STRESS WHAT IT DOES

www.watchtower.org In this series: * Stress—"The Silent Killer" * Stress—The "Slow Poison" * Good Stress, Bad Stress * Stress Can Be Managed! * PTSD—A Normal Reaction to an Abnormal Experience Stress and Your Immune System Current research shows that stress can suppress your immune system, perhaps opening the door to a number of infectious diseases. "Stress doesn't make you sick," says virologist Ronald Glaser. "But it does increase your risk of being sick because of what it does to your immune system." There is particularly compelling evidence linking stress to colds, the flu, and herpes. Although we are continually exposed to such viruses, our immune system normally fights them off. But some experts say that when a person is under emotional distress, these defenses can fail. The biological mechanisms involved are not yet fully understood, but some theorize that the hormones that gear you up for action when you are under stress can hamper your immune functioning as they surge through the bloodstream. Usually, this is not a cause for concern, since these hormones are only on a temporary mission. Nevertheless, some say that if a person faces stress that is ongoing and intense, his immune system may be compromised to the extent that he becomes susceptible to illness. This might help to explain why Canadian doctors estimate that some 50 to 70 percent of the office visits they handle are stress-related, typically involving headaches, insomnia, fatigue, and gastrointestinal ...