Chronic Stress and The Immune System

Eissah Aminzada
ID: 1047991
FCSC 101 W02
April 21st, 2016

The effects of chronic stress on the human body have always intrigued me.
Chronis stress is defined as a state of prolonged tension from external or internal
stressors, which can cause many physical problems like suppressing the immune system.
It is fascinating how much constant stress can negatively affect our mental and physical
health. Stress can ultimately lead to deterioration of the human body. Ongoing stress is
what causes organisms to become more vulnerable to disease. This is because the brain
sends defense signals to the endocrine system, which then releases hormones that lower
our immunity. Experts claim that stress is to blame for about 90 percent of all illnesses.
Some questions that were investigated are, what are the devastating effects of stress and
its effects on the immune system and how does stress affect the immune system.
In 1975 at Rochester University, Ader and Cohen conducted an experiment to
condition the rats not to eat saccharin by also injecting them with a drug that caused
stomach upset, however they found that the majority of rats died when they were fed
saccharin again without the drug. The reasoning behind this was because certain signals
from the nervous system had a powerful effect on the immune system. The fear stress
alone from the stomach upset caused many of them to develop a weak immune system

and die. This allowed me to form the hypothesis that by using classical conditioning,
saccharin led to a significantly weaker immune system and this state of prolonged stress
was enough to kill the rats. They found that negative psychological states such as
stressful experiences influenced health and disease by weakening the immune system.
After this shocking discovery the experiment was replicated a number of times in order to
find accurate results and data.
The results show the relationship between stressful experiences and a weaker
immune system. The immune system defends the body against harmful bacteria and
viruss. While the network of the immune system is spread throughout the body the key
player is the white blood cell. Thus with vast amounts of stress the white blood cell
activity decreases and allows for a stressed person to risk high blood pressure, heart
disease and digestive problems. Specifically in the experiment, the rats were subjected to
high amounts of stress causing them to form physical manifestations such as a weak
immune system. Since their immune system was at a lower state, the rats were unable to
fight off diseases. Overtime these diseases spread and caused enough damage to kill the
rats. Concluding that the results found in the experiment support the idea that stress
affects the immune system through the mediation of the brain and endocrine system.
The significance of this paper is to bring awareness to those who are exposed to
high levels of stress on a daily basis. Human beings were not supposed to be exposed to
stress for long periods of time because it causes deterioration of the body and mind. As a
college student myself, I can say with most certainty that young adults and late teens are
faced with stress on a daily basis. Todays society expects a great deal of
accomplishments from the new generation of young adults and as each generation passes

the pressure will only increase and become more demanding. After coming to this
conclusion society should change its overbearing weight on young adolescents because
our optimistic, innovative and intelligent minds are unable to advance and mature
efficiently with so much pressure. Every generation entering their adulthood should be
allowed to enjoy life to the fullest without being restrained by stress and anxiety.

Graph:
This graph shows the relationship between levels of stress and performance. High levels
of stress cause low levels of performance. Optimal performance is found at an equal and
healthy amount of stress.

Resources:

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Stoecklein, Veit M., Akinori Osuka, and James A. Lederer. Trauma Equals Danger
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