Stress — the main cause of cancer
Chronic stress triggers inflammation and accelerates the spread of cancer cells through the lymphatic system via adrenaline and norepinephrine.
Chronic stress triggers inflammation and accelerates the spread of cancer cells through the lymphatic system via adrenaline and norepinephrine.
Psychological stress can do enormous damage to your health. The reason for this impact is the ability of stress to provoke inflammatory processes, which are a hallmark of many diseases — from obesity and diabetes to cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Stress as a cause of cancer development was already being considered back in 1908. Herbalist physician Eli Jones, in his book "Cancer — Its Causes, Symptoms and Treatment," outlined the main causes of cancer, and the number one cause on his list was stress. Since then, many studies have only confirmed this hypothesis.
A recent study in mice revealed that when the animals were kept in a state of chronic stress, their lymphatic system underwent changes that allowed cancer cells to spread with greater speed and ease.
As a rule, cancer cells spread to other areas of the human body by traveling either through the blood vessels or through the lymphatic system. Stress hormones harm both of these systems and channels. Scientists were able to identify the mechanism by which adrenaline activates the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to increase the rate of lymph formation. Adrenaline also causes physical changes in the lymphatic vessels, allowing cancer cells to travel to other parts of the body at high speed.
The stress hormone norepinephrine can promote the accelerated growth of cancer cells. Norepinephrine can stimulate the production of two components by tumor cells (matrix metalloproteinases MMP-2 and MMP-9), which break down the tissues around tumor cells, allowing them to enter the bloodstream more easily.
Epinephrine is another stress hormone that can cause changes in certain cancer cells, particularly prostate and breast cancer cells, making them resistant to apoptosis (programmed cell death).
Scientists have established that for every additional hour worked per week over a 10-year period, there is a 1% increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease. Compared with working 45 hours a week, working 55 hours increases the risk by 16%, 60 hours — by 35%, 65 hours — by 52%, 70 hours — by 74%. Working 75 hours or more doubles the risk.
One psychological method that helps change the reaction to a stressful situation is known as "reframing":
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