Immune System is one of the most important systems of our body since it is body’s first and last line of defense against attack from any outside agent such as viruses, bacteria, germs and cancerous cells. It requires constant nurturing and care to remain strong and protect us from any external attack, by producing proteins called antibodies. Various Harvard studies have directly linked stress and its down regulating effect on Immune System [1,2].

Stress, Anger, Fear, Jealous, Grief and other such limiting emotions are triggered when the body is in ‘fight-or-flight’ mode. This is the survival mode of the body and it worked well for our ancestors who had to stay in forests and hunt animals for survival. However, we are the most privileged Homo sapiens [3], ever, and there is no reason for us to be in Survival mode all the time. When in survival mode, the two functions of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), sympathetic and parasympathetic, gets out of sync, as opposed to operating in sync with each other.

The ‘fight-or-flight’ response was triggered for our forbears when they encountered a wild animal and they had to fight it to stay alive. We, unfortunately, let this response activate for us every now and then (when we check our emails or see other people post stuffs on social medial and many such inconsequential activities). 

While a lot has been spoken about consuming what kind of food can improve our immune system, one very important factor that damages the immune system and has not been much spoken of, is stress. Stress has a degenerating impact on our immune system and substantially damages it. Irrespective of how well we eat and how regularly we exercise, not being able to avoid stress would eventually negate the good effect that we get from eating well and exercising regularly.

Here are some of the ways in which Stress has a negative impact on our immune system:

1. High amount of stress lower the level of IgA: Immunoglobulin A (IgA) is a protein marker for the strength of the immune system. IgA is an incredibly powerful chemical and one of the primary proteins responsible for healthy immune system. When stress levels go up for a longer period of time, leading to increase in levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, the IgA levels go down. Hence, Stress or any such negative emotion has a direct impact on your immune system health [4]
   

2. Energy Balance: Whenever there is a stressful thought, it fires and wires neurons that signal neuropeptides to release hormones in the body that creates emotion in the body, equivalent to stressful thoughts. Mind and body gets into a thinking-feeling loop, where a thought triggers an emotion and the emotion sends back signal to the brain to generate more such familiar thoughts. This loop leads to an elevated emotion which gets stored as energy in the body, stuck in the third energy center (chakra), the solar plexus. This stored energy goes on to produce a corresponding biological effect such as weakening of the immune system.
   

3. Long-Term Stress weakens Thymus, one of the main organs of immune system:  As one of the main organs of the immune system, the thymus serves a vital role in the promotion of T cells, which defend the body from pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. Thymus, like any other vital organ is prone to the negative effects of long-term stress. When we live in emergency mode for an extended period of time, our energy is directed towards fighting the external threat instead of nurturing thymus, thus leading to dysfunction of the immune system [4].
   

4. Slows down nutrition absorption from food we eat: When we are in the state of stress, the nutrition absorption from the food slows down, depriving the cells and tissues of the essential vitamins and minerals that they need. In addition, stress also causes nutrition to deplete from our body. This leads to immune system not getting the required nutrition for its growth and repair [5].
   

5. Indirect impact of stress on our body: Inability to handle stress lead people to move towards quick but unhealthy behavioral coping strategies such as smoking and drinking, which has a substantial negative impact on the immune system.
   
   

While the impetus of this article so far has been just on stress and its impact on the immune system, please note that other negative states such as anger, guilt, jealous, etc. are equally harmful, for not just the immune system, but all other possible bodily functions that exist. Hence we should avoid them as much as we can, for our holistic health. Here is the good news. While these emotions are harmful for us, the elevated emotions of joy, gratitude, love and inspiration has the potential to reverse the chemistry and biology of our body.

The best way to tackle the limiting emotions is to be in the state of gratitude. More and more research is now showing that when you are in a state of gratitude, you cannot be in any other state. Hence, find 2-3 things, about which you are grateful, think about them and practice gratitude. If you cannot think about anything, see if you are breathing. If yes, be grateful for your life. This may sound spiritual but don’t forget, we are not human being living spiritual life; we are spiritual being living human life. In addition, you can do deep breathing (become aware of your breath while you inhale & exhale), read a book, journal your thoughts, listen to music or simply do anything that you like and that can help you get your mind off these negative emotions.

Be mindful that state of stress, anger and fear has a down-regulating impact on our gene impressions and extremely toxic for our health. It is equally important to stay away from them, as it is to eat healthy and do regular exercises. However, if you take control of your life and live in a state of awareness, you should easily be able to tackle them and live a happy and blissful life. 

References:

1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-to-boost-your-immune-system
2. Harvard Health Publishing – Harvard medical School
3. Wikipedia - Homo Sapiens
4. Book: Being Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza
5. Book: Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight by Rujuta Diwekar