11027
0
Posted on Sep 30, 2002, 6 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Recent studies have revealed that chronically stressed people have an impaired immune response to vaccination, stress appears to be a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and that wound healing is delayed when people are exposed to stressful situations. Such discoveries add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that stress impairs the immune system and leaves people wide open to the threat of disease.
Recent studies have revealed that chronically stressed people have an impaired immune response to vaccination, stress appears to be a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and that wound healing is delayed when people are exposed to stressful situations. Such discoveries add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that stress impairs the immune system and leaves people wide open to the threat of disease. Ronald Glaser, a researcher from Ohio State University Medical Center, states that: "Reducing stress could have a huge impact in many patients and, compared to procedures such as heart bypass operations, radical surgery and drug therapy, psychological intervention is very cheap.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: www.thelancet.com Web edition of volume 357, Number 9250
