There’s a version of health we’ve all been sold; one that looks neat, controlled, and somehow achievable if we just try a little harder.
But when you listen to Dr Jenna Macciochi, that idea begins to soften.
An immunologist by training, and author of Immune to Age, Jenna’s work lives in the space between science and real life. Not just whether we get ill, but how we adapt. How we age. How we feel, on an ordinary Tuesday, running on too little sleep and too much to do.
In this edition of Notes from the Night Shift, we talk about the rhythms that shape our wellbeing - from the biology of sleep to the small, often overlooked rituals that help the body feel safe enough to rest.
Because staying well, as Jenna reminds us, isn’t about perfection. It’s about capacity. And learning how to support it.
For those discovering you for the first time - how would you describe the work you do in one sentence?
I’m an immunologist by training, but my work sits at the intersection of science and lived experience. I explore how the immune system shapes not just whether we get ill, but how we age, adapt, feel, and move through the world, and I try to translate that into something that feels real.
You’ve spent decades studying the immune system. What’s one thing most people still misunderstand about staying well?
That it’s a fixed destination - something you can reach, optimise, and then hold onto.
But the immune system doesn’t work like that. It’s fluid, responsive, constantly recalibrating in response to your environment, your stress load, your sleep, your emotional life.
Staying well isn’t about perfection or control, it’s about how well your system can adapt, and how much capacity you give it to do that.
I think we’ve been sold a very static version of health, when in reality it’s something much more alive.
Sleep is often the first thing people sacrifice. From a science perspective, why does sleep matter so much more than many people realise?
Because it’s not passive, it’s one of the most metabolically and immunologically active states we enter.
While we’re asleep, immune cells are effectively doing housekeeping and repairing. Inflammatory signals are recalibrated, and the brain's immune system is clearing by-products of the day’s activity.
There’s also this deep interplay with hormonal rhythms - cortisol, melatonin, growth hormone - all of which shape how resilient we feel the next day.
When we cut sleep short, we’re not just borrowing energy from tomorrow, we’re quietly dysregulating systems that underpin long-term health.
Is there one small evening habit that can make a surprisingly big difference to long-term health?
Creating rituals to bookend your day.
So many of us live in this constant state of continuation - emails, messages, stimulation - right up until the moment we expect sleep to just happen.
But the body needs a transition. Even something as simple as dimming the lights, stepping outside, or changing the pace of your breathing can act as a signal: we’re shifting now.
It sounds small, but biologically, those signals matter.
You speak about breathwork and the mind-body connection. How can better breathing change the way we feel at night?
Breathing sits at this really interesting interface between conscious and unconscious control.
When we slow the breath, particularly when we extend the exhale, we’re directly influencing the autonomic nervous system, nudging it away from vigilance and towards rest. And that shift is everything at night.
Sleep isn’t something you do, it’s something that emerges when the body feels safe enough. Breath is one of the most accessible ways we can create that sense of safety from within.
What does your own wind-down routine look like on a real, non-perfect evening?
It’s rarely the idealised version you see on social media. I’m a single mother, I work, and I’m often working late if I’ve had to do the school run, so some evenings are quite messy. But I’ve learned to build in small anchors rather than chasing a perfect routine.
I’ll dim the lights, try to close my laptop, stay off my phone, and sometimes sit with a cup of tea and just let the day land.
My kids and I read together every night, which I love. I am an early riser, so I try to get to bed early.
And on the evenings where that doesn’t happen, I don’t overcorrect, I just pick it back up the next day. That, in itself, is part of staying well.
What’s currently helping you feel well, grounded or energised in this season of life?
Leaning into rhythm rather than intensity. There’s a season for pushing, for output, for building, but right now I’m much more interested in consistency; being outside early in the day, eating in a way that feels steady rather than extreme, and protecting my evenings where I can.
I think, in a way, it’s about finding a middle path through things, not swinging between overdoing and depletion, but staying somewhere more balanced, more responsive to what’s actually needed.
That’s where the body seems to function best too - not at the edges, but in that space of enough.
It’s a quieter kind of wellbeing, but it feels far more sustainable.
A myth you’d love to retire when it comes to health, immunity or ageing?
That more is better.
More supplements, more data, more optimisation, more control. I understand where that comes from, we want to feel agency. But biologically, the body often responds best to adequacy, to consistency, and to removing what’s getting in the way.
We don’t always need to add more, sometimes we need to create the conditions for the body to do what it already knows how to do.
What’s on your bedside table right now?
A mix of books I’m reading slowly - I usually have several on the go at once - a notebook for the thoughts that seem to arrive the moment my head hits the pillow, and my favourite kip&glow.
Dr Jenna Macciochi will be hosting the Soulful Science of Staying Well Retreat this May in East Sussex. A four-night, all-inclusive experience designed to reset your nervous system and reconnect you with the rhythms of wellbeing. Explore more at mow.health.travel/ and use code KIP for £100 off. Her latest book, Immune to Age, is out in paperback on May 21st.
