Mental Stress Affects Human Immune System-Study Finds

It is widely known that stress can cause a variety of health disorders. Now, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have claimed to have found fresh insights into the mind-body connection.

The UCLA scientists claimed that they have identified how chronic emotional stress ages the immune systemdefine. According to the researchers, if a person is suffering from chronic emotional stress then it is likely that it would have debilitating effect on that person’s immune system.

In their research on the mind-body connection, the scientists found that each of our immune cells contains a tiny clock called a telomere, which gets smaller each time the cell divides. These short Telomeres in turn have been linked to a range of human diseases, including HIVdefine, osteoporosis, heart disease and aging.

UCLA scientists found that the stress hormone cortisol suppresses immune cells' ability to activate their telomerase, an enzyme within the cell that helps maintain cell’s ability to continue dividing yet keeps the telomeres young.

The prevailing findings show that telomerase keeps immune cells young by preserving their telomere length, but the current study suggests that the cortisol in people suffering from emotional stress affect the telomerase and it is not able to keep the cells young by preserving the telomere length.

The UCLA researchers say that their findings may help understand why the cells of persons under chronic stress have shorter telomeres.

"When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support a "fight or flight" response," said Rita Effros, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a member of the Jonsson Cancerdefine Center, Molecular Biology Institute and UCLA AIDS Institute.

The researchers hope their findings may lead them to creation of a pill that may strengthen the human immune system to off stress and its health hazards.

"If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system. We are testing therapeutic ways of enhancing telomerase levels to help the immune system ward off cortisol's effect. If we're successful, one day a pill may exist to strengthen the immune system's ability to weather chronic emotional stress," Effros added.

Stress is a term which is not alien to any living mortal today. Be it a school going kid; burdened with studies and the fierce competition in other fields or an old man on the verge of his retirement; they are all under the clinch of stress. Stress is a state of affair that demands physical and mental energy. In medical terminology ‘stress’ is defined as a disturbance of the body’s homeostasis. Today, with the rapid diversification of human activity, we come face to face with numerous causes of stress.

As our mind and body try to cope up with the frequent changes in life, the demand of energy is raised and so is the stress. A stressed brain looses its mental flexibility and has less ability to pay attention or to learn and remember.

Stress can cause a variety of health disorders such as frequent headaches, backaches, heart attacks, allergies, eating disorders etc. Outside the brain, stress can play havoc on the immune system of the body. The immune system of a stressed-out individual apparently ages out at a faster rate thus making it more prone to all kinds of diseases.

Relaxation training, yoga and dance therapy help patients relieve physical and mental symptoms of stress. Meditation can also be a useful tool for controlling stress. Hydrotherapydefine, massage therapy, and aromatherapy are useful to some anxious patients because they can promote general relaxation of the nervous system.

The latest research by scientists at UCLA was published in the May issue of the peer-reviewed journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, and was supported by the National Institute of Aging, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the Geron Corp. and TA Therapeutics, Ltd.