How immunity affects the nervous system. How stress affects immunity

Exciting new research in psychoneuroimmunology that examines the relationship between the mind, stress, and the immune system reveals what has the greatest impact on immune system function. People under chronic stress suffer from a range of suppressed immune responses, which increases their susceptibility to various diseases.

Stress causes the number of disease-killing cells to decrease and become less active. Stress also reduces the body's production of cytokines, chemical messengers of the immune system, resulting in a weakened immune response to antigens such as bacteria and toxins.

As previously mentioned, chronic stress leads to the overproduction of various neurochemicals (epinephrine and norepinephrine, also known as epinephrine and noradrenaline), which causes serious problems.

With prolonged exposure to these neurochemicals, the body, including, begins to break down. Anabolic metabolism, responsible for building tissue, turns into catabolic, and the body as a result begins to consume itself. This phenomenon is necessary in life or death situations, but catastrophic in everyday life.

Stress and its effect on the body

Under excessively long exposure to adrenaline and norepinephrine, the connection between immune cell receptors and cell nuclei is disrupted, which prevents the immune cells from reacting to toxic antigens.

Moreover, stress stimulates the production of cortisol in the adrenal glands. Cortisol regulates energy use in crisis situations, but when there is too much of it, it leads to suppression of immune system functions as well as a depressive state of mind.

The general conclusion here is that when the body is in a state of chronic stress, the immune system weakens. This increases the likelihood that you are doomed to suffer from one of the many stress-related disorders.

It could be bacterial or viral infection, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, diabetes, inflammatory processes in the intestines, ulcers and cancer. In addition, the risk of developing autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and others may increase.

Stress and immunity are strongly interconnected. Prolonged exposure to stress weakens the immune defense, which causes increased susceptibility to various diseases. Reducing the influence of stress factors allows you to increase the body's resistance to adverse conditions environment.

Can stress lower your immune system?

Numerous studies have proven that chronic stress reduces immunity. Excessive emotional stress and psychological discomfort have a negative impact on the immune system, resulting in reduced resistance to various diseases. The body becomes more susceptible to the penetration of viruses and microorganisms.

The mechanism of stress's effect on the immune system

Under stressful conditions, the balance of various hormones in the body is disrupted. When the emotional sphere is unbalanced, certain areas of the brain are excited, which causes excessive production of glucocorticoids - steroid hormones. As a result, some body systems become unbalanced. When a stressful situation occurs, a person may experience the following symptoms:

increased heart rate;
increased level blood sugar;
high arterial pressure;
increased blood flow to muscle tissue.

With constant stress, an increase in the amount of glucocorticoids leads to the destruction of lymphocytes - cells that perform protective functions. For this reason, the immune response is suppressed, increasing the risk of developing autoimmune pathologies.

Stress resistance and changes in immunity under stress are determined by the individual characteristics of a person. Depending on personal characteristics and the organization of the nervous system, the influence of negative factors is perceived by people differently.

Persons with a tendency to increased excitability, anxiety and depression are the most sensitive to stressful situations. Low self-esteem is believed to be one of the reasons high level anxiety. People who are not prone to anxiety are more resistant to the effects of adverse factors.

As a result of the fact that stress kills the immune system, any pathology can develop, including cancer.

In many cases, viruses that are latent in the body are activated. Also, a person may suffer from a cold for a long time, despite active therapy.

Immune Strengthening and Stress Reduction Program

If immunity has dropped due to stress, then complex treatment must be used to restore immune defense. First of all, it is important to reduce the influence of factors that cause excess stress and negative emotions.

Identify the cause that provoked the emotional disorder. A psychologist can help with this.
To overcome increased anxiety, chronic anger, and irritability, you need to learn how to fully relax. Physical activity helps improve blood circulation, eliminate bodily blocks and clamps that impede the free flow of vital energy. Relaxing meditation and breathing techniques free the mind from unnecessary thoughts, which over time will help you respond more calmly to stressful situations.
Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. This is one of the most important factors when dealing with excessive stress.
Eat properly. It is important to include in your diet foods rich in B vitamins, as well as A, E, C. This will help compensate for the lack of vitamins that occurs under stressful conditions. To strengthen the immune system, you can take a decoction of rose hips, tinctures of echinacea, and eleutherococcus.
Receive positive emotions, redirect negative thoughts into a positive direction, engage in creativity.

To cope with stress and strengthen your immune defense, it is important to adapt to healthy image life, which includes tracking your thoughts, reactions, physical exercise, proper rest, proper nutrition.

The mechanism of influence of psychological aspects on immunity has not yet been fully studied, however, now this fact is undeniable. We have all heard about psychosomatics: the dependence of somatic (physical) diseases on psycho-emotional factors. Stress and emotional distress greatly affect the immune system, and the more we worry, the more clearly it manifests itself in the body’s reactions. Surely everyone has had an episode in their life when they lost their appetite due to nerves, the skin and its derivatives (hair, nails) deteriorated. All this does not pass without a trace: immunity deteriorates, which means it becomes easier to get sick during this period.

Decreased immunity due to stress

Why does immunity decrease? Some viruses live in the body for years without showing their presence. But as soon as the level of immunity drops, they immediately make themselves felt. The body under stress releases the adrenal hormone cortisol, which suppresses the immune system's response to viral stimuli. Stress and immunity are incompatible, as the cardiovascular, immune systems, and metabolism suffer. A multiple increase in the level of corticosteroids leads to the death of lymphocytes - cells that protect our body. Such a biochemical ratio of hormones can even lead to oncology, because the body is not able to recognize emerging tumors. It’s not for nothing that cancer is called the “disease of sadness.”

Factors that reduce human immunity:

poor environmental level, toxic effects of the environment or production;
excessive use of antibiotics and immunomodulators;
depression, stress;
unhealthy lifestyle (smoking, drinking alcohol);
lack of physical activity;
Lack of sleep patterns, lack of sleep.

If you are tormented by endless allergies or colds, a constant feeling of fatigue, or old diseases have worsened, this means that the body’s protective function is failing. Despite the fact that this phenomenon is very difficult to eliminate, it is still within your power to do so. How to fight if stress kills the immune system?

Dealing with negative stimuli

Even if you are under extreme stress, your immune system can be supported. Negative situations cannot be avoided. But you can at least try to set yourself up in a positive way. The general rules are:

Combating negative stimuli during stress The less you know the better you sleep. Stop watching the news in the evenings and reading news sites. It doesn’t have any impact on your everyday life, but it makes you nervous. The falling exchange rate of the ruble is important, but much more important is your emotional well-being, which accumulates unnecessary negative information like a snowball. The media tends to exaggerate reality in an attempt to excite the minds of readers through emotion. Calm down and just live.
Adequately assess your strengths. Don't try to move mountains if you don't want to right now. Some things happen in life despite our attempts to influence them. If emotions accumulate and the situation cannot be changed, find a creative outlet for this, physical exercise. In any case, you will not lose, because in order to “get over” the situation, you need to experience it, and not try to isolate yourself.
Replenish your energy regularly. You can walk in the park, meditate, listen to music or watch your favorite TV series. And of course, get more sleep.
Find what's draining your energy. These may be factors that reduce immunity. Are there situations that make you feel like you’ve had a squeezed lemon? Try to limit their presence in your life.
Tell yourself "stop". Stop and just look around for a couple of minutes. If you feel like you're boiling and about to lose your temper, count to ten. Surprisingly, it helps.

When should you start seasonal flu prevention? Read on for details.

How to help the body during this period?

It is important not only to exclude factors of overwork and negative emotions. Stress lowers immunity, which means you need to strengthen it in every way.

Drink vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is a natural antiviral drug that is included in many medications, as well as foods that can be eaten every day. By taking it daily for a month, you will increase your body's resistance without much effort.
daily walks are a method of strengthening and maintaining health to combat stress Temper yourself. It's better to do this in the summer, pouring yourself cold water on the street. But it is possible in winter, using the so-called contrast shower. This way your body will be ready for cold temperatures; in addition, such a shower is an excellent prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Visit more often fresh air . Stress weakens the immune system, and daily walks are not only a great way to unwind, but also a method of strengthening and maintaining health.
Eat healthy. Why does immunity decrease in women? Girls often go on unbalanced diets, and this deals a devastating blow to the immune system.
Drink Forcis. Natural preparations, which do not force the immune system to activate, but only perform a protective function, will help you survive a period of unrest and not get sick. Cistus and vitamin C act as natural antiviral agents, with which no viral disease will ruin your everyday life, and the original taste of the tablets will brighten up your mood.

8 simple ways to strengthen your immune system

Today, March 1, is World Immunity Day - which is no coincidence, because the beginning of spring is the time to think about the immune system and strengthen it in all possible ways.

Since 2002, at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), World Immunity Day has been celebrated on March 1, the purpose of which is to remind people of the problems associated with various immune diseases, as well as with the preservation and strengthening of immunity.

Immunity is the body’s ability to resist; the immune system neutralizes foreign cells, various infections and viruses, and then destroys them.

The human immune system depends half on heredity, as it begins to form in the womb, and 50% on lifestyle. The three pillars on which human immunity rests are healthy sleep, physical activity and a balanced diet. Usually a person thinks about the role and possibilities of maintaining immunity only during severe colds, whereas it itself is a consequence of immune deficiency.

You can restore and maintain immunity with the help of special immune-strengthening agents, but there are many additional ways strengthen the body.

Horseradish, shrimp and bay leaf

Nutrition is the key to protection against viruses and diseases and most important factor, helping to improve the body's defenses. Nutrition should be as rational as possible in quantitative and qualitative terms. Your menu should contain animal proteins and plant origin. Animal proteins are found in meat, fish, eggs and milk, and plant proteins are found in peas, beans, buckwheat and oatmeal. Have a beneficial effect on the immune system beef liver and seafood - shrimp, mussels, squid.

Spices support the immune system well - ginger, barberry, cloves, coriander, cinnamon, basil, cardamom, turmeric, Bay leaf and - horseradish.

Vitamins and microelements are needed to strengthen the immune system. Their deficiency can be compensated with the help of multivitamin complexes, but in general it is better to obtain vitamins and microelements naturally.

Among the microelements, zinc and selenium have a positive effect on the immune system. Zinc is found in fish, meat, liver, nuts, beans and peas. Selenium should be “extracted” from fish, seafood, and garlic.

Minerals - iron, copper, magnesium and zinc - are found in liver, kidneys, heart, nuts, legumes and chocolate.

Smoking and alcohol not only undermine, but kill the immune system. But if with tobacco everything is simple and clear - you need to quit smoking and avoid tobacco smoke, then with alcohol the situation is different. Dry red wine is good for the immune system, but the maximum permissible daily dose is 50-100 grams.

It is necessary to prepare for any outbreak of morbidity in advance, strengthening, first of all, nonspecific protection. Everyone knows about such a method as hardening, but most are sure that hardening is getting used to the cold, for example, walking in the snow in shorts. But in fact, the essence of hardening is to train the mucous membranes to quickly respond to sudden changes in temperature.

Pouring should be done daily - 5-7 minutes a day, in the morning or evening. This procedure is especially suitable for children.

Calm and only calm!

Stress is one of the main enemies of immunity. The most dangerous is an uncontrollable type of stress, when a person is unable to cope with his emotions. There is only one recipe for getting rid of mental turmoil: to form a calm attitude towards everything, no matter what happens, and more often remind yourself that if you cannot change the situation, take it for granted.

If you sometimes have to experience stress, then compensate for it with laughter! Laughter has the same beneficial effects on the body as moderate exercise: it lowers blood pressure, relieves stress and strengthens the immune system. In addition, laughter improves appetite, lowers cholesterol levels, and reduces the risk of diseases. of cardio-vascular system and diabetes.

It is believed that cats increase the immunity of their owners, protect them from heart disease, and have a beneficial effect on nervous system. A cat’s body temperature is 38-39 degrees, and if a person has a cold, then a purring cat, lying next to it, warms up the body and, as a result, helps to cope with colds and increases its owner’s resistance to stress.

Since ancient times, cats have become the most popular and beloved pets. The love for them turned out to be so great that a special holiday was established for pets - World Cat Day, which is celebrated on the first day of spring, March 1.

Folk remedies for immunity

If you often suffer from colds and ARVI, try strengthening your body with Kalanchoe juice. Tincture recipe >>

Hardening will help strengthen the body's strength. The easiest way is to take a small foam mat, moisten it with a cold infusion of plants that enhance immunity, and stand on it barefoot. Read more about this hardening method >>

Nutritional yeast has a good immunostimulating effect, which is especially recommended for children. They should be taken for a month (at least 50 grams per week), diluting a small part in boiled water without sugar.

Of the plant substances that have a pronounced immunostimulating effect, it is worth paying attention to infusions of Eleutherococcus, ginseng and Chinese lemongrass.

Stress and immunity: what is the connection?

Based on information in medical sources, immunity should be understood as protective system body, which ensures the prevention of the negative effects of adverse environmental factors. The immune system undergoes changes every now and then for one reason or another.

This in turn leads to frequent illnesses and deterioration in overall health. One of the provoking factors is regular nervous tension, because it has long been proven that stress reduces immunity.

What should we understand by stress?

Stress is a characteristic state of the human body that develops in response to exposure to powerful external stimuli. IN Lately There has been a steady increase in the amount of stress that modern people are regularly forced to cope with.

It should be borne in mind that all people have a distinctive perception of the same situations. In this regard, the same phenomenon can be perceived by one person as a strong emotional shock, and in the case of another it will be completely ignored.

This difference at one time became the impetus for dividing people into two categories, represented by optimists and pessimists. For the former, any stressful situation seems to be nothing more than another obstacle that needs to be overcome.

But pessimists often greatly exaggerate the importance of what is happening to them. Due to this perception, even the most insignificant problems can turn out to be insurmountable obstacles and cause the development of a depressive state.

The fact that a person is in a state of stress may be indicated by the following characteristic symptoms:

constant irritability, depression;
disturbances in normal sleep patterns;
depression, physical weakness, headaches and fatigue;
decreased concentration;
inability to achieve complete relaxation;
loss of interest in everything that happens around;
decreased appetite.

Considering the main manifestations of stress, it becomes obvious how detrimental stress affects the immune system.

The effect of stress on immunity

According to the latest statements of scientists, the category of the most worst enemies The body's defenses can rightfully be attributed to chronic stress. Immunity is greatly reduced if a person regularly faces stressful situations.

Stress weakens the immune system, and the mechanism of its effect can be explained quite easily. Thus, in stressful situations, under the influence of impulses from the nervous system, the production of specific hormones is activated, which in turn contribute to the reduction of the “population” of lymphocytes that perform protective functions in the body.

Against the background of such unfavorable changes, there is a decrease in the body’s resistance to various types of infectious and viral diseases. Stress lowers immunity, causing a person to get sick more often.

As the latest shows medical research, decreased immunity due to stress is fraught with the development of cancer. This is due to a deterioration in the response to emerging cancer cells, which increasingly remain undetected by the defense forces.

In this regard, another name was invented to designate cancer diseases in the medical field. Thus, such pathologies are often called “diseases of sadness.”

Very often, even minor nervous shocks lead to serious pathologies in the future. One can only imagine what impact extreme stress can have on the immune system. Immunity also deteriorates significantly against the background of prolonged depression, which is regularly experienced by people who do not cope well with stressful situations. In this case, the person runs the risk of becoming seriously ill with subsequent chronicization of the pathological process.

Methods to combat stress and improve immunity

Special dietary supplements, which are available in abundance on iHerb, will help you cope with the negative effects of stress on the immune system. These products were developed by leading American specialists and their effect has been proven by clinical studies.

A hit among such food supplements are products based on a mixture of mushrooms, which effectively restore and stimulate the immune system. It is mushrooms that are the source of a special type of polysaccharides that resist atypical viruses, bacteria and microorganisms, activating natural work immune system. In addition, mushroom mixtures affect the number of macrophages, which are the main protective cells of the immune system. Drugs known to be particularly effective trademark Now Foods:

The following supplements are also effective:

We must not forget that the child is also exposed to stress. Kindergarten, school, moving and much more can be a reason. Therefore, children from two years old can be given a pleasant black elderberry syrup for children, Sambucol (120 ml). This supplement is specially designed taking into account the characteristics of the child’s body and is completely safe. Its positive effect has been proven by independent clinical studies.

Stress and decreased immunity are often interrelated phenomena. In this case the only way Strengthening the body's defenses is the elimination of stress from everyday life.

For these purposes, you should use some recommendations:

it is necessary to spend time in the fresh air more often, play sports, giving preference to water procedures;
Herbal medicine should also play an important role in the treatment of stress, which involves eliminating the manifestations of nervous tension by taking sedatives on a natural basis;
it is necessary to responsibly approach the distribution of available time in such a way that sufficient rest is ensured;
The body must be filled with vitamins and beneficial microelements.

Stress kills the immune system, but it is up to the person to correct it. Look at what is happening around you with different eyes and let illnesses pass you by!

From this article you will learn:

What is the immune system.
What is the importance of immunity for health?
How to strengthen your immune system.

The human immune system reacts very sensitively to all changes that occur in modern world. The constantly deteriorating environmental situation, the loads and stress that many people experience, poor nutrition - all this reduces human immunity. The consequence of this is an increase in the number of people suffering from allergies, autoimmune diseases, and also experiencing immunodeficiency.

Many factors contribute to the rapid spread of infections among people with weak immune systems, but the main one is poor ecology. Often infections may not appear immediately, but may take several years. However, all the years that the infection did not manifest itself, it still caused great harm to the body. Therefore, every person should know how to strengthen the immune system and apply the recommendations below in practice.

What is the human immune system

Often a sick person is told that he has a weak immune system. But few people know what immunity is and what its main task is. So, the main task of the immune system is the timely recognition of foreign cells and their subsequent destruction.

And in order for the body to quickly respond in the future to factors that lead to diseases, an immunological memory is formed. As soon as foreign microorganisms enter the body, the immune system begins to demonstrate its protective functions.

To penetrate the body, pathogenic microbes and viruses need to overcome the line of defense that the immune system builds. Its first frontier is the skin and mucous membrane, of course, if they function normally. The sebaceous and sweat glands of the human body secrete substances that have a detrimental effect on viruses.

Another barrier that prevents pathogens from entering is stomach acid. The last line of defense against pathogenic microbes is the lymph node system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate them, an inflammatory process occurs. The reason is that white blood cells try to destroy microbes, preventing them from spreading throughout tissues and internal organs.

The immune system is the organs, tissues and cells that provide protection to the body in the event of pathogenic microorganisms entering it. The bone marrow and thymus (thymus gland) are central organs where immune cells form and mature. Mature immune cells function in the spleen, lymph nodes, small intestinal mucosa, tonsils and some other organs. The main cells that support human immunity are lymphocytes. They are the main “killers” of pathogenic microbes and viruses.

Thus, the human body has a powerful defense system, the name of which is the immune system, and any disease is a failure that has occurred in it.

What is the importance of immunity for health?

The importance of immunity for human health cannot be overestimated. Weakened immunity significantly reduces the body's resistance to many diseases. The body's powerful defense system, which prevents the penetration of viruses and pathogens, collapses, causing frequent colds and other diseases. People cannot resist influenza, arthritis, polio, cancer and many other diseases.

Signs of a weak immune system.

Certain symptoms and signs may indicate that the immune system is not in order, sometimes they are almost invisible, for example:

You experience constant fatigue, even in the morning when you have had enough sleep, and there seem to be no symptoms of any illness.
You have insomnia that is not caused by nervous stress or taking any medications.
You feel pain in your muscles, although you have not done intense physical labor.
Your lymph nodes are enlarged, although there are no visible symptoms indicating infectious diseases, No.
You have noticed that your hair is falling out intensely and your hair is becoming brittle and dry.
Your gums are starting to bleed, though obvious signs No periodontal disease is observed.
Problems with the eyes, stomach, poor appetite, and swollen legs may indicate a compromised immune system.

Sometimes these ailments seem like nothing, but they may indicate problems with the immune system.

Any deviation of the body from normal functioning can cause complications. For example, with depression, which is often associated with a chemical imbalance in the brain, highly active substances are released into the blood. chemical substances, weakening the immune system. Emotions such as hatred and anger can trigger a heart attack, because in this case, active chemicals are also produced. In a word, in order not to have health problems, you need to have a strong immune system.

How to strengthen your immune system

Now let's look at the main ways to strengthen the immune system, which should be used to prevent diseases:

1. A balanced and varied diet greatly contributes to improving immunity. Do not forget that a number of products help strengthen it. Therefore, let them be in your diet dairy products, fish, seafood, olive oil, porridge. For vegetables, give preference to carrots, pumpkin, zucchini, citrus fruits, sweet peppers, corn, eggplants and fresh herbs.

Eat as often as possible, but little by little, and you should not eat after 8 pm. Dark chocolate, cocoa, nuts and dried fruits will also help boost immunity. The consumption of coffee and, especially, alcoholic beverages should be kept to a minimum; rosehip infusion and various herbal teas will be more beneficial for the immune system. Do not neglect multivitamin complexes.

2. Avoid chronic lack of sleep, it will not improve your health. This is especially true in the winter season, when due to a lack of sunlight There is a seasonal decrease in immunity. Try to sleep at least 8 hours a day, and before going to bed, do not forget to ventilate the room and also close the curtains tightly, because it is also important to have a sound sleep.

3. Be physically active, since it is unlikely that you will be able to restore your immune system without getting off the couch. You can join a fitness club or swimming pool, go jogging, exercise at home on exercise machines, the main thing is to correctly calculate the load.

4. Spend more time in the fresh air, regardless of the time of year. Even when it is damp and windy outside, you can go out into the fresh air for a while, after dressing well. As a last resort, open the window to allow oxygen into the room. On weekends, be sure to make time for walks; it will be great if you can get out into nature, away from the noisy and dirty city.

Many people have a concept "immunity" associated only with seasonal cold or flu epidemic. However, the root cause of immune system failure is disturbances in the gastrointestinal tract. Although this is only a link in one chain. How does stress affectfor immunity human immunity has now been proven; there is even a whole science - psychoneuroimmunology - that studies this complex problem.

The effect of stress on immunity

Sometimes even a small influence of stress can cause a whole bunch of disorders and diseases. Many people manage to cope with minor negative emotions, but often the process turns into a state of depression. Constant psychological pressure reduces the body's ability to resist viruses, primarily those that were already present in the body (for example, herpes virus). Stress helps change biochemistry in the body, creating favorable conditions for reproduction viruses and pathogenic bacteria.

Stress manifests itself in worry, anxiety and fear, which invariably leads to severe suppression of immunity and as a result, the unexpected appearance of many diseases even in healthy people, including skin diseases (dermatitis, psoriasis and etc.).

How to deal with stress and boost immunity?

Therefore, the fight to increase immunity should first begin with eliminating the effects of stress . Breathing exercises, walks in the fresh air, sports, water treatments, relaxation- all this helps to reduce the effects of stress on the immune system . Herbal medicine is indispensable in the fight against stress. Therefore, a person must learn to resist stress and use accumulated knowledge in the fight against them and in folk medicine, using medicinal herbs with a sedative effect, the effect of which is most effective when collected!

Nervo-vit - first assistant in case of emergency stressful situations, because it contains time-tested medicinal herbs that allow you to achieve a quick and long-lasting sedative effect: cyanosis blue, valerian officinalis , motherwort, lemon balm . Produced by technology cryominding at low temperatures, Nervo-Vit , stores all medicinal values medicinal herbs, which have a tranquilizing and sedative effect, do not addictive and addictions. The effect of sedative medicinal herbs in Nervo-Vit is enhanced vitamin C, which promotes the removal from the body of free radicals that form under the influence of stress and have Negative influence on the immune system.

To increase immunity, it is equally important to properly allocate time for solving certain problems, and to eliminate overwork when there is increased stress. To keep the body in good shape, ensure normal metabolism and sufficient intake of substances important for its functioning, use vitamin complexes. containing royal jelly , which contains about 120 useful substances (22 essential and essential amino acids, 15 groups of microelements) and bee pollen (pollen, containing 28 types of various microelements and 20

Why do people who often experience shocks get sick more, how does stress affect the rate of aging, is it possible to train resistance to stress, and how does the human immune system react to changes in the external environment?

"Paper" spoke with biologist Irina Yankelevich, who studies the effect of stress on the immune system. She will be one of the speakers at the Science Slam battle of young scientists, which will take place in St. Petersburg on June 17.

At Science Slam they will also tell you how to outwit quantum mechanics, whether it is possible to objectively detect mental illnesses in the brain, and why you need to know how a maternity hospital works. Tickets can be purchased on the website.

Irina Yankelevich

Senior Researcher, Institute of Experimental Medicine

- What is stress from a medical point of view?

The concept of “stress” is quite vague; there is no clear definition for it. Psychotherapists and psychologists understand stress more as a reaction associated with emotional state. Although stress can also be physiological - from cold, hunger, pain, and so on. More scientifically speaking, stress is an adaptive reaction of the body to any demand placed on it, for example, the influence of some external factor.

- What can cause stress?

Stress can be caused by many factors. However, much depends on specific person. For some, a blow to the head will be stressful, for others, for example, a boxer, this is the norm. Reactions to stressors are the same, but depending on the strength of the stress and individual characteristics in the body they can occur in different ways. When stress is studied in laboratory conditions, then use different kinds stressors: emotional (separation of mice from their mother), temperature, pain and others.

- How do reactions occur in the body under stress?

It all starts in the brain. First, a substance is produced that affects the hypothalamus (the area of the brain that regulates neuroendocrine activity - approx. "Papers"), it in turn releases adrenocorticotropic hormone, which acts on the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands, releasing hormones, give a signal to other organs and cells. The heart rate increases, blood vessels constrict. Immunity and digestion are suppressed, but, for example, the breakdown of glucose is accelerated.

All these reactions are aimed at grouping all the forces of the body. This response is called "fight or flight." The body is tuned to hide and avoid danger; either fight or run away.

There are a lot of [physiological] reactions, and they are not very well studied. We conduct research in the field of immunology and understand that it is not completely clear what happens under stress. We are also interested in how various systems organisms interact with each other under stress. Everyone knows what stress leads to, but the subtle mechanisms are still unknown. By studying the physiology and biochemistry of these processes, it will be possible to understand how you can protect yourself or make sure that stress reactions do not lead to diseases.

scienceslam.rocks

In other performances - detection mental illness in the brain, phonetics of Dravidian languages, construction of maternity hospitals, superlasers and artificial intelligence in the digital economy

If we talk about behavioral reactions, some animals, after stress [in the laboratory], become less curious and engage in more grooming - combing themselves. You can also notice this in people: when we are nervous, we, for example, twirl our hair around our finger. Some people shrug their shoulders, trying to subconsciously hide in this way.

- Can we say that people who experience stress get sick more often?

Yes, this property of excessive stress - either long-term or too intense - has been proven. At a minimum, stress suppresses the immune responses that make us susceptible to infection. The number of cells that produce antibodies, which help fight infections, decreases. It's not very clear why this happens. This is exactly the area of our research.

At the same time, there is the concept of eustress (“positive” stress) and distress (“negative” stress). The first slightly activates the immune system; Distress, on the contrary, suppresses the immune system. Short, mild stress stimulates the body to some extent. This can explain the principle of hardening.

- How does stress affect the immune system?

Hormones released during stress can affect cells of the immune system. The number of one type of white blood cell in the blood increases and the number of others decreases. There is a redistribution of cells of the immune system - some become more, others less.

By the way, derivatives of stress hormones are used as anti-inflammatory drugs. If a person is very sick and the inflammatory reaction needs to be suppressed, then injections of these hormones are given.

- Is it possible to train resistance to stress?

Dosed stress causes the body to begin to adapt. If the body cannot cope, then exhaustion occurs.

- How did it happen that a mechanism that should, in theory, protect a person becomes the cause of disease?

I think the point is that people’s living conditions changed quite quickly - within a few hundred years. And now the reactions that evolved over a million years are not very applicable, because the stresses have become different. Perhaps the person has not yet had time to adapt to new conditions.

- How can stress be explained from an evolutionary point of view?

Once upon a time, the main type of stress was vital - when you either win or get eaten. Therefore, the idea is that everything that is not needed must be turned off for a while in order to save the body. At the moment when you need to fight, the immune system and digestion are not needed.

But the conditions in which we live are changing. Stressors also change, but the reaction remains the same. This may change how the body ultimately responds to stress. Roughly speaking, if we used to run away or fight, now we often experience stress within ourselves - and there is no way out. It is unlikely that when you have problems at work, you will get up and run. Accordingly, the reactions take place a little differently.

- It turns out that if you are stressed, you need to go to the gym?

Experts in the psychology of stress actually recommend physical activity.

- When does stress become chronic?

Chronic stress is repeated stress where something happens to you every day. To simulate acute stress in laboratory conditions, we, for example, place laboratory animals (rats) for two minutes in cold water. To induce chronic stress, this is repeated daily for 10 days.

- How does chronic stress affect the body?

There are many diseases that are associated with stress. Firstly, hormonal disorders, disorders of the central nervous system, memory, the occurrence of cancer, autoimmune diseases.

Secondly, scientists believe that aging, by and large, is the result of the effects of stressors on the body throughout life. Therefore, chronic stress, roughly speaking, provokes accelerated aging of the body.