Hello All, Firstly I’m pleased to see you here again. Today we are going to look at how Can Stress Weaken Your Immune System.
So, when stress gets out of control it can cause various different problems for our health. It is a lot more than just feeling fed up at work ?
One of the negative effects of too much stress is of course what it does to the immune system.
Stress is something that probably all of us have to deal with. For us that are more positively inclined we may take it in our stride. After all, it’s a part of our everyday life. But It can also take over our lives away and cause us a lot of damage if not managed properly.
As for the immune system, there are many ways to tell if it’s is having a problem. If you get a cold that just won’t go away for instance. It stays for weeks and weeks. Or If you cut yourself and it takes a longer time to heal than normal.
Also, feeling very tired all of the time is another sign.
So for this post, we are going to at this a bit more closely, and some of the short and long term effects of the two different types of stress.
Both Acute and Chronic.
Can Stress Weaken Your Immune System
In Summary, Here Are Topics We Will Cover…
- Effects of Stress
- Long Term Effects of Stress
- How to Manage the Effects of Stress
- Can Stress Weaken Your Immune System
- My Final thoughts
Can Stress Weaken Your Immune System
1# – Effects of Stress
People are often away from home studying at university or working away and being away from all that is familiar can make you feel homesick and bring on stress.
Signs of stress, your pulse and blood pressure rise, your breathing becomes rapid, Your muscles become ready to flee.
Low levels of stress can take the form of the common cold, and cold sores caused by the lowering of white blood cells. These blood cells are what fight infections.
If you suffer from high levels of stress you can become anxious, have panic attacks and suffer from depression As well as an increase in inflammation. In the long-term, sustained, high levels of inflammation often lead to an overworked, over-tired immune system that can’t function properly leading you to not being protected.
2# – More Serious Long Term Effects Of Stress
If you cannot control high levels of stress, then chronic inflammation can occur and this can contribute to the development of many diseases of the immune system such as:
“Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many body systems — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs.” (1)
Fibromyalgia affects the muscles and causes a great deal of pain all over the body as well as fatigue, it can resemble the pain associated with arthritis.
Psoriasis is a skin condition that causes red, flaky, skin covered with silvery scales. These patches can appear anywhere on your body but they are most common on the knees and elbows. The majority of sufferers are only affected by small patches.
Inflammatory bowel disease is a combination of 2 disorders, Ulcerative colitis only affects the colon. Crohn’s disease can affect any part of the digestive system.
3# – How To Manage The Effects Of Stress
- Exercise is a very important thing to do to help you if you are stressed.
- Drinking less caffeine for example Tea, Coffee, Coke, and energy drinks.
- Keeping a diary, writing things down when they happen can help you to learn what the triggers are.
- Being around family and friends, talking and being social able, relaxing and taking your mind off it.
- Meditation is another way to help you to feel relaxed.
- Practice deep breathing, you can find exercises to help you.
- Changing your daily routines, do different things with your day.
- Laughter is a fun way to de-stress, I know you might not feel like it, but it does help.
- Hugging gives you a warm cuddly feeling all over.
- There are supplements that can help you out.
- Practicing Yoga is great for mental health.
- Eat a properly balanced diet
- Make sure you get enough sleep, the body needs more when it is stressed.
- Seek medical advice from a psychologist, your doctor will be able to help with this.
If you would like to learn more you can read about alternative methods to Master Stress Naturally Here.
4# – Can Stress Weaken Your Immune System
Yes. Yes, it can. The root cause of stress is a hormone that is called Cortisol. It is just one of several ‘Stress Hormones’. Others include Adrenaline, Norepinephrine, Glucagon, and Growth Hormone (HGH). We need every single one of these for one reason or another, and in fact, Cortisol and Adrenaline are too of the most abundant hormones in the human body.
Yet Cortisol, although it is essential for life itself, is the root cause of what we call stress. So managing cortisol levels is very important. If we don’t it can impact our immune system because it can attack other important hormones such as insulin, leptin and melatonin.
My Final Thoughts
Stress can be caused by many situations, moving house, having a baby, getting married etc. Relationship problems, YOUR Job, money worries and worrying about what others think of you ?
A lot of people can breeze through life and only be stressed for short periods of time. Like it’s not a big deal to them. Even, it can help them to get through the day.
But for others who suffer from Stress regularly over time, it can take over their lives completely. This is the kind of thing that can cause the immune system to go out of control and health conditions such as to cause Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Psoriasis and Inflammatory bowel disease.
So you can see the huge importance of managing the effects of stress.
The sooner you do something about it the better you will be able to cope.
Don’t let stress ruin your life ?
There is always time to make things right if you know ?
Stop being Stressed before it stops you!
>>Learn How to Master Stress Naturally HERE<<
YOUR FEEDBACK
I wish to thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy day to read this. If you have a question or would like to leave a comment you can do so below. I love hearing from you and I will always reply back to you.
Do you know anyone else who would benefit from reading this? If you do then please feel free to share it using the share buttons below⏬
Take great care of yourself because you are worth it.
Best regards
Alex
Please note: This article does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Information Sources:
#1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus
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About Author
Hi Lisa,
I absolutely loved one of your suggestions on your list of the ways to manage the effects of stress.
Granted, there are things that we may see and hear everyday.
However, something as simple as “hugging”, well you don’t see many people mentioning that, and it is probably one of the best stress relievers there is.
I typically exercise everyday and find it helps with the release of the “happy hormones” like seratonin and dopamine.
Also, over the last couple of years I’ve started to meditate and write in a journal, much like you’ve suggested.
I really do think it makes a huge difference to my stress levels.
Thanks for an awesome read Lisa and keep up the great work.
Partha
Hi Partha,
I’m absolutely thrilled you enjoyed the article. Hugging is as you say a huge stress reliever. I’m happy your stress is under control, as I’m sure you are aware it can turn very quickly the other way.
I appreciate your thoughts and comments, thank you very much.
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
I love your website and your articles are very important topics. This article resonates with me a lot because I was getting quite stressed when the Covid-19 came in. I started to drink a bit more alcohol than before, and I reduced how much exercise I was doing. But, I realised that by drinking more alcohol was enhancing the stress not reducing it.
So now I reduced my alcohol intake and started exercising a bit more and I have been able to relax a lot more too.
It’s great to go through your other tips, including caffeine. I need to reduce my caffeine intake too.
Thank you for sharing and keep up the amazing work.
All the best,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Thank you very much for the very positive comments. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read and share your thoughts.you have realized what you were doing wasn’t the best way to go forward, I commend you on your sensible actions.
Thanks again
Lisa
Those fourteen tips on how to deal with the stress are golden! I personally practice exercise, deep breathing, and meditation mostly. This list is very helpful and I’ll add a few more to my arsenal now. Stress is the number one enemy today, and I agree with you, the sooner you start managing your stress levels, the better for your overall health. Thanks for sharing!
Hello Ivan,
I’m very happy the tips work for you. Stress can be awful if it takes control.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and leaving a comment.
Stress is a big killer I believe but in a very slow and painful way. I have seen it take hold of a healthy young man and cause him to become so weak he can no longer do things for himself. Education is the key to stress and you are doing a great job with the article to educate others on the importance of controlling stress in our lives. Awesome article keep up the work.
Hi Rick,
You are so right, our daughter suffers badly with stress and anxiety, it is very sad to see her struggling. She is an adult now with a mind of her own. I’m hoping to get her to read this soon.
I appreciate your time and comments thank you ?
You’re right, Lisa, Chronic stress causes a lot of problems. I am so glad I am not stressed anymore.
I do almost everything of your useful list. Just point 4 has been difficult lately for the obvious reasons 🙂
Hi Hannie,
Thank you very much for stopping by and leaving your thoughts.
I’m pleased to hear that you are not stressed anymore.
Lisa
Hi, this was very interesting read. I am unfortunately a bit of a ‘stress head’ and I find talking to others helps. I didn’t know it can cause some of the issues you entitled such as lupus etc. Thank you for excellent info.
There is good and bad stress, and bad stress can affect our mental and physical well being, so this is a great article with many easy tips to implement. I think stress will be a key health hazard moving forward, here’s to more hugging! Thanks for sharing, Phil
Hey Phil,
Thank you very much for reading and commenting, I really appreciate your time.
I think stress causes more health issues than people actually realize.
I had serious problems with my thyroid just when I lost my job and was going through a divorce, at the same time. I didn’t know much about self-help tips that time so I had to have my thyroid removed. I’m ok now.
Your tips are absolutely perfect and I practise most of them regularly. Yoga, mediation, deep breathing, hugging and having a good laugh, that all helps.
Stress causing problems that can lead you down the road to bad diets of junk food because you won’t relax enough to cook. Sitting at a computer all night because you are high on caffeine but not productive. Sometimes even the thought of going to the doctors can make people stressed then something serious goes unattended.
So in short you are not eating well due to stress, then you stop sleeping well and your physical and mental health suffers. The worst thing is that we will get stressed out about all these things happening. I do not do any meditation but I have what I call my switch off time where I will watch calming documentaries or light hearted movies anything that does not remind me of everyday problems.
Hi Chris, Yes same for me. Except for the caffeine only really drink regular tea or coffee if I’m given to by someone else. For me I stick to the different types of teas in my cupboard. Although alcohol I know can be a problem to deal with stress as all the knock-on effects it has.
As for sleep yes you are right because high cortisol levels slow down melatonin production. So, you are right it’s good to do whatever you can to stop yourself from being stressed tidy up, have a wash, chill out. Even have a beer or glass of wine if it makes you relax but just stick to the one and don’t drink too late. It’s different for each person but yes you shouldn’t let stress take over it is not good for people.