Everyone experiences some form of stress at some point through out their lives. The typical college student has a mountain of stress. Most students are dealing with work, deadlines, studying,papers,tests. Not to mention the stress of figuring out your future, bills, a career,living on your own, and any other personal issues in addition to everything else. According to research done in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, a significant amount of stress can cause your immune system to weaken. Stress can cause many things to occur in a person's body, such as, hormone responses, nervous system responses, and behavioral responses. All of these responses can affect the immune system, which will make a person more susceptible to illness, cold, flu, or disease. I recently became sick with an upper respiratory infection and found out that a lot of people have been getting sick lately. Considering that the last couple weeks were midterms for most people, I wonder if everyone's immune system was down by the stress?
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I was wondering the same thing about everyone being sick in the beginning of the semester.. I also believe illness comes along with a great amount of stress (especially for us college students!!)
ReplyDeleteThis lends itself to the Open Window theory. When a person feels stress their immune system is not as strong as it typically is when not under stress. Because of this, the body is more suseptible to illness.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to this in more ways than one. I have a whole bunch of back problems. The doctor told me that my stress is actually causing my back to hurt more than it normally would just from the injury itself. So stress not only takes a toll on being sick but it can actually affect your body in a different way. Sick is one thing, being in pain from stress is another. Stress does a lot of damage to your body, immsune system and mind.
ReplyDeletethis always happens to me, whenever i stress a lot i get sick; especially when i go out and drink more bc of the stress. i have learned to protect myself from this thou and if i feel that i am not taking care of my body right, stressing, or feel like i am coming down with something i always drink a Emergency and it seems to help a lot. last year 2 of my close friends came down with swine flu and i was around them the whole time drinking out of their glasses and never got it, i believe its from the Emergency i was taking so i wouldnt get sick.
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