant polyphenols have been investigated for their interactions with oxidative stress and biological pathways involved in inflammation.
What we don't yet have is strong human clinical evidence showing that elderflower tincture directly lowers cortisol or regulates the nervous system.
For me, that doesn't make the research any less interesting. It simply means elderflower is one part of a much broader conversation about caring for our bodies, rather than something I would rely on to address chronic stress by itself.
I believe God has given us so many things to learn from in His creation, and I want to approach those things with both curiosity and discernment. That includes appreciating the history of traditional herbs while being thoughtful about what we can and cannot say about their effects.
And while the research surrounding elderflower's relationship with inflammation continues to develop, its traditional use for seasonal respiratory concerns has a much longer history.
Elderflower's Traditional Role in Respiratory Wellness
For centuries, elderflowers have been prepared as teas and other herbal remedies, particularly during seasonal illnesses. Traditional herbalists have used the blossoms for early cold symptoms, respiratory discomfort, and feverish illnesses. Elderflower has also historically been considered a diaphoretic, meaning an herb traditionally used to encourage perspiration.
Here on our farm, we grow American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), and those are the flowers we use in our elderflower tincture. We harvest the blossoms fresh and carefully prepare them so we can share another part of these plants with our community.
There's also growing interest in the relationship between plant flavonoids and histamine responses, which are involved in many seasonal allergy symptoms. Some flavonoids have been investigated for their interactions with allergy-related pathways, although that doesn't establish that elderflower itself works as an antihistamine. It's another area of research worth following as we continue learning about the compounds found in these plants.
What I appreciate about traditional herbal practices is that they encourage us to learn about the different parts of a plant and how people have used them over time. Elderflower's history is particularly interesting because so many families already know and love elderberry without realizing the blossoms have their own story.
Elderberry and Elderflower: Why I Keep Both
Elderberry has been a staple in our family's wellness routine for years, and it's the foundation of what we do here at Above and Beyond Shop. We grow our certified organic American elderberries, harvest them by hand, and fresh-press them into syrup without dehydrating the berries or adding water and preservatives.
Elderflower is harvested earlier in the growing season, when the plants are covered in fragrant white blossoms.
We use those flowers to prepare our elderflower tincture. Although the flowers and berries come from the same plant, they have different combinations of naturally occurring compounds and different histories of traditional use.
I personally use both, and I love being able to share another part of the plants we've been growing and caring for all these years. If you're curious about our elderflower harvest and why we chose to make a fresh tincture, I shared more about that process in Before There Was Elderberry, There Was Elderflower.
Learning more about chronic stress, inflammation, and the nervous system has reminded me that caring for our health involves much more than any single ingredient or remedy. Nutrition, movement, rest, and the ways we respond to everyday stress all matter, and I believe being good stewards of the bodies God has given us means continuing to learn and make thoughtful choices as we go.
If you'd like to learn more about the botanicals we grow and prepare here on our farm, you can explore our Elderflower Tincture and Fresh-Pressed Elderberry Syrup at Above and Beyond Shop.
This article is for educational purposes and reflects traditional herbal practices, published research, and personal experience. It is not intended as medical advice. Herbal preparations may not be appropriate for everyone, particularly young children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or those taking medications. Consult a qualified healthcare professional for guidance about individual health concerns.