Effects of Stress on the Immune System Research Paper

Effects of Stress on the Immune System - Research move inup ExampleStress does keep a profound effect on the resistant dodging. Though adjudicate was ab initio considered to exert a physiological effect in the human body, later studies confound revealed that it in addition affects the immune system by changing the immune response to infectious agents and environmental pollutants. Further studies harbor shown that depending on the nature and duration of the seekful event the immune system can either be enhanced or depressed. These immune changes however, have minimal clinical consequences in healthy individuals, but the enfeebling of the immune system in response to aging and disease results in prominent changes in the license of the individual to stress. Stress has also been linked to the progression of various diseases such as tumors and autoimmune diseases. The changes in immune response ar mediated by signals from the endocrine and nervous system which are the initial ly responders to the environmental stresses. Various stress hormones released in response to stress play a role in the activation or suppression of the immune cells. While in majority of the cases stress has a bad effect on the functioning of the immune system, in some cases acute limited stress have been shown to up regulate natural immunity parameters that are useful in protection against a workable injury or infection. Stress has for long been linked to changes in the physiology of humans such an increased obstetrical delivery of oxygen and glucose to the heart muscles. However, researchers have shown that apart from these physiological changes stress also affects the immune response of an individual.... The hypothalamus controls the discrimination of hormones from the pituitary, adrenal cortex and medulla. When this hypothalamus- pituitary- adrenal cortex axes is subjected to chronic activation it can have a marked effect on the health through continued secretion of hormon es. When the receptors for glucocorticoid (GC) hormones present on the immune cells are bound by GC hormones they interfere with the activity of NF-kB which in turn suppresses the secretion of cytokines by these cells. The activation of the HPA axis also causes the secretion of catecholamines from the adrenal medulla which also binds to adrenergic receptors on the immune cells and increases the production of cytokines and antibody which is the bodys immediate response to stress. However, when subject to chronic activation these hormones can have a similar effect like the GC on the immune cells (Padgett & Glaser, 2003). While these stress hormones make us resistant to the effects of stressors by increasing heart rate, blood pressure and sugar levels to combat the perceived threat, they however have a deleterious effect on the immune system when produced chronically (Psychological Stress and Cancer, 2012). For example, the release of cortisol under conditions of stress has been foun d to have an inhibitory effect on the synthesis and activity of white blood cells. In addition it has also been found to interfere with communion of immune cells thus preventing them from providing the necessary protection to the body (Hussain, 2010). The effect of stress hormones on the immune system has been studied in great detail during the past decade. Hormones released by various glands in response to stress