Stress management health centre
If you seem to suffer from the common cold a bit too often, perhaps stress is literally making you sick and tired.
By Theresa Bebbington
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Dr Keith David Barnard
Article from webmd
11th April 2012 - Stress has already been linked to a greater risk of depression, infectious diseases and even heart disease. A recent study has looked at how stress could be causing these health problems.
What is stress?
According to the International Stress Management Association UK, stress is "the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them."
When those pressures become overwhelming, they lead to stress. A little stress can be a good thing - it is part of the fight or flight mechanism that allows us to cope with a challenge. However, being in a continual state of stress means that body chemicals used to stimulate the fight or flight response are constantly active, and this can have adverse effects on our mental and physical health.
How stress can make you ill
The research study at Carnegie Mellon University, headed by Dr Sheldon Cohen and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has for the first time been able to establish that chronic psychological stress affects the body's ability to regulate the inflammatory response, which in turn can allow the development and progression of disease.
"Inflammation is partly regulated by the hormone cortisol, and when cortisol is not allowed to serve this function, inflammation can get out of control," says Dr Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in news release.
The study found that prolonged stress decreases tissue sensitivity to cortisol, so it could alter the effectiveness of cortisol to control the inflammatory response. To be more specific, the immune cells don't response properly to cortisol's regulatory effect, so inflammation isn't controlled. It is this runaway inflammation that allows the development of many diseases.
An earlier study by Dr Cohen showed that psychological stress made people more susceptible to developing the common cold, and he used the common cold virus for testing his theory. The symptoms of common cold are not caused by the virus itself, but are a side-effect of the inflammatory response triggered by the body to fight off the virus. The more your body tries to fight off the infection, the more symptoms of a cold you're likely to experience.
In the first study, 276 healthy adults were exposed to a common cold virus after completing an intensive stress review, and were then put into quarantine for five days. Dr Cohen concluded that in those who suffered a stressful event, the stress affected the immune cells? response to hormonal signals that normally control inflammation. These people were unable to regulate the inflammatory response and were more likely to develop cold symptoms on exposure to the virus.
In his second study, Dr Cohen assessed 79 healthy participants and their inflammatory response before exposing them to a cold virus. He monitored the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which are chemical messengers that trigger inflammation. In this study, he found that the participants who were less able to regulate their inflammatory response produced more of these chemical messengers when they were infected.
"The immune system's ability to regulate inflammation predicts who will develop a cold, but more importantly it provides an explanation of how stress can promote disease," says Dr Cohen. "When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease. Because inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as cardiovascular, asthma and autoimmune disorders, this model suggests why stress impacts them as well."
He added, "Knowing this is important for identifying which diseases may be influenced by stress and for preventing disease in chronically stressed people."
Is stress making you ill?
If you seem to suffer from the common cold a bit too often, perhaps stress is literally making you sick and tired.(continued)
Symptoms of stress
There are a number of psychological, emotional, physical and behavioural signs to look out for which indicate if someone is under stress:
Psychological signs
- Inability to concentrate or make simple decisions
- Memory lapses
- Becoming rather vague
- Easily distracted
- Worrying
- Negative thinking
- Depression and anxiety
Emotional signs
- Being tearful
- Being irritable
- Experiencing mood swings
- Feeling extra sensitive to criticism
- Being defensive
- Feeling out of control
- Lack of motivation
- Being angry or frustrated
- Lack of confidence or self-esteem
Behavioural signs
- No time for relaxation or pleasurable activities
- Prone to accidents
- Increased reliance on alcohol, smoking, caffeine, recreation or illegal drugs
- Becoming a workaholic
- Poor time management and/or poor standards of work
- Absenteeism
Physical signs
- Aches/pains and muscle tension/grinding teeth
- Frequent colds/infections
- Allergies/rashes/skin irritations
- Constipation/diarrhoea/irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Weight loss or gain
- Indigestion/heartburn/ulcers
- Hyperventilating/lump in the throat/pins and needles
- Dizziness/palpitations
- Panic attacks/nausea
- Physical tiredness
- Menstrual changes/loss of libido/sexual problems
- Heart problems/high blood pressure
- Stress takes its toll at the workplace
Work-induced stress is a significant problem in the UK. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), between 2009 and 2010 an estimated 9.8 million working days were lost through work-related stress. For each person experiencing work-related stress, an estimated 22.6 days of work was lost - that is equal to 0.42 days per worker.
Mind, the mental health charity, reports that stress in the workplace is thought to be the second biggest occupational health problem in the UK.
Legally, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that organisations of more than five people are required to assess the risk of stress-related ill health arising from work activities.
Of course, employers should be considering their employees' health, but if that and their legal obligations are not providing enough incentives, perhaps they should also look at the costs to their organisations. Mind reported in June 2011, "British businesses lose an estimated £26 billion each year in sickness absence and lost productivity. With greater awareness and mental health support, they said businesses could save one-third of these costs."
Article from webmd
