Emotions affect susceptibility to viral infections

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/butlin35.htm

The white cells of the immune system also secrete endorphins and stress hormones made by the pituitary gland. This links the immune system with the brain and the endocrine system. An example of this communication network can be seen in the intestinal tract, which contains nerve, endocrine and immune cells and a density of receptors. This provides an explanation as to why our emotions are often described as "gut feelings". Studies have also shown that anger and excitement increase gut motility while contentment decreases it.

Viruses use the same receptors as the molecules of emotion and therefore the state of our emotions will affect whether or not we succumb to viral infections.
Stress affects the body by releasing hormones, adrenaline and corticosterone from the brain and the immune system. Once in a stressed state the body itself can continue the stress cycle by the continuous activation of corticosterone. Depressed and traumatised people have high levels of corticosterone and often have a decreased level of immunity. This physiological state can be deactivated when the trauma and stress are released.

ON EDIT:

Link to Candace Pert's Molecules of Emotion

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684846349/104-7479541-9947118?v=glance&n=283155

From Library Journal
Intrigue at the "Palace": back-stabbing, deceit, shunning, love affairs. This is not the plot to I, Claudius but the account Pert gives of her time working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a.k.a. the Palace. Yet her time at NIH is not the central point here. Nor are the molecules of the title, although they do get due coverage. Pert offers mainly an account of her journey from a conventional scientist to one who also embraces complementary and alternative medicine. The journey is long and not without price. She was passed over for the Lasker and Nobel prizes for her work on opiate receptors while colleagues were recognized; she believes that her development of a potential AIDS drug was thwarted owing to scientific dirty pool as well as her being a woman in a man's world. Along the way, she took control of her career, her life, and her personal mission. This is an eye-opening book for anyone who thinks that people with medical degrees act more civil or are more altruistic than the rest of us, though Pert also shows that some do rise above the fray. Recommended for academic and special libraries.?Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

[Nikia]

1. I thought that the stress response attacked the immune system

Which is why stressed people are suseptible to illness. It is amazing that the body can and does perpetuate such a cycle chronically in some people.
I'll have to read more about her theory.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. It's a pretty good book, read it about 8 years ago.... her site is

www.CandacePert.com

[BrklynLiberal]

3. The Mind/Body Connection was examined by Bill Moyers a few years ago

on a 6 or 8 part series he did for PBS. It was fascinating.

[trotsky]

4. That stress and negative emotion can have an impact on our health...

is certain. However, it is a huge leap from that to what this writer says.

Further on down the piece we find out just how scientific it is.

The key to relieving trauma and stress is to express feelings and to let them go, which Buddhists refer to as "non-attachment to experience". This is where the importance of the healing arts lie, as they can access the psychosomatic network, through counselling, hypnotherapy, hands on and energy therapies, biofeedback techniques, meditation and many others. When the emotions are moving, and the chemicals in the body are flowing, a state of wellness can be achieved, along with feelings of freedom, hopefulness and joy.
Another question now lies heavily on my mind: where does this innate intelligence, the information that runs our mind and body, come from? There is no definitive answer, but I believe it comes from a divine, spiritual, energetic force.

It's new agey feel-good stuff. Definitely not sound health advice.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Sound health advice, funny thing is, funny stuff helps.... is it sound

advice to tell someone to enjoy humor? I don't know, I'll report, you decide.


1: Int J Mol Med. 2001 Dec;8(6):645-50. Related Articles, Links

The elevation of natural killer cell activity induced by laughter in a crossover designed study.

Takahashi K, Iwase M, Yamashita K, Tatsumoto Y, Ue H, Kuratsune H, Shimizu A, Takeda M.

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, D3, Suita City, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. [email protected]

The elevation of natural killer cell activity (NKCA) by laughter was not confirmed due to incomplete methodology of previous studies although positive emotion is believed to be favorable for health. To verify NKCA elevation by laughter in a crossover design, we measured NKCA before and after watching films, presenting 75-min comic film and non-emotional control film at different days to the same 21 healthy male subjects. Electromyogram of left major zygomatic muscle was obtained during the films to quantify the magnitude of laughter as an index of emotional expression. As indices of emotional experience, the self-rated pleasantness of the comic film and mood state before and after film were measured using visual analogue scale and Profiles of Mood State (POMS), respectively. The comic film significantly elevated NKCA (26.5-29.4%, p<0.05), whereas the control film did not (27.1-24.8%, not significant). This is the first study to demonstrate NKCA elevation by laughter in a crossover designed study. To examine the contribution of experiential and expressive aspects of laughter to NKCA elevation, correlation of NKCA elevation with the self-rated pleasantness, mood scores before and after comic film and the magnitude of laughter was statistically tested.

We found that NKCA elevation was negatively correlated with the scores of negative mood scales of POMS while NKCA elevation had no significant correlation with self-rated pleasantness and the magnitude of laughter. Further group analysis revealed that high scores of depression and anger-hostility suppressed NKCA elevation by laughter. We also found that NKCA before and after comic film had tendency of correlation with self-rated pleasantness of the comic film while NKCA had no correlation with the magnitude of laughter. These findings suggest that NKCA elevation and NKCA before and after comic film seem to be related with the experiential aspects of laughter rather than with the expressive aspects.

Publication Types:

* Clinical Trial
* Randomized Controlled Trial


PMID: 11712080