Stress and Health: How stress affects your mind and body

Stress and health are intimately connected. Have you ever experienced a great deal of stress only to get sick afterwards? While the stress response is a good thing, especially when you experience acute stress, too much of a good thing for too long can result in a stress-related illness.

In this section you will learn about the relationship between stress and health. In particular, this section will look at:

• How stress affects the immune system,
• The relationship between stress and cancer, and
• The effect of stress on heart disease.

Catching a cold – Stress and the Immune System

The immune system is your body’s defense system, which detects and eliminates bacteria and viruses in your body. During the fight or flight response, glucocorticoids are released.

This hormone affects your immune system by inhibiting the formation of white blood cells, namely the B and T cells.

The B cells mature in the bone marrow and produce antibodies that attach themselves to foreign invaders marking them for destruction.

T cells mature in the thymus and stimulate immune functioning. One type of T cells are the natural killer (NK) cells which find and destroy damaged precancerous cells before it becomes a tumor.

Stress, by releasing glucorticoids during the fight or flight response, inhibit the formation and kill these white blood cells (including the NK cells). This makes the body more vulnerable to tumor growth.

A reduction in the white blood cells also means that wounds take longer to heal and there is an increase in the chance of infection. For example, students under pressure had slower-healing wounds and took longer to produce immune system cells that kill invading organisms (Jemmot, 1983).

Probably one of the most conclusive studies done on the relationship between stress and illness was on a group of 394 participants. Those who reported higher stress showed

• higher rates of the presence of infection in their blood for five different viruses, and
• were judged by doctors as having a clinical cold (Cohen et al., 1991).

In conclusion, stress and health are intimately related as stress lowers the body’s defenses against illness

Stress and cancer

Although there is no evidence that stress causes cancer, there is evidence that stress can affect the growth of some cancerous tumors. Stress produces a fight or flight reponse that releases hormones into the blood. These hormones inhibit the production of B cells and T cells.

These B and T cells either increase immune functioning of recognize the aberrant cells and kill them before they produce a tumor. Research has shown that stress can lower the body’s defenses and its ability to:

• prevent the abberant cells from invading in the first place,
• repair the abberant cells, or
• killer T-cells can kill off cancer cells.

Alternatively, stress can increase the chances of cancer due to the health impairing behavior that people undertake. For example, under stress, people are more likely to stop exercising, start smoking, and eat unhealthy foods — all factors that increase the chance of cancer.

Stress and heart disease

Stress creates a natural fight or flight response that increases blood pressure and releases hormones that narrow the arteries. This enhances the buildup of plaque, or atherosclerosis, in the arteries.

As the buildup increases, the arteries narrow further, making the heart work harder to pump the blood and oxygen around the body. With the heart working harder and pumping blood with greater power, this can create more damage to the arteries.

Conclusion

Stress and health are intimately related, with people who experience more stress likely to have poorer health and wellbeing. Physical relaxation techniques, imagery and self-talk will help you to change your response to potentially stressful situations. In the long-term, stress management helps to reduce fatigue and burnout, and promote wellness and health.