Effects of Stress on the Immune System

The immune system in our body is a combination of biological processes that protects us against disease. It identifies disease causing pathogens ranging from viruses, bacteria, parasitic worms to tumor cells. One of its many functions is to distinguish harmful agents from the other healthy body cells and tissues so that it can function properly. If the immune system is weak we get more susceptible to disease and are sometimes unable to decipher properly between healthy cells and those pathogens causing disease. Stress is one of the factors that adversely affect this complex defense mechanism in your body.

Stress affects the immune system in more than one ways and not all of them are negative. Short term stressors actually push the immune system to prepare the body for protecting itself from minor threats like insect bites, skin abrasions and punctures. Chronic stress, on the other hand, suppresses the immune system.

If stress lasts for a longer period, the physical and psychological changes that occur start impacting the body negatively, first at the cellular level and eventually the broader immune level.

• Chronic stress numbs the immune system’s responses to infections and in some cases even vitiates the body’s response to immunization. The white blood cells that are an important part of the body’s defense system are generally found to be lower among those suffering from chronic stress. This makes the body more vulnerable to common ailments like the common cold and flu.
• Cytokines are protein molecules secreted by cells of the immune system that serve to regulate the immune system. There is evidence that suggests that chronic stress triggers over production of cytokines, which weakens your body’s defense mechanism.
• The immune system of the elderly and those already suffering from a disease is more vulnerable to changes brought about by stress.
• Techniques like meditation, relaxation techniques, yoga and exercise that are commonly recommended for managing stress have a positive affect on the immune system. A positive frame of mind and a positive attitude also plays a vital role and is correlated with a better ability to fight disease. This is empirically proven by the observation that patients who exhibit fear before surgery are known to take longer time in healing afterwards.
• While there is no evidence to prove the role that stress plays in tumor growth, there is a belief that lack of control over existent stress (and not stress per se) has a negative impact on the ability of the immune system to control tumor growth. Here again, stress management techniques play an important role.

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