By ANNA MAGEE
Sweaty palms, racing heart and queasy feelings in times of crisis are a primitive, natural reaction known as the stress response and, in small doses, a healthy thing.
They give us the get-up-and-go to fight an impending challenge – we did, after all, evolve to fight or flee predators in the wild.
But when stress is ongoing and never relents, like so many of our modern stressors – overwhelming job, financial pressures – it can also lead to a vast catalogue of health problems, from obesity to acne to heart disease. Last month, Australian research found high stress levels can lead to cancer cells spreading six times faster.
Now, a burgeoning field of medical study known as psychoneuroendoimmunology (PNEI) is exploring the links between what goes on in our nervous systems and the development of illness.
Your body on stress
When your body senses danger, it triggers a stress response that starts in your brain’s hypothalamus gland, which sends signals to the adrenals (two glands that sit on top of the kidneys) to release stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin. These raise blood pressure and give your body a hit of glucose to help you outrun the immediate danger.
“Cortisol and other stress hormones are important because they prime our bodies to react to threat,” says Dr Valeria Mondelli, senior lecturer in psychological medicine at King’s College London.
“But when our cortisol is too high for too long, it can lead to physical and mental health problems in many areas of our bodies.”
The cancer connection
It is not helpful to tell people that stress caused their cancer – or any other condition – because, according to Angela Clow, professor of psychophysiology at the University of Westminster, that creates guilt and self-blame.
Moreover, this conclusion was drawn from an Australian study performed on mice, which were put through extreme forms of physical stress, so it cannot be considered conclusive.
“Having said that,” says Prof Clow, “we know that although stress doesn’t cause cancer, it can slow down recovery and increase its progression.”
“Studies looking at lifetime survival in breast cancer have shown that after treatment, those with high cortisol levels die statistically earlier and survive less than those with lower levels.”
A 2016 review, published in the journal Integrated Cancer Therapy, found that elevated cortisol was the most common biomarker found in breast cancer patients.
Fat, cravings – and that spare tyre
If you crave fatty or sweet foods under stress, you’re not alone; repeated studies show how stressed-out rats make bad food choices.
“High cortisol can affect the transmission of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter linked to our reward system,” says Dr Mondelli. “That makes us more susceptible to seeking rewards by eating more and leads to increased cravings.”
Cortisol also inhibits the breaking down of fat; storing it to fight a future threat would once have been essential from an evolutionary perspective.
Memory, Alzheimer’s and dementia
Chronic stress can be a risk factor for dementia, Dr Laura Phipps, of Alzheimer’s Research UK says.
“People with Alzheimer’s have been shown to have higher levels of cortisol in the blood, and, over time, this can cause damage to the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory and one of the first areas affected by the disease.”
Dr Phipps says some studies have shown that more psychological stress in a person’s life is linked to a higher risk of developing dementia, though exactly how this happens isn’t clear.
One explanation could be inflammation.
Dr Mondelli says when our bodies are under stress, they produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune factors that fight infections.
When these cytokines are elevated over a period of time, inflammation can result and affect not only our bodies’ ability to fight infection, and its risk of heart disease and cancer, but also our brains.
Heart disease
Stress hormones also cause your blood vessels to constrict and raise your blood pressure.
“Elevated stress hormones over time lead to inflammation that damages the internal lining of the blood vessels, which can facilitate the production of artherosclerotic plaques that clog up the arteries, increasing the risk of heart attack,” says Dr Mondelli.
Stress and the skin
Dermatologist Dr Anthony Bewley has seen a rise in adult onset acne in stressed-out, middle-aged women.
Conditions such as eczema and psoriasis are also closely linked to stress, he says.
“The brain is connected through nerves to the skin, so when you get stressed, you release chemicals in the brain that can be pro-inflammatory and lead to flare-ups.” — The Daily Telegraph
- Anna Magee is the editor of healthista.com
Unmanaged stress can cost you your health
Sweaty palms, racing heart and queasy feelings in times of crisis are a primitive, natural reaction known as the stress response and, in small doses, a healthy thing.
They give us the get-up-and-go to fight an impending challenge – we did, after all, evolve to fight or flee predators in the wild.
But when stress is ongoing and never relents, like so many of our modern stressors – overwhelming job, financial pressures – it can also lead to a vast catalogue of health problems, from obesity to acne to heart disease. Last month, Australian research found high stress levels can lead to cancer cells spreading six times faster.
Now, a burgeoning field of medical study known as psychoneuroendoimmunology (PNEI) is exploring the links between what goes on in our nervous systems and the development of illness.
Your body on stress
When your body senses danger, it triggers a stress response that starts in your brain’s hypothalamus gland, which sends signals to the adrenals (two glands that sit on top of the kidneys) to release stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin. These raise blood pressure and give your body a hit of glucose to help you outrun the immediate danger.
“Cortisol and other stress hormones are important because they prime our bodies to react to threat,” says Dr Valeria Mondelli, senior lecturer in psychological medicine at King’s College London.
“But when our cortisol is too high for too long, it can lead to physical and mental health problems in many areas of our bodies.”
The cancer connection
It is not helpful to tell people that stress caused their cancer – or any other condition – because, according to Angela Clow, professor of psychophysiology at the University of Westminster, that creates guilt and self-blame.
Moreover, this conclusion was drawn from an Australian study performed on mice, which were put through extreme forms of physical stress, so it cannot be considered conclusive.
“Having said that,” says Prof Clow, “we know that although stress doesn’t cause cancer, it can slow down recovery and increase its progression.”
“Studies looking at lifetime survival in breast cancer have shown that after treatment, those with high cortisol levels die statistically earlier and survive less than those with lower levels.”
A 2016 review, published in the journal Integrated Cancer Therapy, found that elevated cortisol was the most common biomarker found in breast cancer patients.
Fat, cravings – and that spare tyre
If you crave fatty or sweet foods under stress, you’re not alone; repeated studies show how stressed-out rats make bad food choices.
“High cortisol can affect the transmission of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter linked to our reward system,” says Dr Mondelli. “That makes us more susceptible to seeking rewards by eating more and leads to increased cravings.”
Cortisol also inhibits the breaking down of fat; storing it to fight a future threat would once have been essential from an evolutionary perspective.
Memory, Alzheimer’s and dementia
Chronic stress can be a risk factor for dementia, Dr Laura Phipps, of Alzheimer’s Research UK says.
“People with Alzheimer’s have been shown to have higher levels of cortisol in the blood, and, over time, this can cause damage to the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory and one of the first areas affected by the disease.”
Dr Phipps says some studies have shown that more psychological stress in a person’s life is linked to a higher risk of developing dementia, though exactly how this happens isn’t clear.
One explanation could be inflammation.
Dr Mondelli says when our bodies are under stress, they produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune factors that fight infections.
When these cytokines are elevated over a period of time, inflammation can result and affect not only our bodies’ ability to fight infection, and its risk of heart disease and cancer, but also our brains.
Heart disease
Stress hormones also cause your blood vessels to constrict and raise your blood pressure.
“Elevated stress hormones over time lead to inflammation that damages the internal lining of the blood vessels, which can facilitate the production of artherosclerotic plaques that clog up the arteries, increasing the risk of heart attack,” says Dr Mondelli.
Stress and the skin
Dermatologist Dr Anthony Bewley has seen a rise in adult onset acne in stressed-out, middle-aged women.
Conditions such as eczema and psoriasis are also closely linked to stress, he says.
“The brain is connected through nerves to the skin, so when you get stressed, you release chemicals in the brain that can be pro-inflammatory and lead to flare-ups.” — The Daily Telegraph
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