Exams stress out your immune system
26 August 2006
by Carina Lee
The build up of mental stress before important exams affects a student’s immune system defence, especially in allergy sufferers, according to a study by the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. It has been discovered that there is a strong link with stress and the complex inflammation defence feedback from the immune system, predominantly associated with allergic reactions. To test their original hypothesis, a study was undertaken at the Karolinska Institutet to examine students with allergies or hayfever and those without. The test was carried out under two conditions; one where students conducted normal study without an upcoming exam and the other examined students’ conditions just before a major exam. The study looked at the behaviour of regulatory immune cells, particularly T cells and cytokines, and how their response to mental stress affected an individual. Cytokines are intercellular messenger proteins in the blood that regulate immune cells. In allergy sufferers the levels of cytokines present was increased compared to the normal level in students without allergies. |
The lead researcher of this group, Mats Lekander, explains the link between stress and allergies, “There is much to suggest that the regulatory T cells are dysfunctional in people with allergies. When people become stressed, they increase in number and normally have an anti-inflammatory effect. If this system does not work in people with allergies, it could explain the changed cytokine balance that we have observed in them.”
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Original press release from Karolinska Institutet
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