Discussion

Stress helps in the creation of hormone called the cortisol which is instrumental in suppressing the effectiveness of immune system of the body. The cortisol culminates in suppressing effectiveness of immune system and it helps to fight off the invaders by the lowering of number of the lymphocytes. They are found to be present within blood and they interfere with the normal white blood cell communication (Zhang et al., 2020).  An individual is not able to recover from the stress-related illness as cause is found to be complex and they are thought to be multi-layered. There exist various kinds of biological, psychological and the social factors which influences the mental state of an individual. The chronic suppression of the stress makes the body of the individual vulnerable to infection and the disease. The stress responses helps in increasing strain on the circulatory system owing to the increased heart rate. It can increase risk of an individual for the development of disorders of heart and the circulation. This essay discusses about how stress leaves an effect on immune system that leaves a negative effect on the health outcomes of an individual.

There has been research about stress and the relation to that of immune system and it has drawn the attention of medical and the scientific community. The body is endowed with the ability of adapting to changes within environment and they have to adjust itself in the according manner. The physicochemical stress is found to take place from the environmental factors like food, toxins and metabolic disorders. The immune system is found to be compromised and they are not able to cope with the physicochemical stresses (Schakel et al., 2019).  The stress is found to exceed regular adaptability of immune system and this creates the way for disease states or the fatal conditions. The long-term and the chronic stress can create the way for high cortisol levels which can create the way for impaired anti-inflammatory impact on immune system. The impact creates the way for chronic infection, cancers along with the other kinds of physiological disorders (Iddir et al., 2020).  The relation existing in between the stress and immune system can be said to be bi-directional and this is found to affect each other in an elusive manner. There exists reverse path of the immune function and it paves the path for stress responses from visceral system to the brain function and behaviour. The impact of the immune activation stress on the function of the brain can create effect on the mental health and it can create the way for novel therapeutic possibilities (Seiler, Fagundes & Christian, 2020).  The body of an individual being stressed, the muscles have the tendency of tensing up and muscle tension takes place as reflex reaction to the stress and it enables the body for guarding itself against injury and the pain. The chronic stress makes muscles within the body for being in constant state of the guardedness that can affect the body in the negative manner. The muscles being tense for longer duration of time, is found to trigger various other functions within the body thereby creating the way for stress-related disorders.

The Relationship between Stress and Immune System

There exist various studies which have talked about the relation in between the early life adversity and the inflammatory activity of an individual. The studies are found to be characterised by early life stress and stress in the early life can be said to be related to the heightened inflammatory activity. It has been brought out by neuroimmune studies that there exists bi-directional link in between neural and the inflammatory processes. It is found to have crucial implications that can help to understand biological base of the mental and the physical health problems (Takahashi et al., 2018).  The neural-immune response are found to be self-promoting and persistent neural responding to the actual threat can be instrumental in prolonging inflammatory response of an individual. The neuro-immuno dynamic can be stated to engage themselves in self-promoting behaviour and recursive loop creates the way for hyper-vigilance and threat sensitivity. It is instrumental in creating anxiety patterns within short term and it increases risk of an individual for the serious mental and the physical health problems.

The stressors are experienced by the children and the adolescents when they are found to be exposed to violence, abuse and divorce conflict. The psychological impact of the maltreatment helps in including dys-regulation of provocative behaviours and disturbances in regard to attachment (Maestroni & Conti, 2020).  The survivors of the childhood sexual abuse are found to have high levels of the general stress and it creates the way for psychological disturbances that includes personality disorders. The childhood abuse is found to be related to the negative views in regard to learning and the poor school performance. The children of the divorced parents are found to report anxiety, depression and the anti-social behaviour. The adult offspring of the divorced parents are found to suffer from the brunt of the chronic life stress and family support (Iddir et al., 2020).  The exposure to the non-responsive environments can be stated to be a stressor which paves the path for learned helplessness.

It has been revealed with the help of studies that psychological impact of being exposed to the war and the terrorism can bring about negative repercussions on the course of life of an individual. The exposure to the intense stressors at the time of developmental years is found to have neurobiological impacts on the long term and it puts an individual at the risk for anxiety and the mood disorders (Mulkey & du Plessis, 2019).  The depressive episodes are found to develop after the occurrence of the negative life event and stressful life events creates the way for onset of the depression for a person. The diagnosis of the medical illness can be stated to be a severe life stressor and it is found to be accompanied by the higher rates of the depression (Reyes et al., 2018).  The stressful events in the life are found to precede the anxiety disorders and anxiety is found to take place before the depression. The patients having anxiety are found to develop the major depression after the occurrence of stressful life events.

Consequences of Chronic Stress on the Body

The wound healing is a significant process that takes place at the time of recovery from injury or the surgery. The poor healing can be said to be related to increased risks for the wound infection alongside with the other complications. It creates the way for patient discomfort and it brings about prolonged hospital stay for a person. The progress in regard to wound healing is found to occur with the help of sequential phases which includes inflammation, proliferation and the regeneration. The cellular immunity is found to play a crucial role for regulation of the wound healing with the aid of production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (Lefevor et al., 2019).  It have aided in the mediation of complex interactions taking place at the time of wound healing. These factors act like the chemo-attractants in regard to migration of the phagocytes to that of wound site. It helps in starting proliferative phase that involves recruitment of the cells which are necessary for the purpose of tissue re-generation. The inflammation can be said to be a pre-requisite for the healing and there exist pro-inflammatory cytokines which can help in preparing injured tissue for the repair (Christopher et al., 2018).  The stress can be instrumental in disrupting production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines which are essential for the purpose of healing of wound. The dys-regulation taking place can cause delay in regard to the wound repair.

The immune system plays a crucial role that helps to defend body against various kinds of the infectious organisms. The abnormalities within immune system for performing in a normal manner can have implications for the severe illness and it creates the way for greater risk of the mortality (Hendrix et al., 2020).  The individuals who are in the distressed state have to face the greater risk for the weakened responses in regard to viral and the bacterial vaccines. The stress can help in the induction of immune dys-regulation with the aid of alterations made in production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines. The negative moods like depression and the anxiety can help in up-regulating production production of the IL-6. It has been revealed by data that stress and the depression can be useful for sensitising the individual to the subsequent antigen challenges (Oyetunji & Chandra, 2020).  The individuals having history of the stress are found to demonstrate the higher cytokine response when they are re-exposed to the stressor. It can bear significant health implications as the inflammation can be said to be related to various kinds of the diseases.

The Impact of Stress on Wound Healing

There exists close relationship in between stress and the immune function. The immunological changes related to stress can be said to be adapted from immunological changes that takes place in response to the infection. It has been found that conceptualisation of nature of relationship in between stress and immune system has undergone changes over the course of time. There has been evolution of stress response to immune system, the healthy organisms should not be negatively affected by the activation of the response (Seiler, Fagundes & Christian, 2020).  It has however been found that flexibility of immune system can be stated to be compromised in terms of age and the disease. The older adults are not able to respond to the vaccines and it can be instrumental in contributing to the early mortality (Takahashi et al., 2018).  The decreased ability of immune system for responding to the stimulation can be said to be indicator of loss of the flexibility. The loss of the self-regulation can be said to be characteristic of the disease states and immune system is instrumental in treating self-tissue as the invader and it brings out pathology like multiple selerosis and rheumatoid arthritis (Maestroni & Conti, 2020).  The diseases are found to bear the distinct clinical impacts and changes made within immune system from flexible to the inflexible can increase vulnerability of the individuals to that of stress-related immune dysregulation.

Conclusion

The body of the individuals can adapt themselves to the changes and they possess the ability of adjusting themselves in according manner. The physicochemical stress are caused due to various kinds of environmental factors like toxins and the food. The immune system is compromised and they are unable to deal with physicochemical stresses. There exists stress in early life of an individual and they pave the path for heightened inflammatory activity. There exists the bi-directional link taking place in between neural and inflammatory processes and it greatly influences health outcomes of a person. The abnormalities in the immune system can bear implications and it can be of great value for understanding biological base of mental and physical health problems. It can create the way for severe illness and it can increases chances of mortality of a person.

References

Christopher, M. S., Hunsinger, M., Goerling, L. R. J., Bowen, S., Rogers, B. S., Gross, C. R., … & Pruessner, J. C. (2018). Mindfulness-based resilience training to reduce health risk, stress reactivity, and aggression among law enforcement officers: A feasibility and preliminary efficacy trial. Psychiatry research, 264, 104-115.

Hendrix, W. H., Summers, T. P., Leap, T. L., & Steel, R. P. (2020). Antecedents and organizational effectiveness outcomes of employee stress and health. In Occupational stress (pp. 73-92). CRC Press.

Iddir, M., Brito, A., Dingeo, G., Fernandez Del Campo, S. S., Samouda, H., La Frano, M. R., & Bohn, T. (2020). Strengthening the immune system and reducing inflammation and oxidative stress through diet and nutrition: considerations during the COVID-19 crisis. Nutrients, 12(6), 1562.

Lefevor, G. T., Boyd-Rogers, C. C., Sprague, B. M., & Janis, R. A. (2019). Health disparities between genderqueer, transgender, and cisgender individuals: An extension of minority stress theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66(4), 385.

Maestroni, G. J., & Conti, A. (2020). Melatonin in relation to the immune system. In Melatonin (pp. 289-309). CRC Press.

Mulkey, S. B., & du Plessis, A. J. (2019). Autonomic nervous system development and its impact on neuropsychiatric outcome. Pediatric research, 85(2), 120-126.

Oyetunji, A., & Chandra, P. (2020). Postpartum stress and infant outcome: A review of current literature. Psychiatry research, 284, 112769.

Reyes, A. T., Kearney, C. A., Lee, H., Isla, K., & Estrada, J. (2018). Interventions for posttraumatic stress with resilience as outcome: An integrative review. Issues in mental health nursing, 39(2), 166-178.

Schakel, L., Veldhuijzen, D. S., Crompvoets, P. I., Bosch, J. A., Cohen, S., van Middendorp, H., … & Evers, A. W. (2019). Effectiveness of stress-reducing interventions on the response to challenges to the immune system: a meta-analytic review. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 88(5), 274-286.

Seiler, A., Fagundes, C. P., & Christian, L. M. (2020). The impact of everyday stressors on the immune system and health. In Stress challenges and immunity in space (pp. 71-92). Springer, Cham.

Takahashi, A., Flanigan, M. E., McEwen, B. S., & Russo, S. J. (2018). Aggression, social stress, and the immune system in humans and animal models. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, 56.

Zhang, L., Pan, J., Chen, W., Jiang, J., & Huang, J. (2020). Chronic stress-induced immune dysregulation in cancer: implications for initiation, progression, metastasis, and treatment. American journal of cancer research, 10(5), 1294.