Stressful Social Situations May Be Physically Harmful in Some If immune system reacts with inflammation, repeated stress can lead to chronic
disease, study finds (HealthDay News) -- Stress caused by social situations, such as giving a speech or going to a job interview, can affect some
people's immune system in ways that harm their health, researchers have found.
The study included 124 volunteers who
were purposely put into awkward social situations. Those who exhibited greater neural sensitivity to social rejection also
had greater increases in inflammatory activity when exposed to social stress.
"It turns out there are important differences
in how people interpret and respond to social situations," lead author George Slavich, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cousins
Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a UCLA news release.
"For example,"
he explained, "we sometimes see giving a speech in front of an audience as a welcomed challenge; other times, it's threatening
and distressing. In this study, we sought to examine the neural bases for these differences in response and to understand
how these differences relate to biological processes that can affect human health and well-being."
The findings provide
"further evidence of how closely our mind and body are connected. We have known for a long time that social stress can 'get
under the skin' to increase risk for disease, but it's been unclear exactly how these effects occur. To our knowledge, this
study is the first to identify the neurocognitive pathways that might be involved in inflammatory responses to acute social
stress," Slavich said.
Increases in inflammatory activity are part of the immune system's natural response to potentially
harmful situations, but "frequent or chronic activation of the system may increase the risk for a variety of disorders, including
asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and even depression," Slavich added.
The study was released online
Aug. 2 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
More information
The American Psychological Association outlines the different types of stress. -- Robert Preidt SOURCE: University of California, Los Angeles, news
release, Aug. 12, 2010
(HealthDay News) -- Stress caused by social situations, such as giving a speech or going to a job interview, can affect some
people's immune system in ways that harm their health, researchers have found.