How Stress Can Cause Disease? Science Explains

Maybe you've heard, when someone is feeling a lot of thoughts or stress, somehow he then becomes ill. A scientist from Michigan State University tried to answer their relationship through a study published in the journal Leukocyte Biology, Wednesday (10/1/2018). He proved that certain types of stress can interact with the immune cells that respond to allergen cells, eventually leading to physical symptoms and disease. In his research, Adam Moeser who is a professor of stress-specific disease at the College of Veterinary Medicine shows how stress receptors known as corticotropin release factors or CRF1 can send signals to immune cells called mast cells. "Mast cells become very active in responding to stressful situations that may be experienced by the body," said Moeser quoted from Science Daily, Wednesday (10/1/2018). "When this happens, CRF1 tells these cells to release chemicals that can cause inflammatory and allergic diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, life-threatening food allergies and autoimmune disorders such as lupus," he continued. One of the chemicals released is histamine. Histamine is a chemical produced by cells in the body when exposed to allergens. This substance that makes us experience allergic reactions to clean allergens in the body. In this study, Moeser compared the histamine response of rats in two types of stressful conditions, namely psychological and allergies, in which the immune system became overworked. One group of mice was considered normal with CRF1 receptors in their mast cells. While the other group of cells lack CRF1. "Normal mice exposed to stress show high levels of histamine and disease, while CRF1-deficient mice have low levels of histamine, making it less disease and protected against both types of stress," Moeser said. "This shows that CRF1 is critically involved in some stress-induced illness," he continued. CRF1 deficiency mice exposed to allergic stress experienced a 54 percent decrease in health. While mice who experienced psychological pressure decreased 63 percent. "This finding is a step forward in breaking down the code of how stress makes a person sick and provides an alternative that focuses on mast cells as a therapy to improve the quality of life for those who are sick with stress," Moeser said.