Fun With Stress 2.6
The Effects Of Chronic Stress On Our Immune System
Reading time: 6 minutes
Every day we are attacked by millions of germs. Image: Medi2Go
To be born as a human being, means to be under continuous attack. Most of us are oblivious of this fact, because with our senses, we are unable to perceive germs entering the body via air, food, water, beverages, and other items people tend to insert into themselves;[1] nor are the senses able to consciously perceive cellular life inside the body. Yet, as Covid demonstrated quite clearly for all of us, germs exist, they are all around and inside us, and they can make us sick, or dead.
All our battles with germs are fought for us by the immune system.[2] It consists of two lines of defence: A quick, general defence, and a slower, yet very specific defence.
General defence, or innate immunity, refers to the fact that it responds in the same way to all germs and foreign substances. They are, as it were, our internal border patrol and police, who treat everyone the same in their battle against criminals.[3] Yet, as effective as they are, they can’t always stop germs from spreading. That’s when our second line of defence kicks in.
Specific defence, or adaptive immunity, refers to its ability to specifically target the type of germ that is causing the problem. They can be regarded as our internal detectives and snipers; highly skilled in detecting and taking out specific targets. Yet, in order to do that, they first need to recognize and identify the target, to make sure they’re taking out the right one. Therefore it’s slower in its response than the general defence, but more accurate when it does respond.
Detectives are an important part of our second line of defense.
When an injury occurs, the quick, general defence immediately takes action. For instance, if you sustain a wound after falling off your bike, it makes sure that bacteria entering through the broken skin are detected and destroyed within a few hours. It does that by means of an inflammation; the place around the wound swells up and becomes warm, red and painful.
The inflammation can be regarded as a construction site. Specific, temporary roads are constructed for the removal of rubble and the supply of building materials. In our body, these roads are temporary blood vessels, constructed for the same purpose, hence the warmth, redness and swelling of an inflammation.[4]
As soon as germs are able to penetrate our first line of defence, the detectives and snipers of the specific defence come into action. Besides having the skills to track and destroy the specific problem-causing germ, they also have the advantage of being able to ‘remember’ them. So, in many instances, when the specific defence comes across a germ it has met before, the detectives and snipers can start fighting it faster. You have now become immune to the specific germ and disease.
A virus is trying to break through our first line of defense. Illustration: artrake. Edit: Erik Stout
Now, when our buttons are pushed, the quick & general defence system reacts immediately. Falling off our bike with a smack on the concrete, is an apt description of a physical stressor with the ability to push our buttons. The faster our border patrol and police eliminate germs entering through the broken skin, the better it is for our health. In this example, once the button is pushed and the alarm goes off, our border patrol and police have plenty of useful work to carry out in and around the inflamed wound.
However, when our buttons are pushed by psychosocial stressors, also the general immune response is immediately activated. Yet, for our border patrol and police, this is a false alarm, because there is no actual physical damage and no evil germs have entered our body. If false alarms become the new normal, that might lead to an impaired judgement of our troops.
Moreover, when we’re under chronic stress, our buttons are being pushed relentlessly, which means that our border patrol and police have to work longer and longer hours, and get less and less time to rest and recover. That, also, can lead to impaired judgement of our general defence system.
Due to exhaustion and a flood of false alarms, the judgment of our first line of defense can be greatly impaired. Illustration: Pixabay
Impaired judgement resulting from our overworked workforce and an avalanche of false alarms, means that our border patrol and police are increasingly likely to mistake healthy body tissues and cells for evil and malign germs, and start to destroy them. That marks the onset of autoimmune diseases, when a system designed to protect you, has now turned against you by means of destroying healthy body cells and tissues.[5]
In contrast to our general defence system, once our buttons are pushed, our specific defence system takes a coffee break. This makes sense when we’re for instance in a life threatening situation like the one described in Part 2 Chapter 1; then we want all available energy going to skeletal muscles to get us out of harm’s way. The detectives and snipers of our specific defence system can take a break, only to come back into action after we’ve secured our general safety.
Yet, when stress becomes chronic, and our buttons are being pushed relentlessly, instead of being merely temporary on hold, more and more detectives and snipers are going on indefinite leave. Germs that were usually eliminated by our second line of defence, now find less and less resistance once they have penetrated our first line of defence. Hence, germs that didn’t bother us at first, under chronic stress, all of a sudden become potentially life threatening.
Under chronic stress, our second line of defense can be severely depleted. Image: Pixabay
Not helping is the fact that when we are under chronic stress, the stressor is usually outside of ourselves. We then have all our available attention firmly directed on who- or whatever is pushing our buttons, while disregarding what is going on inside us, despite the inevitable emergence of multiple low-on-energy-signs and signals. So where we think to be taking care of ourselves by keeping a close eye on our stressor(s), by disregarding our low-on-energy-signs, we actually contribute to deteriorating our health.
From the standpoint of balance, we can state that, just like you, also your border patrol and police need time to relax and recover from their daily activities. And, just like you, your detectives and snipers need to perform their activities regularly in order to stay sharp. So, as soon as you begin to notice any low-on-energy-signs emerging, instead of merely disregarding them as minor inconveniences, place your full attention on them. Ask yourself if currently your buttons are being pushed, and by whom, or what? Has there been a change in any of your daily situations, like family, home, or work? Has your overall mood changed lately? What is occupying your mind, particularly when you’re not engaged in a specific task?
Placing the awareness on yourself is not going to miraculously vanish any stressors, but it does harbour the power to deal with them much more balanced then by perceiving them as all-encompassing threats. Suppose, for instance, you’re in a poisonous relationship, or in a toxic work environment. What keeps you from taking a break and temporarily leaving the spouse or job? Usually it’s a mixture of fear for the unknown and fear of rejection. But by staying in such a situation, and disregarding yourself more and more, you are in fact rejecting yourself.
As part of a temporary unavailability due to chronic stress, I can highly recommend a visit to Disneyland (or De Efteling if you happen to be in The Netherlands). Image: yuantunan
You can always to choose to become temporary unavailable. If you make yourself important enough to do so, you will inevitably also give your border patrol and police a highly necessary vacation, and give your detectives and snipers a chance to effectively start up again.
Moreover, it’s always easier to judge your situation from a distance then when you’re smack in the middle of it, especially when high emotions are involved. You then create the circumstances by which you can put the spotlight on yourself, starting with recognizing your low-on-energy-signs and signals, which are nothing other than your body communicating with you, shouting:
“Hellohooo! This situation is not healthy for us! Get us out of here!”
The more familiar you become with your body, the better you understand how it communicates with you – and how you can communicate with it. After all, a dialogue always requires two parties, and if both parties give each other the space to both speak and listen, there is balance.
In the next chapter we’re going to investigate the relationship of chronic stress with pain. For now,
Jolly Greetings,
Erik Stout
[1] I won’t list examples, since I can’t surpass the human imagination on this topic in any way, shape or form.
[2] And what a marvel it is that we don’t even have to consciously think about that!
[3] In nature, this is true. In human behaviour, there are known instances when this isn’t exactly the case.
[4] The theory about the painfulness of an inflammation, is that the person leaves the construction site alone for the duration of the recovery process. For similar reasons, the general public is not allowed on an actual construction site as well.
[5] Read the story here about why the American Baseball player Lou Gehrig’s name has become synonymous with the autoimmune disease ALS.
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