As alarms have sounded regarding Swine Flu, numerous communications have been issued by the media, the Center for Disease Control, and other health spokespersons regarding the containment of the disease. The general theme of these messages is to remain home if you are ill, avoid contact with those that are ill, get plenty of sleep, and of course, wash your hands frequently. These preventions are the tried and true measures that have been perennially promulgated with each annual cold and influenza season.
Despite the wisdom of these measures, there is an important health advisory that is conspicuously missing. And that is the importance of managing stress and emotions with respect to the spread of Swine Flu. This is unfortunate given that stress and emotions play an important role in disease prevention and recovery. Let's briefly review what the research indicates about stress and illness.
Cohen et al. (1998) were the first to document that stressed individuals were the most likely to develop cold symptoms. Gidron et al. (2005) learned that psychological factors, particularly hostility, were predictive of which elderly individuals developed influenza. And it has been known for some time that depressed individuals are more likely to become ill than non-depressed individuals. Glaser et al. (1998) reported that students reporting less stress responded more favorably to an influenza vaccination. The Let Down Effect (Schoen 2001) is a common cause of post stress illness. In this condition, illness materializes once a stressful period has passed. The stress response triggers hormonal and immunological changes that give rise to the Let Down Effect.
So given the research data, why is it that stress and emotional management is not being recommended with other flu prevention measures? Perhaps only a small percentage of people are willing to comply with stress and emotional management. If this is indeed true, then it would be unfortunate since targeted stress management techniques can reap health benefits often in a matter of minutes.
In my own practice, having clients do a simple one to three minute breathing technique several times a day has proven beneficial in sustaining health against frequent bouts of cold and flu. Even short bursts of exercise of about five to six minutes a day can have significant immune boosting benefits while relieving the stress response. A short jog around the block, sprinting up and down several flights of stairs, or a swift walk around your office building at work would all qualify. The simplest method of all is listening to a relaxation or hypnosis CD with stress relieving suggestions at bedtime. Night time CD listening requires virtually no effort, particularly since you can fall asleep to the CD and still derive health benefits from the experience.
As you can see, there is no heavy lifting required for managing stress as it relates to illness. Even minutes a day can do the trick. Despite what is commonly believed, it is not necessary to banish your entire stress response to harvest health benefits. Instead, lowering the stress response by 20 to 30% can be clinically significant. The prospect of warding off weeks of illness with just minutes a day is an enticing proposition.
When Relaxation is Hazardous to Your Health. Mind Body Health Books, 2001 by Marc Schoen
