Stress, immune system and age

As ageing is associated with immunological changes, the effects of stress and age are interlinked where a deregulation of the immune function can have a significant impact on physical health. On the other hand stess can both enhance and increase the effects of aging, with older adults often showing greater immunological impairment to stress than younger adults. Therefore a good immune response is essential to our good health. In the same way immunological alterations and disturbances can influence the progression and severity of a variety of disorders and diseases, including stress related disorders. Also stressful experiences very early in life can alter the responsiveness of the nervous system and immune system. It is possible that prenatal or early life stress may increase the likelihood of altered immune responses to stress in late life.

One such alteration to the immune system includes a decrease in the ability of white blood cells (immune cells) to carry out their key functions. One great example is temporary stress as seen in students during examination stress? This has been seen to slow down wound healing. Children of mothers who are routinely stressed during their pregnancy show decrease in immune function compared to children of undisturbed pregnancies. Similarly young children who experience abuse or neglect show abnormal cortisol levels indicative of a dysregulated stress response. Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands and involved in glucose metabolism, blood pressure regulation, maintenance of insulin release, suppression of inflammatory responses. Cortisol is elevated following several stress disorders. Several stressful experiences can cause in areas of the brain involved in memory an imprinting during fetal development and early life can alter the responsiveness of the endocrine, immune, and central nervous systems for many years. An understanding of such interlinked effects of stress and age is important to understand and to determine the mechanisms involved, so that we can develop effective interventions in early and late life.

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Stress is just a normal psychological and physical reaction of the body brought by demands of life. All of us are equipped with a response system that gets triggered every time we encounter a threat: Our body responses to the perceived threat by releasing a burst of hormones that fuels our fight-or-flight mechanism. When the threat is gone, the body will be back to normal. The only problem is that our system is unable to determine between real threats and perceived threats that is caused by nonstop stress of modern life, leading to physical and mental breakdown.

For every person, many factors and levels is needed to be given focus when talking about stress. Some people seem to work well under pressure and some just break down during crunch time. But no mistake, no one has the susceptibility against chronic stress, it just come in different breaking points. The good thing is that with proper discipline, attitude and effective stress management system, chronic stress can be properly addressed.

One of the methods that work well against stress is the practice of relaxation techniques. Practicing relaxation techniques can reduce stress by slowing your heart rate, lowering blood pressure, slowing your breathing rate, improve your concentration, reduce anger and frustration and by boosting confidence to handle hassles and problems. Relaxation techniques can reduce all the worries of the mind and body from the challenges and hassles of daily life.

Some examples of relaxation techniques widely used by people are; meditation, deep breathing, yoga, and guided imagery. Meditation is a technique that focuses your attention to something that has no emotional value, training your mind to become less responsive to stress and will result in physiologic changes that counteract the harmful effects of stress throughout the day.

Deep breathing on the other hand involves breathing exercises that will help you calm your mind and lower stress hormone levels at the same time. Yoga is a set of slow exercises that will refresh your mind, diffuse your stress levels and improve your concentration. Guided imagery is used for relaxation and healing. It really helps to create a sense of peace by having comfortable thoughts and pictures in your mind to alleviate stress that is felt.

There are actually options of relaxation methods and techniques that can be used to address and lower down stress. You don’t have to look too hard or pay much in order to achieve relief from chronic stress. Just find the proper technique that works well for you then practice it. Stress is just a normal part of life but if improperly controlled it can develop to a huge problem which will be hard to deal with later on.
Eddy Kong, certified behavioral consultant (USA) used to be have stress. Just 5 years ago, he was exposed to behavioral management and has discovered many techniques to manage stress effectively. Now he was free from mental torment he had suffered before. For more detailed instructions on stress management help, be sure to visit http://www.managingstresssecrets.com, and get your FREE 10-day mini-ecourse right now.