One thing that everyone can agree on right now is that the times we are living through are full of stress.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, or coronavirus disease 2019, has resulted in abrupt and shocking changes to our lifestyles that we had little warning about and time to plan for and little to no control over.

We are living in confusion and fear as we try to avoid contagion and deal with the new social and economic realities. Considerable uncertainty exists about the future.

If any combination of factors leads to stress, the current times are full of them. Not only is the situation surrounding the virus causing stress, but that stress can impact how our bodies respond to the virus if we are exposed.

Some health-care experts warned that stress is contributing to complications and fatalities for those who become infected.

Many factors can affect an individuals response to illness, including age, gender, other medical conditions, lifestyle, genetics, socio-economic status and access to health care. These factors can generally be identified and measured to some degree.

However, defining stress is totally subjective, an individual factor that is not only hard to quantify but one for which experts do not have a common definition.

The National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes stress as a physical and emotional reaction that people experience as they encounter changes in life. The changes we react to are called stressors.

Stress is normal, and the American Institute of Stress noted that some degree of stress is beneficial. It activates the fight or flight response whereby humans react to threats in their environment. A real-time example would be the immediate reaction to the sound of a fire alarm, causing a response to take quick action to extinguish the fire or escape.

The stress associated with a positive life changes, for example, a promotion at work, can be motivational and challenging.

However, when stress becomes overwhelming and persistent, it can negatively impact a persons health. People may perceive stressors differently. A change that one person may take completely in stride or consider a challenge may be perceived as a dire threat by another.

Many times, people dont realize the effects that situations are having on their health.

Some typical physical reactions to stress that people may experience include accelerated heartbeat, shortness of breath, tense muscles, headache, upset stomach and insomnia. Emotional reactions may include anxiety, depression, moodiness, irritability, feeling overwhelmed and loneliness.

Research shows that intense and prolonged stress can weaken the immune system. For example, the substance gamma interferon, which is produced in the body to activate the immune system, can be reduced by stress. Corticosteroid, a stress hormone, can lower the number of lymphocytes, which are infection-fighting cells.

People can become more prone to illnesses and less able to fight them off. In addition, the immune system becomes weaker with age, and older people cannot fight infections as well as the young can. Older people are also more likely to become infected, and the infection is more likely to be fatal.

Studies also show that once an infection, such as the influenza virus, takes hold, it can suppress the immune response and allow a secondary infection to move in. Often, a bacterial infection like pneumonia will follow a viral infection like influenza.

Just about every bodily system can be affected by stress. Stress can cause the airway between the nose and lungs to constrict, leading to rapid breathing (hyperventilation) and shortness of breath.

These respiratory changes can be deadly in someone infected with COVID-19, especially if the patient has a condition like asthma or emphysema. This makes hospital ventilators critical because ventilators move oxygen into and out of the lungs of people who cannot breathe sufficiently on their own.

Physicians have long recognized that stress plays a role in a patients recovery.

Audrius Plioplys, M.D., a retired pediatric neurology specialist with over 45 years of experience, has served as medical director for several pediatric skilled-nursing facilities and was on the staff of Michael Reese and Mercy hospitals.

The longtime resident of North Beverly shared some insights on the subject.

Certainly, stress can produce or contribute to many illnesses, said Plioplys. I have seen quite a few patients with epilepsy where stress clearly exacerbates their seizures.

My medical expertise is neurology. In clinical practice, I have many cases where stress will exacerbate, or even cause, headaches, both tension headaches and migraine headaches.

Plioplys said it would be no surprise to learn that stress is contributing to the prevalence, severity and fatality rates of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even before this pandemic, concern has grown about rising levels of stress in the U.S.

At a 2017 conference, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., gave a presentation on the public-health consequences of stress. He cited such factors as a 24/7 work culture; fewer supportive, in-person social connections; financial challenges; relationship/family issues; and health problems.

For years, public-health professionals have offered advice on flu stress to get through annual flu outbreaks. The precautions that are being instituted nowwashing hands, avoiding crowds, etc.have been shared numerous times before.

Mental-health professionals have also studied and written about the increased stress that can develop from watching or listening to hours of bad news on subjects such as terrorist bombings, school shootings, natural disasters and, now, the virus pandemic.

Studies conducted after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center showed that excessive following of media coverage caused some people to experience post-traumatic stress symptoms even though they were nowhere near ground zero.

Fortunately, helpful coping mechanisms for dealing with stress are available. First and foremost, it is important for people to learn to recognize how their body and mental states are reacting to stressors, such as working from home or missing church. They may not be able to control the situation, but they can control their response.

In his presentation, Murthy recommended several buffers, including getting enough sleep, increasing social connections and practicing meditation or other contemplative activities. The beneficial results of these buffers for individuals also positively affect families, workplaces and society.

Plioplys also recommended meditation.

One of my standard recommendations for treating headache patients, said Plioplys,is meditation, specifically for the purpose of decreasing stress.

Indeed, of the many therapies suggested to deal with stress that have been studiedfrom relaxation techniques to yoga to aromatherapymeditation has shown the most positive results.

Advice for news consumers is to be informed without becoming overwhelmed; watch, read or listen to objective news services that offer helpful advice and limit exposure, especially before going to bed at night. Avoid repetitive, sensational coverage that only heightens negative emotions.

Coping mechanisms to avoid include those that lead to unhealthy habits like over-eating and over-imbibing in alcohol. Ultimately, these reactions lead to more problems than to solutions. The same is true for self-medicating. Taking any kind of over-the-counter or natural supplement should always be first discussed with a physician.

Isolation, feelings of loneliness or loss of control can increase stress, which is not good news given the current shelter-at-home directives. This is especially true for the elderly and the poor who have less access to computers and less technological know-how to reach out to others via the internet and social media. Family, friends and caregivers should be aware of this and help as they can.

Many good websites are available with information on stress and how to deal with it. Look for those connected to government and professional health-care organizations and to sites affiliated with hospitals and medical centers.

Although many physicians offices and clinics are temporarily closed for non-emergency in-person visits, these practitioners are still available by phone or videoconference. They can help with advice and referrals.

On April 11, Gov. J. B. Pritzker acknowledged that this is a time of crisis and announced a new service, Call4Calm, that will be available through the state to allow Illinois residents to speak for free with mental-health professionals about issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.

We are living in a deeply unprecedented moment, and holding the emotional ramifications of that inside will only be harder on you, Pritzker said. Please know that you dont have to feel it all alone. I want you to know that were here to help.

Residents can text the word TALK, or for service in Spanish the word HABLAR, to 552-220.

They will be asked for their first name and ZIP code, which will be used to connect callers with a health-care provider in their area. People can also seek information for other pandemic-related issues by entering key words such as shelter and unemployment.

By taking a positive approach to dealing with negative situations, we can all get through the stress of these troubling times.

Link:
Stress plays big role in people's reaction to pandemic - The Beverly Review

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