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Mind_Body Interactions with the Immune System By- Ragini Chaturvedi Ragini Chaturvedi has been living in New Jersey , USA for the last 3 years. Before that she was in New Delhi and Bombay. Ragini has a 12 years of experience in Print Media in the capacity of transcriber, translator, copy-editor and editor with various reputed publishing houses.

In today’s modern times everyone is living under stress of one kind or the other. The course of development of science has changed the natural harmony of environment, which is deteriorating day by day. Man without thinking of their effects on human body is creating various man-made energy fields.

Our livelihood has been made very comfortable by modern equipments and inventions such as satellite TV, telecommunication, computer, fast moving vehicles etc. but they have created more environmental misbalancing and disturbed natural energy and ecological harmony resulting increased psychometric disorders and stress.

Stress has become the main killer and the cause of many of the illnesses.

There is a direct linkage of state of mind to the state of health.

Researchers studying the mind and body interactions and their effects on health use laboratory tests, physical exams, immune system response, and sleep studies to compare individuals who have been resilient or vulnerable to major life stresses. They also examine how stress alters an individual’s ability to plan rational responses to daily problems or to engage in highly reactive problem solving.

Engaging in stressful tasks like trying to meet a deadline may strengthen the immune system while exposure to stress that is comparatively passive may weaken it, a researcher at the Ohio State University says. An example for this could be watching violence on TV.

Did you know certain kinds of stress could promote good health?
The was inferred based on a study that was designed to find out the different effects that active and passive coping might have on the body's defenses. It presents some of the strongest such evidence, yet

"Our findings lend scientific truth to the idea that a hassle a day keeps the doctor away," said Jos A. Bosch, postdoctoral fellow in oral biology at Ohio State and lead author of the study. The work was published in the current (September-October 2001) issue of the journal Psychophysiology. Bosch did the research in collaboration with scientists at the University of Amsterdam, Vrije University in The Netherlands and the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam.

A group of 34 volunteers, all of whom were male undergraduate students, were the subjects of this study of Bosch and his colleagues’ experiments. They were exposed to two different stressful experiences. The first being a timed memory task whereby they were to memorize some given material and take a subsequent 12-minute test. In the second activity, the subjects were shown a gory and gruesome 12-minute video on surgical procedures.

Both the stress conditions are considered acute, rather than chronic. The difference between the two kinds of stresses - was that participants were actively engaged in the memory task whereas the video had to be watched passively.

To examine the effect of these stresses on the immune system, the researchers studied the concentration of certain defense proteins in the saliva of the subjects. These proteins - known as immunoglobulins - are also contained in body fluids that make up the protective outer film of organs such as the lungs. The deployment of these immune factors inside the human body constitutes the secretory immune system - the first line of defense that pathogens have to cross before invading tissues.

Bosch and his colleagues found that the subjects assigned the memory task, in them it caused an increase in the salivary concentration of a major immune factor - the SIgA or secretory immunuglobulin A. The video had the opposite effect, which was lowering SIgA levels in the saliva.

"It appears that the stress emanating from engaging in the memory task activated the subjects' immune system, whereas the stress from watching the video caused a down regulation (or weakening) of immunity," Bosch said.

The results evidently show that deadlines and challenges at work could be a good thing. "Even being annoyed about something, particularly if it is for a short time, could help strengthen the body's defenses," Bosch said.

On the other hand, being exposed to violent scenes on television may suppress the immune system. Similar suppression can be seen when the continuous replays of the World Trade Center towers' collapse on September 11 are shown.

While analyzing saliva samples, the researchers also measured the concentration of a molecule that is responsible for transporting immunoglobulins from their site of production to the saliva. Defense proteins bind to this molecule which is called the secretory component (SC) and are carried by it into the protective fluids of the secretory immune system.

It was clearly seen that the SC concentration increased during both the memory task and the video viewing. The researchers could not conclude if the increased availability of SigA, from the memory task, was a result of higher production of the immune factor or the result of increased flow of SIgA into the saliva.

Bosch further stated, "The greater abundance of transporting molecules means there could be higher amounts of SIgA in the saliva just from increased transportation activity, even without an actual increase in the production of immunoglobulin."

However, during the video task, there was a dip in salivary immunoglobulin inspite of increased SC concentration. This indicated that exposure to the video suppressed the production of defense proteins by immune cells.

In his next research and study on similar subject, Bosch intends to investigate the mechanisms underlying the immunological effects of active and passive coping.

Coping with stress exists in many forms. Any situation that you are not in control of is stressful, as is one that makes demands that you feel you cannot meet. Change, even positive change such as a new job or the birth of a child, is stressful. That's why no one can completely escape stressful events. When we let stress get under our skin, our bodies respond with a flood of hormones that prepare us for extreme action.

Whatever the cause of stress-related mind-body interactions, one thing is sure. You can boost your health by dealing with stress head-on. This means taking a good look at your life and opting out of those activities that are stressful and not really necessary. Of course, no one can eliminate all stress, even boredom is stressful but you can reduce your body's response to stress by learning some stress-management techniques.

Photo credits: http://epages.webindia.com/india/almond

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