Love is patient endurance through life stressors; such love heals and improves our immunity. As we go through life, we encounter stressors; some of these stressors may be major traumatic or tragic events. Scientific studies have documented the devastation of the immune system following traumatic or tragic life events (Shaw 2003, Segerstrom and Miller 2004).
I hereby submit to you that, even ‘normal’ daily stressors negatively affect the immune system—little by little each time we fail to deal appropriately with a stressor our immunity is weakened. It is through learning how to deal with daily stressors will we ever get the patience needed to endure major stressors—should this become necessary in our life’s journey.
While emotional reaction to stressors diminishes the potential of our immunity; patient endurance through stressors heals and strengthens our immunity. Human biology functions at its optimum through patient endurance of life stressors. Emotional reactions are incompatible with the human nature and gradually wear out the body.
The immune system is a phenomenal example of how love heals and protects! Let me elaborate, when we patiently endure stress, the signals sent from our psyche to our brain promote a balanced immune system. On the contrary, when we react to stress with negative emotion in lieu of patience; a distress signal is sent through our brain to our immunity resulting in an inflammatory response. Persistent inflammation wears out the immune system and diminishes its potential to fight invading organisms and protecting the body.
The beauty is—now is the right time to reclaim your immunity and replenish your defenses. Simply learn how to patiently endure through the stresses that life brings at you and you will begin to experience for yourself “how your mind will make you well” (Masters 2012). Each time you appropriately deal with stress; you begin to reverse the negative effects that weakened your defenses. I recommend this simple seven minutes meditation to bring you back to your patient core!
For more read my book, ‘Overcoming stress replenishes immunity: revitalize your immunity to survive the current and future pandemics’ available on Amazon.
Masters, R. (2012). Cure Stress; How your mind will make you well.
Segerstrom, S. C. and G. E. Miller (2004). “Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry.” Psychol Bull 130(4): 601-630.
The present report meta-analyzes more than 300 empirical articles describing a relationship between psychological stress and parameters of the immune system in human participants. Acute stressors (lasting minutes) were associated with potentially adaptive upregulation of some parameters of natural immunity and downregulation of some functions of specific immunity. Brief naturalistic stressors (such as exams) tended to suppress cellular immunity while preserving humoral immunity. Chronic stressors were associated with suppression of both cellular and humoral measures. Effects of event sequences varied according to the kind of event (trauma vs. loss). Subjective reports of stress generally did not associate with immune change. In some cases, physical vulnerability as a function of age or disease also increased vulnerability to immune change during stressors.
Shaw, J. A. (2003). “Children exposed to war/terrorism.” Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 6(4): 237-246.
This paper reviews the prevalence of psychological morbidities in children who have been exposed to war-related traumas or terrorism as well as the diversity of war-related casualties and their associated psychological responses. The psychological responses to war-related stressors are categorized as (1) little or no reaction, (2) acute emotional and behavioral effects, and (3) long-term effects. Specific categories of war-related casualties discussed include refugee status, traumatic bereavement, effects of parental absence, and child soldiers. Psychological responses associated with terrorism and bioterrorism are presented. Lastly, mediators of the psychological response to war-related stressors are discussed, to include exposure effects, gender effects, parental, family and social factors, and child-specific factors. Children exposed to war-related stressors experience a spectrum of psychological morbidities including posttraumatic stress symptomatology, mood disorders, externalizing and disruptive behaviors, and somatic symptoms determined by exposure dose effect. Specific questions for future research are identified.
[1] Copyright ã 2017 by Modesta Njau. All rights reserved.
Modesta Njau was born in Tanzania and immigrated to the United States to pursue a career in biomedical research. She earned her Doctorate degree in Immunology at the University of Maryland and worked at Emory University. Her research focus is the Immune system; she is particularly interested in how overcoming stress revitalizes the immune system and facilitates overall healing and maintaining good health. She is a happy wife and mother of four young children. She enjoys spending time with her family, writing, and immunity counseling.
To reach Modesta, email her at [email protected] or Follow her on Twitter at Modesta_Njau.