I have to say that while I was reading chapter 7, the section on stressors and the immune system stood out to me. Stress is a huge part of all of our lives and sometimes is difficult to avoid. I lead a very busy life. I am the mother of 2 very active kids who keep me moving from the time they get up to the time they go to bed. I go to school full time and work in my spare time. If that isn't enough, I am a member of the GTAA (local youth athletic group) where I attend meetings and work the concession stand and many other duties for the kids in our organization. If this doesn't make for a busy day, I don't know what does. I never stopped to think that being stressed could cause illness or prolong an illness. I just thought that since I had so much to do, I never gave myself enough time to get better so I didn't recover as fast as others did. Surely others can relate to this. Psychoneuroimmunology is a field of psychology that deals with the relationship between stress and the immune system. When our body is invaded by a microorganism, the microorganism is attacked by B and T cells. Both types of cells are found in the bone marrow. These cells will become mature in the thymus gland. When we become stressed, our sympathetic nervous system releases stress hormones which decrease the amount of T cells in the blood stream. So the immune system is temporarily changed and we are now vulnerable to illness. I found a short video that you may want to try. The gentleman in the video, Craig Brockie, teaches something called the "thymus tap" which is used for stress relief.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZVNpFQuKLE
The next time you feel stressed, Craig suggests you tap the area below your collar bone as a way to relieve this stress. Who knows, this "tap" could make the difference between being sick for 24hrs or 3 days. I would be interested in seeing if anyone tries it. Happy Tapping!!!
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You do have a very busy schedule, it amazes me that you do all of that in one day. I give you a lot of credit.
ReplyDeleteI constantly stress about everything, even if it's minor. I watched the video you posted and text time I am stressed out, which will probably be at some point today, I will definitely try that tapping exercise. Hopefully it helps!
Good luck, Briana. It's funny, sometimes I don't even realize all that I do in the course of one day until I tell people about it. My biggest problem is accepting help from others. I like to do things on my own so I know it gets done on time and the way I like it. I know this is wrong but probably contributes to a great deal of stress in my life. Will I ever learn???
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ReplyDeleteGreat topic! I learned about this topic in Health Psych last semester(Excellent class...Prof Gayda:) One of the things I learned is that having a strong sense of personal control helps reduce stress.
ReplyDeletebest wishes