The effect of constant stress on the immune system. The negative impact of stress on the immune system
Loneliness or difficult relationships in the family have a negative impact on the emotional state and health of a person. Neurosis, depression and psychosomatic diseases develop, suicide attempts are possible.
Children are especially dependent on family relationships. Normal mental and physical health depends on how much children are loved and cared for, whether they are provided with everything necessary.
The well-being of a child largely depends on the love and mutual respect between parents. Quarrels of older members, domestic violence form a chronic psycho-traumatic situation in a child, which is manifested by neurological diseases and developmental disabilities (enuresis, stuttering, nervous tics, hyperactivity, decreased academic performance), as well as a significant decrease in immunity, frequent viral and bacterial diseases.
How effective are meditation and psychotraining in overcoming stress?
Psychotraining or psychotherapeutic training- a short course of study, the exercises of which are aimed at changes in consciousness. Psychotraining gives a person skills that allow him to get to know each other, build relationships, communicate, resolve conflicts constructively, develop as a person, manage emotions, and think positively. Helps to get rid of alcohol, sexual, nicotine addiction. Depending on the number of people in the group, psychotraining can be individual and group.
The essence of the method: a training psychologist selects exercises that simulate a situation that worries a person. These may not be direct analogies, but situations that cause associations with the problem, presenting it in a comic form. Next, the person is invited to beat the situation - how, in his opinion, it is worth behaving in this case. Then the psychologist analyzes the behavior of the client, points out victories and mistakes. Ideally, psychotraining should be supplemented psychological consultation and psychotherapy.
In practice, a small percentage of people turn to a psychologist and psychotherapist. Therefore, it is necessary to master various self-help techniques and use them as needed.
1. Autotraining(autogenic training) - increases the possibility of self-regulation of emotions. It includes consecutive exercises:
- Breathing exercises- deep slow breathing with pauses after inhalation and exhalation.
- Muscle relaxation- you need to feel the tension of the muscles on the inhale and sharply relax them on the exhale;
- Creating positive mental images- imagine yourself in safe place- on the seashore, on the edge of the forest. Imagine the image of the "Ideal Self", which has all the qualities that you would like to have;
- Self-hypnosis in the form of self-orders- “Calm down!”, “Relax!”, “Do not succumb to provocation!”;
- Self programming- “Today I will be happy!”, “I am healthy!”, “I am confident in myself!”, “I am beautiful and successful!”, “I am relaxed and calm!”.
- self promotion- “I'm doing great!”, “I'm the best!”, “I'm doing a great job!”.
The result of auto-training is the activation of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system and the weakening of excitation in the limbic system of the brain. Negative emotions are weakened or blocked, a positive attitude appears, self-esteem increases.
Contraindications to the use of psychotraining: acute psychosis, impaired consciousness, hysteria.
- Meditation – effective technique, which allows you to develop concentration by focusing on one subject: breathing, mental images, heartbeat, muscle sensations. During meditation, a person is completely disconnected from the outside world, immersed in himself so much that the surrounding reality with its problems, as it were, ceases to exist. Its components are breathing exercises and muscle relaxation.
By practicing meditative techniques, it is possible to reduce the level of excitation in the limbic system and the cerebral cortex. This is manifested by the absence of emotions and unwanted, intrusive thoughts. Meditation changes the attitude to the problem that caused stress, makes it less significant, helps to intuitively find a way out of the current situation or accept it.
Meditation technique:
- Comfortable posture- the back is straight, you can sit in the lotus position or on a chair in the coachman position. helps to relax muscle blocks and relieve tension in the body.
- Slow diaphragmatic breathing. On inhalation, the abdomen inflates, on exhalation it retracts. Inhalation is shorter than exhalation. After inhalation and exhalation, hold your breath for 2-4 seconds.
- Focusing on one object. It can be a candle flame, a heartbeat, sensations in the body, a luminous point, etc.
- Feeling warm and relaxed that extends to the entire body. With it comes peace and self-confidence.
Attention! Excessive and uncontrolled passion for meditation can be dangerous for a person with an unstable psyche. He is transferred to the realm of fantasy, becomes withdrawn, intolerant of his own and other people's shortcomings. Meditation is contraindicated for people with delirium, hysteria, impaired consciousness.
What are psychosomatic illnesses?
Psychosomatic diseases are disorders in the functioning of organs caused by mental and emotional factors. These are diseases associated with negative emotions (anxiety, fear, anger, sadness) and stress.Most often, the victims of stress are the cardiovascular, digestive and endocrine systems.
The mechanism of development of psychosomatic diseases:
- Strong experiences activate endocrine system, disrupting the hormonal balance;
- The work of the vegetative part of the nervous system, which is responsible for the work of internal organs, is disrupted;
- The work of blood vessels is disrupted and the blood circulation of these organs worsens;
- Deterioration of nervous regulation, lack of oxygen and nutrients leads to disruption of the organ;
- The repetition of such situations causes disease.
There is a theory that every illness is based on a separate negative emotion. For example, bronchial asthma arises on the basis of resentment, diabetes mellitus from anxiety and anxiety, etc. And the more persistently a person suppresses an emotion, the higher the likelihood of developing a disease. This hypothesis is based on the property of various emotions to provoke muscle blocks and vascular spasms in various parts of the body.
The main method of treatment of psychosomatic diseases is psychotherapy, hypnosis, the appointment of tranquilizers and sedatives. In parallel, the symptoms of the disease are treated.
How to eat right when stressed?
You can reduce your risk of developing stress-related illnesses by: proper nutrition. Be sure to consume:- Protein products - to strengthen the immune system;
- Sources of vitamin B - to protect the nervous system;
- Carbohydrates - to improve the functioning of the brain;
- Products containing magnesium and serotonin - to combat stress.
B vitamins found in green vegetables different types cabbage and lettuce, beans and spinach, nuts, dairy and seafood. They improve mood, increase resistance to stress.
Carbohydrates necessary to cover the increased energy expenditure caused by stress. The brain especially needs carbohydrates. In this regard, with nervous stress, cravings for sweets increase. A little dark chocolate, honey, marshmallows or gozinaki will urgently replenish glucose reserves, but it is advisable to cover the need for carbohydrates due to complex carbohydrates- cereals and cereals.
Magnesium provides protection against stress, improves the transmission of nerve signals and increases the efficiency of the nervous system. Sources of magnesium are cocoa, wheat bran, buckwheat, soy, almonds and cashew nuts, chicken eggs, spinach.
Serotonin or the hormone of happiness elevates mood. For its synthesis in the body, an amino acid is needed - tryptophan, which is abundant in fatty fish, nuts, oatmeal, bananas and cheese.
Phytotherapy for stress
To improve the functioning of the nervous system during periods of high stress, infusions are recommended. medicinal herbs. Some of them have a calming effect and are recommended for nervous excitement. Others increase the tone of the nervous system and are prescribed for depression, apathy and asthenia.Conclusion: Repetitive stress and negative emotions impair health. Displacing negative emotions and ignoring them, a person exacerbates the situation, creates the basis for the development of diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to express your emotions, constructively solve the problems that caused stress and take measures to reduce emotional stress.
Many doctors note that a strong nervous system is a successful factor in resisting seasonal epidemics. When a person is nervous, in a state of anxiety or stress, this makes him defenseless against infections and viruses.
So how does stress affect the immune system? Is there a link between nerves and disease? And where can you get away from that ubiquitous stress? We are talking about this with Vitaly Ostashkov, a neuropathologist of the highest category.
- That is, the statement "All diseases are from nerves" does make sense?
“It's a proven medical fact. After all, the nervous system is responsible not only for the transmission of impulses or the speed of reactions. In the brain, there are glands such as the pituitary and hypothalamus that produce certain hormones. In addition, it is in the pituitary-hypothalamus system that the interaction of chemical and electrical reactions that occur at rest or during emotional stress occurs. During stress, neurohormones are released in the pituitary gland, adrenaline and norepinephrine in the adrenal glands, which, in turn, act on many organs and systems.
First of all, it concerns the immune system. Stress depletes the body, extracting vitamins and microelements from it (for example, potassium and sodium ions are excessively released during emotional stress), and therefore the body has nothing to build protection from.
- And what happens in the human body during a strong emotional stress?
- Under the influence of stress hormones, the heart rate rises, the pressure “jumps”, the vessels spasm, and the blood thickens. Accordingly, a person loses the ability to resist infection, it has other somatic manifestations - headache, muscle spasms, which, in turn, lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases, pathologies of the digestive system and others.
However, there are different types of stress. For example, acute stress (caused by fear, what a quarrel) is even useful - it mobilizes the body's resources. After all, there are cases when, during a strong fright, people ran at great speed, jumped over high obstacles, while in the "normal" state they could not repeat this. But chronic stress is very dangerous. Changes are constantly taking place in the body, using its resources uselessly, it eventually destroys it.
So, constant spasms of blood vessels turn into vegetative-vascular dystonia, which, becoming chronic, leads to heart attacks and strokes. With thickening of the blood (this can happen both as a result of the action of stress hormones, and with some behavioral disorders - say, a person often "nervously" runs to the toilet), the heart suffers. Against the background of chronic stress, various neuroses and depressions develop. That is, stress is not only a period of bad mood, it is a multifaceted reaction of the body.
- What to do? You can't get rid of stress...
- No one is immune from everyday stresses, but the worst thing is when they accumulate. Since the origin of stress is psychological (it is not the problem that is important, but our attitude towards it), then it is necessary to deal with it psychologically. No mint or valerian teas will help when a person is dissatisfied with his personal life and works in conditions of constant competition.
Therefore, you need to learn how to manage your emotions. This can be achieved through auto-training (but do not confuse this with self-hypnosis). After all, in fact, our inner strength is very powerful, it can affect the body. And it is not necessary to understand, the main thing is to accept.
Autotraining is a training system that allows you to control the body and emotions. It only takes five minutes a day to do this. It is desirable that at this time you are not in a hurry, but can fully concentrate on yourself. First you need to learn how to relax. To do this, it is better to lie down, take a deep breath and exhale 2-3 times and try to relax absolutely all the muscles. If you practice every day, learn to relax the body for 3-4 weeks. This, by the way, will get rid of many muscle spasms and clamps.
Later, in the same way, it will be possible to mentally “walk” through the internal organs, learn to feel them. And later to be able to manage and emotions. So you can get rid of the state of chronic stress, and with it - from many diseases.
The results of interesting new research in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, which studied the relationship of mind, stress and the immune system, show what has the strongest effect on the function of the immune system. People under constant stress suffer from a range of suppressed immune responses, which increases susceptibility to various diseases.
Stress leads to the fact that the number of cells that kill the disease decreases, they become less active. Stress also reduces the body's production of cytokines, chemical messengers of the immune system, causing the immune response to antigens such as bacteria and toxins to be weakened.
As previously mentioned, chronic stress leads to an overproduction of various neurochemicals (epinephrine and norepinephrine, also known as epinephrine and norepinephrine), which causes serious problems.
With prolonged exposure to these neurochemical substances, the body, including, begins to break down. The anabolic metabolism responsible for building tissues becomes catabolic, and the body begins to consume itself as a result. 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 noradrenaline, the connection between the receptors of immune cells and cell nuclei is disrupted, which prevents the reaction of immune cells to toxic antigens.
Moreover, stress stimulates the production of cortisol in the adrenal glands. Cortisol regulates the use of energy in crisis situations, but when it is too much, it leads to suppression of the immune system, as well as to a depressive state of mind.
The general conclusion here is this: when the body is in a state of chronic stress, the immune system weakens. And this increases the likelihood that you are doomed to suffer from one of the many disorders caused by stress.
It can be a 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.
People are periodically exposed to negative emotions. The degree of impact of negative emotions is directly dependent on the ability of a person to manage emotional state. Psycho-emotional stress negatively affects immune system person. Overcoming it allows you to reduce the load on the immune system and increase the resistance to the influence of negative factors.
Human immunity suffers from stress
The link between stress and immunity
Psycho-emotional stress is the main enemy for immunity. Its negative impact has been proven by research. The immune system is permanently affected in depressive states. Thus, a high susceptibility to the influence of various adverse factors is formed. The consequence of this condition is the development of serious diseases associated with the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
The psychological stress of a person can be considered as a natural reflex, which is directed to a certain stimulus from the outside world. These can be life situations, people, events, etc. The state of emotional overstrain causes causes associated with potential danger and poses a threat to life. Depending on the type of the nervous system and the degree of its lability, life situations can be perceived differently.
Stress and immunity are inextricably linked. The first is an emotion, therefore in some degree it is necessary for man. Emotions caused by severe stress lead to maximum stimulation of all internal body systems. Active stimulation requires significant energy costs from the body. Therefore, the parasympathetic system is turned on, since it is necessary to replenish the energy costs of the body. As a result, irreversible processes of changes in the immune, endocrine and nervous systems occur. They cause a deterioration in the internal state of a person.
Recent research proves that short-term stress has a beneficial effect on the physiology of people. But short-term and acute accumulates almost all internal systems body and stimulate nervous system. The positive effect of stress on immunity is manifested in the environment of people who are engaged in non-professional sports. Such an effect of stress on immunity is due to the activation of the immune system. Therefore, psychological stress can strengthen the immune system if it is accompanied by the release of endorphins into the blood.
A completely different picture emerges with prolonged stress. For many people, the cause of stress is psychological in nature and proceeds almost imperceptibly, latently. Over time, a person develops anxiety, unbalanced behavior, and increased excitability. After a while, the emotional instability of the personality manifests itself. An angry state is rapidly replaced by a period of prolonged depression. Due to the fact that the brain is the main regulator of all biochemical processes, the negative impact extends to all internal organs. The protective functions of the body weaken. This is due to a complex chain of biochemical reactions that are formed as a result of prolonged stress. Therefore, stress affects the immune system extremely negatively.
Psycho-emotional stress of the body negatively affects the immune system during seasonal illnesses. Many psychosomatic illnesses are associated with chronic stress. It also stimulates the development of infectious diseases. During stress, they are activated and lower the immune level. This is due to the presence of dormant viruses and microorganisms in the body. The adrenal glands begin to secrete special substances that suppress the activity of the immune system. In the blood, the amount of corticosteroids sharply increases, which leads to the death of lymphocytes. As a result, the ability of the body to produce antibodies is reduced. This leads to the formation of a malignant tumor.
How to help the body
Stress and immunity are interrelated concepts, because against the background depressive states develop various diseases. The most minor disorders in the emotional sphere lead to a sharp decrease in immunity.
Anxiety and anxiety are clear manifestations of stress. They lead to immune suppression even in physically healthy people.
Stress affects the immune system and causes diseases that cannot be cured. They are closely intertwined, so we can say with confidence that psycho-emotional stress is the most dangerous enemy of immunity. Getting rid of stressful conditions will increase immunity and improve well-being.
Products to help fight stress
Below is a strengthening program that will help you get rid of stress:
- conducting healthy lifestyle life;
- positive thoughts;
- relaxation;
- the use of multivitamin complexes;
- the inclusion in the diet of a large number of vegetables, berries, dairy products and fish;
- maximum restriction of flour and sweet;
- taking adaptogens;
- the use of green tea, lingonberries, wild rose and nettle decoction;
- full sleep;
- hobby.
Each person can choose an individual way of dealing with a stressful state and apply it in order to activate immunity. Compliance with the above will allow you to achieve a positive result in the fight against stressful conditions. Therefore, if a person is experiencing severe stress, immunity can still be maintained.
It has been scientifically proven that immunity and stress are inextricably linked and lead to the development of serious diseases. Stressful conditions are becoming widespread and are main problem XXI century.
A special science has been developed - psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the mechanisms of action of various states of the brain on immunity. The discipline reveals all the patterns between concepts such as stress and the immune system.
In recent decades, it has been noticed that the immunity of people is declining every year. In addition, the frequency of diseases is increasing every day, and infectious diseases are becoming more common.
Why is it suddenly like this? After all, medicine does not stand still, and the average income of people has grown compared to Soviet times. Now there is no such shortage of products as it used to be. And those same oranges and other foods high in vitamins, the absence of which doctors used to refer to in the past, are now freely available to us.
So why is immunity reduced?
Let's start with the fact that any failure in the body is a signal for a person that you are doing something wrong. The common cold most often tells a person “wait, I can't go on at this pace; let me rest; slow down the pace; you'll never change everything."
It has long been observed that if a person is under stress for a long time, then pick up infection he has a much better chance than a calm, cheerful person. The body's resistance to any diseases and infections is greatly reduced if there is an imbalance in the soul, if a person cannot find a point of balance.
Stress in a sense is the reaction of the body to extreme factors that a person perceives as a threat. And it doesn't matter if this threat actually exists or if the person is just making it up.
Most often, pessimists, anxious and depressed individuals fall into a stressful state. On the contrary, those who rarely worry for any reason usually do not get sick and are resistant to any infections. If a person is confident in his weakness, inability to withstand difficulties, then for him any situation will be stressful. Quite logical consequences of stress - even seemingly unrelated here - also often originate precisely from stress.
And these are not just words - in the body in a stressful state, a violation of biochemical processes occurs, therefore the appearance of diseases is a completely understandable consequence of this very state.
It has already been proven that as a result of psychological stress, the level of leukocytes in the blood decreases in a person, namely, they play a huge role in the process of immunological protection of our body.
The appearance of tumors is also directly related to the state of immunity. In a state of stress, they freely develop and multiply in the body, since the defense is weakened. Any negative expectations, gloomy forebodings, fears, apathy - all this leads to a decrease in the general state of the body's defenses.
But optimistic individuals who tend to experience positive emotions and always in a good mood, get sick very rarely. Any infections and epidemics bypass them.
