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29th Dec 2021
Stress is bad enough on its own, however, can it actually make you sick? If so, what’s the link between chronic stress, illness, and lingering physical symptoms?
While stress does not cause illness directly, it can affect your hormones and impair your immune system's defenses, making you more susceptible to illness.
The most common cause of illnesses is chronic stress (combined with insufficient sleep). When our cortisol levels rise, our virus surveillance cells drop, making us more susceptible to illness. Cortisol inhibits the ability of T-cells, a kind of white blood cell, to proliferate and receive signals from the body. Furthermore, cortisol reduces secretory IgA, an essential antibody that lines the respiratory system and the gut and is our first line of defense against invading microorganisms.
Inflammation is also a factor. Stress has been proven to have a negative impact on how your body regulates inflammation, according to researchers from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. When you're stressed, your body produces cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol aids in the regulation of inflammation and is really an anti-inflammatory in normal doses. According to Sheldon Cohen, the study's chief researcher, when you're constantly stressed, your cortisol levels stay up, and this might eventually reduce your body's sensitivity to the hormone. As a result, your body and immune system do not respond to cortisol as well as they should.
Instead, inflammation is activated and then maintained, putting you at risk of being ill—or at the very least, experiencing symptoms. Symptoms of a disease, such as the common cold, aren't necessarily caused by the virus, but rather a "side effect" of how your body responds to the inflammation created by pathogen exposure. And the more inflammatory your response is, the sicker you will feel.
When you're stressed, you're more likely to resort to unhealthy coping techniques like overeating "comfort foods" heavy in sugar or refined carbs, smoking, or binge drinking—all of which raise your risk of being ill.
While this is a significant issue, it is not the only one related to stress. Chronic stress can create several nasty physical symptoms, in addition to raising your chances of catching the next bug going around:
Muscle tension can contribute to chronic widespread muscle pain. This pain can strike all parts of the body, however, it often affects the neck and shoulders. Facial pain, especially in the ears, teeth, and head, can also occur due to stress. Additionally, there might be a link between stress and pain sensitivity. This means when you're feeling extremely stressed out, things just seem to hurt more. If you experience chronic muscle pain, consider visiting a pain management clinic to get the proper treatment.
If you can’t get enough sleep due to chronic stress, you likely experience fatigue often. Chronic stress can contribute to fatigue that's not relieved by rest or sleep. According to a recent study, high-stress levels can cause "unexplained" fatigue.
This kind of stress fatigue can also contribute to impaired performance and function throughout the day. That's due to the fact that chronically high levels of cortisol can deplete your adrenal glands, making you feel like you're running on empty.
If you've ever been stressed out, headaches can occur as a result. Muscle tenseness is one of the most typical physical responses to stress, and it can lead to tension headaches, migraines, and other musculoskeletal problems.
Stress is one of the most common culprits of sleeping troubles. Long-term stress can contribute to insomnia and sleeping issues, while lack of proper sleep can raise the body's stress response. When you experience chronic stress, your adrenaline levels are constantly high, which makes it difficult to wind down and get the sleep you need.
