Stress & Hormones
Stress taxes all body systems. Any condition that threatens the body's homeostasis or steady state is a form of stress. Conditions that cause stress may be physical, emotional, or environmental. One of the main functions of certain endocrine glands is to secrete hormones that help the body respond to stressful situations. However, that function is only meant to be short-term. When stress lasts longer than a few hours, higher energy demands are placed on the body. More hormones are then secreted to meet those demands, but at a price. They tend to weaken the body's defenses, leaving the body open to infection.
Stress over an extended period of time – chronic stress – can result in high blood pressure and a lack of cortisol and other steroid hormones released by the adrenal cortex. All this can lead to organ damage and failure. Combining exercise with proper amounts of sleep, relaxation techniques, and positive thinking will help reduce stress and keep hormone levels balanced.
Internal factors such as stress have been implicated in causing a deficient immune system because of the nature of the body's response in dealing with this problem. The capabilities of the immune system are diminished after frequent activation of the autonomic nervous system in the case of chronic stress. The immune system is downgraded to be able to continuously function. In a large study involving parents of both children with cancer and parents with children who were relatively healthy, the results showed that chronic psychological stress might reduce the immune system's reactions to hormonal secretions that were normally used to fight the inflammatory response (Miller, Cohen, & Ritchey, 2002).
Perceived mood also seems to play a role in immune system effectiveness. Having a positive attitude seems to correlate with an increased ability of the immune system in fighting diseases. In cases where patients have exhibited fear before a surgery, they have had a longer healing time afterwards. Correlations were observed in the number of lymphocyte cells and the person's level of optimism.
Cardiovascular diseases are another area where stress could have a negative effect. The natural response of the fight or flight activation mechanism could have a decidedly negative impact on the cardiovascular system. Since the activation of the fight or flight system involves an increase in the heart rate, a frequent activation could increase the possibility of a heart attack or other negative aspect of the disease. Specifically, a study was done in an industrial work environment in which a much higher frequency of cardiovascular mortality was found to correlate with an environment in which there was very little reward incentive (Kivimaki et al., 2002).
Even in relatively less dangerous health problems, mood can have an effect. A study with the common cold and emotions showed that participants with happy emotions exhibited a greater ability to fight off the cold when given a squirt of the rhinovirus (Jones, 2003).
A study done on students in an academic environment during exam time produced some convincing results. In the study, the level of T-cells and responses to mitogens was lower. Secondly, there was a higher self-reported occurrence of health problems, such as, upper respiratory-tract infections (O'Leary, 1994).
In the case of external factors, the social environment could play a huge role in immune functioning. If a person has an effective social support web, it has been shown to effectively increase the immune's systems abilities. The cardiovascular system could also have a positive response to this type of social support. Having positive social support could aid in blood pressure regulation, thus reducing the probability of a heart or related disease.
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