Stress is a universal experience that has impacted humans for centuries. The physiological and neuroendocrinological mechanisms underlying the stress response occur in the body and are influenced by social and other factors that impact how you perceive and handle stress.
Chronic stress disturbs the body's normal mechanisms to recover back to a balanced state in between responses to stressors. This failure of homeostasis or balance within the body contributes to increased inflammation and other imbalances that contribute to the development of various diseases.
This article will explore the link between stress and inflammation and provide effective coping strategies to mitigate these effects for a healthier life.
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Understanding Stress and Its Mechanisms
Stress is defined as any type of change or demand that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain, tension, pressure, and physiologic responses. A wide range of psychological, environmental, and physiological stressors can provoke a sense of demand and/or danger in the body.
When your brain perceives a threat or demand, your body responds with a carefully coordinated physiologic response to prepare to respond and keep you safe. This sets off the coordinated series of neuroendocrine steps to carry out the stress response.
Your body’s response to stress involves complex mechanisms that integrate responses from your brain and body. Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) and adrenal glands help to integrate information and coordinate two key pathways that carry out the stress response: the sympathetic-adreno-medullar (SAM) axis and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
For example, structures of the limbic system of the brain including the amygdala perceive danger and send signals to the hypothalamus. This control and coordination center lies deep within your brain and helps to coordinate a range of physiologic functions.
The hypothalamus signals to the autonomic nervous system and pituitary gland to coordinate hormonal responses from the adrenal glands via the HPA axis. This leads to the release of stress hormones like cortisol and catecholamines including adrenaline/epinephrine and noradrenaline/norepinephrine from the adrenal glands to increase heart rate and blood pressure, which help you to fight or flee from perceived or real threats. This is your body’s way of helping you cope with internal or external stressors.
The Link Between Stress and Inflammation
While these physiologic stress responses help you cope with and respond to acute danger, if this stress physiology becomes chronically activated it can have detrimental impacts on your body. Chronic stress is a major driver of inflammation. When you are constantly under stress, your body is repeatedly setting off the neuroendocrine pathways that encompass the stress response.
This response involves the stress hormone cortisol which acts on glucocorticoid receptors throughout the body. Cortisol can therefore have wide-ranging effects causing inflammatory, immune, metabolic, hormone, circadian, and gastrointestinal impacts For example, cortisol helps you respond to acute stress by promoting alertness and triggering the release of sugar (glucose) from your liver so that you have fast energy to cope with threats.
When stressors are overwhelming in intensity and/or duration, they lead to an over-activation of the immune system which causes an imbalance between inflammation and anti-inflammation. Elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines or mediators of the inflammatory response such as IL-6, TNFα, IL-1β, and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) transcription factor cause wide-reaching impacts in the body. Both peripheral and neuroinflammation can result.
Cortisol impacts your immune system by suppressing inflammation in the short term. But when it is persistently elevated from chronic stress, cortisol can lead to increased inflammation and suppressed immune responses.
Over time, chronic stress can lead to a decreased sensitivity of immune cells to respond to glucocorticoid hormones like cortisol that normally extinguish the inflammatory response. This process of glucocorticoid receptor resistance, in turn, contributes to a failure to downregulate inflammatory responses. A lack of the normal cortisol regulation of local inflammatory cytokine responses leads to an increased risk of many illnesses, ranging from acute infections to chronic diseases.
Health Consequences of Stress-Induced Inflammation
Studies show that chronic stress has wide-reaching impacts throughout the body. Science shows that chronic stress contributes to the development of chronic diseases. While acute inflammation is an important response that the body needs to defend against infections and repair tissue injury, chronic inflammation can be destructive to the body. Many studies now describe how excessive and unchecked inflammation contributes to the pathophysiology of stress-related diseases.
In fact, 75% to 90% of diseases are related to stress-influenced inflammation. Chronic stress and the resulting inflammation play a role in the development of diseases including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, depression, autoimmune diseases, and impaired immune function.
When chronic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system and HPA axis, this results in the body being flooded with ongoing release of stress hormones that induce systemic inflammation. In addition, stressful events can motivate unhealthy food choices and other lifestyle choices like alcohol consumption, smoking, and a lack of physical activity that can further contribute to chronic inflammation and chronic diseases.
When cortisol and epinephrine are elevated and repeatedly triggered to surge from chronic stress, this can contribute to damage to blood vessels and arteries and increases in blood pressure. These physiological impacts lead to an increased risk of heart attacks or strokes.
In addition, when these stress hormones are chronically elevated, it results in metabolic consequences. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol can lead to persistent elevations in blood sugar (hyperglycemia) since it opposes the effects of insulin to drive sugar into cells for use. This contributes to increased abdominal (visceral) fat, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes over time.
Chronic stress also causes detrimental changes in the brain, causing changes in neuronal plasticity, neuroinflammation, and alterations in neurotransmitter systems that can have wide-reaching effects on cognitive function and mental health.
Identifying Signs of Stress-Induced Inflammation
There are some common signs and symptoms that may indicate you are suffering from stress-induced inflammation. Being able to recognize these indicators of imbalance and understanding their potential impact on overall health can empower you to take steps to manage stress more effectively and reduce inflammation.
Physical indicators that your body may be under prolonged stress include muscle tension that leads to jaw clenching, headaches, and other pains; a rapid heart rate or feeling like your heart is racing; exhaustion; difficulty sleeping or concentrating; digestive issues; high blood pressure; blood sugar imbalances; a weak immune system; and a decreased interest in and/or issues with sexual performance.
Stress and the inflammation that results can also contribute to mental health and emotional symptoms such as depression, anxiety or irritability, and panic attacks. This occurs due to the impacts of a prolonged stress-induced inflammatory response involving proinflammatory cytokines that communicate with the brain and affect neurotransmitters, neuroendocrine signaling, and brain structure and functions. These impacts of chronic stress and inflammation can therefore induce emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes.
Coping Strategies for Managing Stress and Reducing Inflammation
When your autonomic nervous system is balanced, you can usually cope with acute stressors and then return to a more relaxed parasympathetic state relatively quickly after the stress has passed. There are several coping strategies that you can use to help manage stress and reduce inflammation. These practices support this stress recovery and boost your body’s resiliency to cope with stress.
Mindfulness or paying attention to the present moment with acceptance and without judgment can enhance stress resilience. Consistently engaging in mind-body practices like meditation and yoga can switch off chronic inflammation to balance out the neurobiological impacts of stress on your body.
Mindful practices like deep abdominal breathing, visualization of tranquil scenes, yoga nidra or progressive muscle relaxation, repetitive prayer or mantras, and tai chi can help strengthen your body’s relaxation response. Regularly training your body in this way allows it to more readily return to a relaxed parasympathetic state after stress.
Your body also needs adequate restorative sleep to balance inflammation and cope with stress. Poor, disrupted, or inadequate sleep can be a physical stressor on the body and contribute to chronic inflammation and chronic disease. Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep and keep your bedroom quiet, dark, and cool to help you get into a deep solid state of rest.
Research also shows that psychosocial factors like social support, positive emotions and optimism, cognitive flexibility, religion, and spirituality help protect your body from the impacts of chronic stress by raising stress resilience. Fostering strong social connections can buffer the effects of stress and support overall well-being.
Regular movement and physical exercise are also a powerful way to favorably modulate the body's response to stress. Moderate exercise that avoids being overly strenuous and stressful helps to balance the function of the HPA axis.
The foods that you eat also significantly impact inflammation in your body. Eat a balanced anti-inflammatory diet rich in colorful fruits and vegetables. This way of eating provides powerful antioxidants like beta-carotene and vitamins C, E, and A that help combat free radicals that are created with prolonged exposure to stress hormones.
Professional Support and Therapies
As described above, stress can have profound impacts on the body. Seeking professional help when needed is crucial for managing stress and avoiding long-term health impacts. Counseling or therapy and integrative therapies such as acupuncture or massage can be powerful tools for reducing stress and inflammation.
Studies show that psychological and behavioral therapies are effective treatments for reducing disease-causing inflammation in the body. Therapies like cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) help to regulate the immune system and balance inflammation. These treatments help you learn how to change how you think about yourself and the world which in turn impacts the biochemistry inside of your body. These behavioral therapies help to reduce stress-related pro-inflammatory cytokines that can contribute to chronic inflammation and disease when persistently elevated.
Acupuncture is another powerful therapy for reducing inflammation and managing chronic stress. This Traditional Chinese Medicine technique involves inserting fine needles into meridian energy points throughout the body to help reestablish balance. Studies show that acupuncture reduces inflammation and re-balances the HPA axis and other aspects of the stress response.
Creating a Personalized Stress Management Plan
You can use this information to create a personalized plan to manage stress and reduce inflammation. A holistic approach that includes physical, emotional, and social strategies can help you manage stress and avoid the detrimental impacts of chronically elevated stress hormones.
Choose lifestyle practices, mind-body exercises, and dietary choices that work for your unique body and needs. This will boost your resilience to stress by balancing your neurobiology. Working with a team of knowledgeable professionals will help you cultivate therapeutic partnerships to achieve long-lasting balanced health.
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Key Takeaways
Learning how to recognize and address the signs of stress in your body can empower you to take steps to integrate physical, emotional, and social strategies that keep your body and health in balance. Integrating mindfulness and mind-body practices like yoga and breathwork, exercising regularly, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, and seeking support from therapists and integrative medical professionals offers a powerful way to reduce inflammation and your risk of chronic diseases.
Taking proactive steps like those discussed in this article can help you manage stress and bring balance to your body. This offers you the opportunity to have greater enjoyment of your day-to-day life while reducing inflammation and your risk of chronic diseases.
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