prolonged stress can directly impair immune function - article

[Guest guest]

Hi

I found the following interesting, because it gives evidence for a

very direct link between immune function and stress, and not

the diffuse stress connection that is so often mentioned in disease.

Regarding the information on inflammation, interleukins and

autoimmunity I think this is interesting for cfs.

Chronic stress not only makes people more vulnerable to catching

illnesses but can also impair their immune system's ability to

respond to its own anti-inflammatory signals that are triggered by

certain hormones, say researchers, possibly altering the course of an

inflammatory disease. This finding is reported on in the

November/December '02 issue of Health Psychology.

Chronic stress seems to impair the immune system's capacity to

respond to glucocorticoid hormones that normally are responsible for

terminating an inflammatory response following infection and/or

injury, according to researchers E , PhD, of Washington

University, and colleagues.

the article is at:

http://www.upliftprogram.com/h_stress.html#h14