Filed under: Prevention
According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Healthy Lifestyle Program:
stress Health, when you are
under
stress, certain areas of your brain become activated and the concentration of
stress hormones in your blood
increase causing: your heart to beat more rapidly, your skin to become sweaty, your immune system to decrease its
ability to protect you from infection, cells in your brain to be at risk of being damaged, cholesterol to be more
readily deposited into the blood vessels of your heart and will make you feel agitated or depressed.
While
stress has negative affects on the workings of the body and mind, there is no scientific evidence that
stress causes
cancer. Although, researchers do state there may be an elevated risk of developing cancer when the immune system does
not work properly.
stress does decrease the activity of the immune system. Still, they do not believe the decrease of
immune system functioning is severe enough to increase the risk of developing cancer. Researchers think it is important
that individuals with cancer realize that their
stress did not contribute to the development of cancer. Many cancer
survivors would disagree that
stress did not play a part in the development of their cancer. If you are concerned about
your
stress levels, or are wondering where your
stress levels rank in connection to your health, Discover Your
stress Level, is a ten question test to
determine your current
stress levels. After that, you can visit the web areas of the site dealing with
stress reduction
and relaxation techniques.
