Stress and the Immune system

Because you keep reprocessing the same fears over and over you can develop anxiety, which in turn affect your physical body both internally and externally. When specific events begin to constantly trigger stress responses, a person can automatically begin to have worries even when the event does not actually happen. Should stress continue, you can become depressed, which can lead to poor eating habits, lack of sleep, and increased inactivity or loss of the ability to function. All of these are detrimental to your body and can lead to poor production of white blood cells as well as other cells that help make up your immune system.

Another way stress and the immune system are affected is from habits you may develop or increase that may already be damaging to your body. Some people who smoke may begin smoking more, increasing the negative elements they already take into their body. When combined with other problems, problems can be compounded. People who drink too many soft drinks or eat excessively can increase their weight, which can lead to more issues than simply the immune system.

Continued stress or large doses of stress over extended periods of time can affect your body’s cortisol output. Cortisol naturally occurs in the body, but because stress can adversely affect your adrenal glands (which is where cortisol orginates from), the amount of cortisol your body produces can be too much, and it is this particular hormone that can suppress your immune system and cause your resistance to disease to fall.