How Stress Affect our Immune System?: Physical stress can cause a number of changes within your body, which can
impact other aspects such as your immune system. Contrary to this, when
stressed besides identifying what is causing the stress, it’s possible to know
how severely the immune is affected depending on the duration of stress
being experienced.
Stress hormones released in your body cause several changes in your body
so that you are able to be able to stand and remove barriers perceived. These
changes help to prioritise key activities in your body like raising your pulse rate and breathing control and the slowing down of digestion.
Your body also goes into shock, which an immune response during the stress
reaction. Specific impact entail your stressor type plus duration of exposure or strength of the level of stress. They can also be associated with a number of acute and chronic health outcomes.
Table of Contents
What is the link?
Stress reaction or the “stress cascade” includes your immune system as a
complex part of your body. In fact, your stress reaction mainly implicates your
nervous endocrine, and immune systems only. Trusted Source
When stress appears for the first time, it triggers the acute stress phase also
known as the “alarm” phase.
At this stage, specialized immune cells are carried through the bloodstream
and directed into likely regions of bacterium, virus and fungal contamination
such as the skin. This assists to increase immunity so that the body can
effectively deal with an immunological emergency situation.
When stress becomes prolonged, it attains chronic like characteristic and
causes your immune function to deteriorate.
Every now and then, the body has to look for strategies to contain and
compensate for inflammation that goes on for hours, days, weeks and even
years due to stress. It begins to secrete anti-inflammatory cytokines, which are supposed to counter the stress response in case a threatening stimulus
disappears.
When the stressors don’t subside, then the body gets stuck in a dangerous
oscillation between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory, which can lead
Trusted Source to what is referred to as sickness behaviour, which shows
itself in symptoms of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction.
Finally, chronic stress impacts your core immunity, making it lower than
normal levels in the body.
Symptoms of stress
Stress must be understood as having physical ramifications and it affects both your mind as well as your body
Common symptoms of stress include:
- Rapid heartbeat
- Increased respiration
- Sweating
- Shortness of breath
- Elevated blood pressure
- Chest pain
- Muscle aches and pains
- Headaches
- Nausea or vomiting
- Bowel changes
- Loss of appetite
- Overeating
- Fatigue
- Sleep disturbances
- Skin changes
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Mood shifts
- Irritability
- Burnout
- Low concentration
When it comes to your immune system, specifically, symptoms of stress can
include:
- Increased rate of infections
- Delayed wound healing
- Frequent colds or cold-like illnesses
- Chronic inflammatory conditions
- New or worsening autoimmune conditions
- New or worsening allergies
Stress management
In this case there are many different ways of addressing stress in the short
term and long term ways. People’s working arrangements are manifestly
different, it is quite acceptable to experiment until one or several which would
suit your personality and wants are discovered.
Stress management methods can include:
Progressive muscle relaxation
PMR stands for progressive muscle relaxation and is an in the moment
removing of stress but only when stress is situational or acute, while it’s
happening.
Another way of doing PMR is taking several minutes and tightening and
relaxing all the muscles of the body beginning from the toes to the scalp.
Then, make all the necessary effort to exclude any visual input, and try to
mentally let go of every muscle in the body starting from one body part
You can do PMR as often as needed.
Other in-the-moment techniques you can try include:
- Sensory grounding
- Deep breathing exercises
- Taking a short break or walk
- Structured counting
- Positive affirmations
Exercise
Physical exercise in the short and the long term may benefit in stress release.
There is strong evidence Trusted Source on how exercise help to decrease
stress, and they way you choose to approach the task is completely open to
you.
Exercises that can help to manage stress include:
- Running
- Yoga
- Hiking
- Walking
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Strength training
Meditation
Meditation provides an account of the many methods available of attaining a
holistic perception of the relationship between mind and body
Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the widely examined methodologies
that imply giving attention to the present moment and teach how to abandon
the negative thoughts.
Counselling could help in managing stress related mental and physical signs
and symptoms, stating the fact, that mediation should definitely not be
overlooked as it is effective.
Journaling
Negative cognitions refer to negative ways of thinking that include negative
thoughts or emotions shown to reduce stress and lead to positive response
approach to problems. You can do this by writing it in a journal, by writing it
down the long hand way with good old pen and paper, or through an online
format.
There is evidence, therefore, that journaling is a helpful technique for the
clinical management of given specific psychological disorders, including
anxiety disorders, that are thought to underlie much chronic stress.
Treatment options for stress
If stress is an issue in your day-to-day life, one should consult a mental health
care worker.
Consulting them can help you to consider what is stressing you most in your
life, and come up with ways you can be handling stress. Anti-stress therapy
approaches therefore include uncovering and addressing dysfunctional
thought and behavior patterns with emphasis being placed on therapies such
as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Stress also has other related symptoms on the physical well-being, and the
doctor may recommend other drugs for anxiety, depression or gastrointestinal
problems among others.
Each person’s symptoms and underlying causes of stress can be different, but
examples of medications used for stress-related symptoms across a variety of conditions include:
- SSRI and SNRI antidepressants (Prozac, Zoloft, Cymbalta)
- Anti-anxiety medications (Xanax, Valium, Buspar)
- Beta-blockers (Inderal, Lopresor, Tenormin)
- Sedatives (Ambien, Lunesta, Rozerem)
- Mood stabilizers (Lithium, Depakote, Lamictal)
When to speak with a doctor
Stress is not negative and everyone has stress in various forms everyday of
their lives. Overall, short term stress is not necessarily bad because it makes
people uncomfortable and removes barriers to encourage ones to endeavour
to perform better and become better people.
This is especially so when stress is chronic, your usual methods of handling
stress do not work, or your mental and physical health are deteriorating.
Takeaway
Stress stimulates your immune system – which is beneficial in the short run
but damaging in the long run.
It is therefore possible to reduce stressing factors such as PMR, mediation
and journaling thus avoiding wearing down of the immune system.
Stress Affect our Immune System?