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His team analyzed the blood samples of 14,211 people ages 12 to 90 taken over a span of more than two decades, looking for the prevalence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), the most common

biomarker of autoimmune disease. “ANA do not tell you if you have an autoimmune disease, though in many cases they can be the first sign of some immune irregularity that could later lead to

one,” Miller explains. ANA can be present for many years before any symptoms start, and some people with ANA may never develop an autoimmune disease. Still, the results of Miller's

research were startling. About 11 percent of all people tested between 1988 and 1991 had ANA in their blood, indicating that about 22 million people were affected. That percentage steadily

increased through the decades, until 2011 to 2012, when it reached nearly 16 percent. This corresponded to about 41 million people, which is a near doubling of possibly affected individuals.

The two groups that saw the biggest rise? Adolescents and older adults. In fact, after adjusting for differences in sex, race, smoking, alcohol use and body mass index — all factors that

have been independently shown to be associated with autoimmune disease — Miller's research team found that, compared with 25 years ago, older adults today have a 50 percent higher risk

of having ANA in their blood. A CORNUCOPIA OF CAUSES What could be going on? That's the billion-dollar question. One factor in the rise of autoimmune disease may be our changing

environment and lifestyles, Miller believes. “In the past 30 years, we have had more than 80,000 chemicals approved for use in this country,” he observes. “We have a totally different diet,

with processed foods, additives and fast foods. We're more sedentary. There's an obesity epidemic. We have a different pattern of infectious agents, even pre-COVID-19, with more

emerging yearly. The environment is noisier, and there are more stressors.” How the immune system interacts with all these evolving environmental agents is still poorly understood. But the

bottom line is that there are potentially hundreds of irritants that could be causing our immune systems to become confused. And the longer we live, the more exposure we have to these

irritants. What's more, everyone has a different genetic background, which makes the emergence and severity of these diseases unique to each individual — and even more puzzling to

researchers. "We're living in a complex world,” Miller says. A LIFE-CHANGING DIAGNOSIS "Complex” can also describe an individual's relationship with the disease itself.

For some people, autoimmune disease manifests in symptoms that are mere annoyances or manageable with modest medical intervention, as with mild psoriasis. For others, the condition can be

life altering. IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE Flare-ups of autoimmune disease come and go throughout life, often triggered by stress, says Michelle Dossett, M.D., an integrative medicine

specialist at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California. “High or chronic stress creates wear and tear on the body that exacerbates inflammation and worsens chronic disease,” she adds. She

regularly prescribes the following techniques to help prolong disease remission and improve quality of life: MEDITATION Apps such as Headspace, Calm and Insight Timer teach easy-to-follow

meditations of varying lengths. YOGA OR STRETCHING If you're limited in your mobility because of your disease, give chair yoga a try. TAI CHI One review found that this practice

improved quality of life for multiple sclerosis patients. CONTROLLED-BREATHING TECHNIQUES Try the Breathwrk or iBreathe app for breathing exercises. Simple mindfulness exercises may also

help with stress management and pain control. PHYSICAL ACTIVITY A study of women with lupus showed that muscle strength and cardiorespiratory fitness were both associated with improved

quality of life. Twenty years ago, Annie Brewster, M.D., then a medical intern, was going through a divorce and had a 2-year-old in tow. Her feet started tingling. It's probably

nothing, she thought. After all, Brewster spent her days running around, wasn't sleeping, and labored under ever-growing stress. As the prickling started creeping up her legs, reaching

her mid-belly, she could no longer ignore it. A neurologist diagnosed her with MS, an autoimmune disease of the nervous system. Damage to the myelin sheath, which protects nerve cells, leads

to muscle weakness, balance issues, numbness and prickling, and thinking problems. There is no cure for this progressive disease, which, in some people, causes long-term disability.

"When I was struggling to accept my diagnosis, I'd take care of patients with really debilitating MS,” Brewster notes. “They would be paralyzed, in bed and with bedsores, and it

was difficult to think, That might be me one day." Now 53, Brewster is an internal medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and an assistant professor at Harvard

Medical School, and while she has carried on with life for two decades with MS, her symptoms reappear periodically. When her legs feel weak, she can still get around to treat patients, but

it makes her wonder: Where is this going to go? “What I fear most is losing my cognitive function,” she says. “As we get older, we all start to forget more things. But when I walk into a

room and forget what I came in for, my brain automatically shifts to, is this normal aging or is this the MS?” When you're told you have a lifelong and potentially progressive illness,

your headspace gets flooded with what this means for your future. For Gene Davis, after he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a gastrointestinal condition in which small sores develop in

the lining of the colon, what struck him was the permanency of his illness. “When I found out there was no cure for ulcerative colitis, it took a big mental toll on me,” he admits. For

years, he and his wife had fantasized about spending their retirement traveling. His illness has forced them to change their retirement plans, something that's been difficult to accept.