The Effects of Psychological Stress on Health
The Effects of Psychological Stress on Health
Introduction
Even though one keeps away from pathogens, the health complications associated with psychological stress may be inevitable psychological stress leads to an array of health complications because the afflicted individual presents a reduction in appetite which negatively impacts on the availability of defense molecules that fight disease and the failure in the brain which controls all activities in the body can result to a malfunction of various body systems such as the endocrine system leading to major pathologies (Dimsdale, 2005). The paper will discuss some of the main aspects of stress such as the physiological and psychological understanding of the condition. The importance of small amounts of stress will be mentioned then later, the negative effects of chronic stress will form a larger part of this paper. The paper will close with a conclusion, posing challenge into the science of drug development in stress management and the future directions.
Summary of Literature Review
Psychological stress has been shown to affect the body in many ways. For instance, a relationship between psychological stress and the cancer progression has been identified although its development has not yet been proven (Garsen, 2004). In patients with cancer, psychological stress has been found to increase the sizes of tumors and encourage the spread of the tumors throughout the body (Dimsdale, 2005). Despite the poor understanding of the complex relationship between psychological and physical health of the body, scientists admit that psychological stress can heavily impact the bodys immune system which defends the body against disease and infections including cancer (Segerstrom, 2004). However, it has not been proven that psychological stress increases the susceptibility of individuals to diseases and infections.
Psychological Stress Definition
Psychological stress, by definition, refers to the physiological and emotional reactions that are experienced when an individual meets a situation where the demands surpass his or her coping resources. Stressful situations may include marital problems, health problems, abuse, death of a loved one and financial predicaments (Bernstein, 2008). In the event of stress, the body releases stress hormones such as cortisol (hydrocortisone) and epinephrine (adrenaline). These hormones are produced in the body to prepare an individual to react to stress situations with more vigor and speed. Specifically, stress hormones have been found to increase heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels.
General Effects of Psychological Stress
Stress is often given a negative perception by most people in the society. No one wants to be associated with stressful situations. However, recent research has shown that small amounts of stress can be beneficial to the body. Doctors have found out that only chronic stress (the persistent and progressive over a long duration) high stress levels have been shown to be harmful. Chronic stress can increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, depression as well as a variety of other illnesses. Stress can also lead to unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, overeating and abuse of drugs or alcohol (Lutgendorf, 2006). These practices increase the risk of cancer development, a variety of skin infections and persistent disease conditions due to impaired immune system (Segerstrom, 2004)..
Psychological Stress and Immunity
The body has the ability of protecting itself from foreign attackers such as viruses, bacteria and fungi which cause disease in humans. Internal factors such as psychological stress have been identified to be major causes of a collapsed immune system (Golden-Kreutzt, 1998). The potential of the body to attack the foreign invaders is largely affected by stress which diminishes the activation of the autonomic nervous system however, this happens only during chronic stress but mild stress does not inactivate the response of autonomic nervous system. Observations that have been made on children show that chronic stress significantly reduces the reactions of the immune system in response to the secretions of hormones predominantly used in the fight against inflammatory responses (Golden-Kreutzt, 1998).
The perceived mood has also been suggested to have a profound effect on the immune system functioning. Individuals with a positive attitude have been found to have a stronger immune system functioning than those who have a pessimistic perception to life. Optimistic individuals have a stronger ability to fight infections and can avoid a number of infections which may be problematic to negative-minded individuals (Dalton, 2002). One conditions that causes a negative-mind approach is psychological stress. When stressed, an individual feels worthless and without purpose in the society. These feelings impact on the immune system which is primary to the fight against infections (Golden-Kreutzt, 1998). Psychologically stressed individuals are vulnerable to a number of infections due to a collapsed or weakened immune system.
Psychological stress has been linked to the delay in the healing process following surgical operation. For instance, the patients who express fear before undergoing surgery have a delayed healing process than those patients who face surgical operation with confidence. This observation has been made and has been compared with the level of lymphocyte cells in healthy and afflicted cases in humans. The stressed humans have a reduced number of lymphocytes which predisposes them to a slow wound healing mechanism.
Psychological Stress and Cancer
Researchers over the last three decades have done much investigation into the possibility of relationships between psychological stress and the risk of cancer development (Garsen, 2004). However, a number of these investigations have only produced contradicting results. Some of the results from these investigations clearly indicate a close relationship between a number of psychological factors and an increased cancer development risks (Bernstein, 2008). Nonetheless, the direct cause-effect relationship has not been drawn. Research into this interesting study is underway with a number of scientists trying to draw links between psychological stresses and health.
Studies have shown some indirect relationship between stress and some for of health complications such as viral-induced tumors. In studies conducted on both humans and animal experiments, stress has been shown to have a significant effect on the immune system (Segerstrom, 2004). The compromised immune system will not be able to protect the body against illnesses. This makes the body to be vulnerable to immunological disorders like viral-induced cancers such as some forms of lymphomas and Kaposi sarcoma (Garsen, 2004). Latest research has indicated some evidence that relates the neuroendocrine reaction with the psychological stress.
Studies from animal models have identified some forms of pathologies associated with the processes of the body producing several hormones in order to prepare a person to take up challenges during stress. These studies postulate that the massive release of the hormones into the blood stream due to stimulation of the nervous system can significantly alter critical cellular processes such as DNA repair and macrophage activities that protect the body from infections. The hormones cause mistakes in the cellular regulations in growth hence the developments of tumors.
In the study of the effects of psychological stress among different subjects, results have always been inconsistent among different people (Bernstein, 2008). This becomes possible due to the fact that it is not easy to separate stress from other emotional or physical factors in the event of examining the risk of cancer. For instance, some behaviors such as alcohol use and smoking and biological factors such as becoming overweight, growing older or having a history of cancer increase the risk of developing cancer in those individuals (Lutgendorf, 2006). The researchers face a difficult task of separating the common effects of stress and the effects of such factors such as alcohol use and genetic factors from other factors. Other reasons for the observed disparity are the varying number of people being investigated, the exact length of the follow-up and the analysis used to interpret the study results. Another reason why the studies may not be consistent is the assumption that cancer is uniform in nature yet, cancer varies from one person to another depending on the cause, organ affected, sex and age (Garsen, 2004).
Psychological stress has a direct effect on the people already suffering from cancer in a number of ways. Studies that have been performed in the last few decades show a correlation between the tumor growth and spreading and psychological stress. However, the precise biological explanations that underlie these observations have not been deciphered. There have been suggestions from scientists that the effects of psychological stress on the immune system may as a result lead to the growth and progression of tumors (Bernstein, 2008). However, recent investigations using animal models have shown that the hormones released by the body during stress can directly cause a difference in the function of cancer cells.
Correlation studies between psychological factors and various outcomes in cancer patients have suggested that there is an association between several psychological factors such as the suppression of negative emotions or the feeling helpless and cancer progression although this observation has not been made consistently in all studies. In general, there have been stronger relationships that have been observed between psychological factors and the growth and spread of cancer than the relationship seen between the psychological factors and the development of cancer (Garsen, 2004). This observation therefore implies that psychological stress may blame for the growth and spread of cancer and to a little extent, the development of cancer.
Psychological Stress and Skin Health
The brain controls how the skin might appear. This observation is not shocking as the brain is known to be the main controller of all the processes taking place in the body. The way people feel on their inside greatly impacts the way they look on their outside. Studies have shown that there is a connection between the factors that impact the emotional well-being and the development of skin, nail and hair problems. The emotional experiences such as psychological stress, anxiety and depression contribute to the worsening health conditions of the skin.
It has been suggested that stress may be manifested on the skin appearance of the afflicted individual mainly because stress makes the skin to be more reactive and sensitive. For instance, it has been observed that stress can worsen rosacea and psoriasis and cause acne lesions which are more persistent and more inflamed. Stress can result to ridging of the nails and brittle nails, cause hair loss, worsen hives and result to excessive perspiration. Stress also leads to the triggering or the worsening of seborrheic dermatitis, fever blisters as well as impairing the function of the skin as a barrier to infections. The skin also gets dehydrated which allows more allergens, irritants and infectious agents to penetrate the skin and result into disease conditions.
Apart from the physiological effects of psychological stress on the skin, there are other behavioral effects of stress which can be injurious to the health of the skin. Individuals with psychological stress have been observed to be neglecting or abusing their skins (Lutgendorf, 2006). This is often happens when the patients lack the motivation and energy to care for their skins. Also identified are stress-related scratching, rubbing or pulling of the skin which can be potentially dangerous and exacerbating to the health of the skin.
Psychological Stress and Cardiovascular Diseases
Psychological stress has a profound effect in cardiovascular diseases. This observation is also made while examining the effects of the fight or flight mechanism activation (Hamer, 2008). It is suggested that the fight or flight mechanism activation has a negative impact to the cardiovascular system because it involves the increase in the heart rate. This frequent activation of the cardiac activity can result to dangerous effect of heart attack or related negative effects of disease conditions (Hamer, 2008). The validity of this observation and correlation was made in one study where workers had so little reward incentive. The subjects under investigation were found to have an increased rate of deaths due to cardiovascular problems (Dimsdale, 2008).
Related to cardiac conditions, psychological stress can have a significant effect to the ability of the heart to pump blood effectively to all the required destinations. Apart from increasing the blood pressure, psychological stress can impair the integrity of the heart to pump blood into the lungs for purifications. Lack of adequate purification process can lead to the blood lacking sufficient oxygen in the body and most importantly in the brain. Ischemia, lack of sufficient oxygen can lead to coma and stroke conditions. There are also some possibilities of increased disease attacks due to the weakening of the immune cells which have little power to fight infections (Segerstrom, 2004).
Future Directions
Research into stress has resulted to a more understanding on the stress pathologies at molecular and cellular levels. This gained knowledge has made possible the development of drugs which counteract the negative mechanisms in ht body which become harmful when they take control. Analogs have been developed which imitate the functions of biological compounds in the body that have adverse effects on the moods of affected individuals. A concerted study of the chemistry of these compounds and how they relate to human health has significantly led to improvement in the area of psychiatry. However, there still remain major problems in the management of psychological disorders such as stress.
One of the unanswered questions relating to stress lies in the problem of stress and eating style. While in some people stress can cause them to lose appetite, other people have shown augmented levels of appetite. Possibly, this observation may be explained when the science of pharmacogenomics has matured. Pharmacogenomics is the science of studying the individual pharmacological aspects aimed at providing personalized medical care to all humans. The question of appetite and psychological stress may then be answered by studying the individual genome and identifying the genes responsible for the problem. It is then possible to regulate the genes or switch them off and on using molecular switches or factors that act at molecular levels. The different reaction to drugs in different individuals has drawn interest into the understanding of the human genetics. The Human Genome Project already has sequenced numerous genes of humans which have been helpful in identifying various genetic disparities in different people which cause difference in drug responses.
The study of the immune system is one of the most interesting fields in medical sciences (Segerstrom, 2004). Significant research that has been done in history has shown that the immune system is never an isolated entity from the individuals psychosocial state. Throughout life, an individual experiences an array of stressors which he or she is supposed to counter. The ability of the immune system to work at optimal levels is highly affected by the stressors. It has now been identified that stressors have a direct connection to the individuals personal health. This implies that a persons psychological state is a very crucial factor to his or her health and efforts should be made to avoid the factors that affect the psychological states.
Summary and Conclusion
In general, the impacts of psychological stress are diverse and its direct effect to human health has attracted significant researchers from a number of medical sciences. Psychosocial stress has led to the establishment of a new area of psychological science known as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) which looks at a detailed picture of the immune system and the brain functions with respect to the psychological domains (Segerstrom, 2004). It is expected that in the future more research into this area of psychoneuroimmunological science will lead to the development of novel medicines which can be used in the management of psychological stress.
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