Health Damaging Effects of Stress

The health-damaging effects of stress have been well documented. Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, and auto-immune disease are only some of the diseases that are closely linked to increased stress. Our immune system is especially susceptible to negative emotions. Deepak Chopra says in his book, Quantum Healing, “Our immune system is continuously eavesdropping on our thoughts and feelings.

Studies have corroborated this notion: major depressive disorders are associated with increases in infectious disease risk as well as the incidence of inflammatory disorders. Declines of natural killer (NK) cell activity are reliably found in depression, whereas other studies report evidence of inflammation in depressed patients. Other studies showed that emotional stress correlated with impaired DNA repair mechanisms in cells that were subjected to radiation. Another trial suggested that anxiety, anger, and negative attitudes are 30 times stronger risk factor for cancer thank smoking.