The world in the grip of the coronavirus, with the fear virus spreading the fastest. And yes, we certainly shouldn’t underestimate this virus. Yet we have the most to gain when staying calm and calm and not going along with the fear that is fueled by the news coverage. The fear spreads faster than the virus itself.
Stress suppresses the immune system
One of the consequences of anxiety is stress and stress in turn suppresses the immune system, making us more susceptible to contracting infection through, for example, a virus. In addition to the hygiene measures, it is therefore mainly to ensure sufficient relaxation and to get rid of stress as much as possible.
Psychoneuroimmunology
Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the interaction between psychological processes, the nervous system and the immune system of the human body. This relative new branch of science clearly depicts the Mind-Body relationship and the interaction of our minds on our bodies. This study shows that stress can have a major negative impact on the immune system.
No difference between a lion and an angry boss
Christian Schubert’s book “Was uns krank power was uns heilt” indicates that it basically makes no difference to our bodies whether we are arguing with our boss, whether we are attacked by a lion or we have a virus attack. The body basically reacts the same. Adrenaline and cortisol are released into the blood to provide extra energy. The immune system is slightly suppressed, again to provide extra energy, blood pressure goes up and blood can clot slightly faster and so there are even more physical processes that play a role in stress. This mechanism is designed to ensure that we can flee or fight and let our bodies set optimally to it.
Our body actually makes no difference between having to flee a lion or the stress that a negative e-mail can evoke. Physical complaints start where we continue to be under stress and the body is more difficult to get rid of this ‘flight/fight’ attitude.
Chronic stress contributes to chronic diseases
Increasingly, it is reflected that chronic stress contributes to chronic diseases. If increased stress is in the body for a long time, all kinds of problems can arise. Schubert writes in his book that, for example, the vascular lining can show cracks, which makes it easy to attach to it. Because the immune system is somewhat suppressed by the stress, the white blood cells do not manage to clean up this plaque: they can therefore die on top of the plaque and then contribute to increasing the problem.
In the shorter term, stress is also problematic
For example, research has shown that stress persists for more than a month, but less than half a year doubled the risk of contracting a cold. In people who were under stress for at least two years, the risk quadrupled. Furthermore, research shows that stress doubled the wound healing by 40.
So you can do something yourself
In other words, you can do something yourself to reduce the risks of infection with a virus. Ensure good hygiene measures and don’t get carried away in the stress of a possible pandemic. Save your rest and ensure a good balance with regular relaxation. Due to relaxation of your body and mind, your immune system gets plenty of room to function as it is intended.
Relaxing with hypnosis
Hypnosis is one of the most powerful and fast shapes to relax deeply physically and mentally. We teach people a technique that allows people to relax very deeply within a minute and maintain this relaxation for a predetermined time limit, for example a minute, 5 minutes or half an hour. This brings hypnosis to relaxation.
If you want to know more, sign up for one of hypnosis trainings in the Netherlands or immediately find an OMNI hypnotherapist to learn this powerful relaxation technique.