Balanced Immune Health

I remember when I moved to Omaha a number of years ago and had been at a new job at a big company. I was a bit nervous about the new position and the demands that lie ahead.  At one point, I began noticing that I had itchy skin around my arms and shoulders, and it got to the point where I needed to have a doctor give it a look. With some topical creme it subsided within a week or so, but I didn’t know what was going. Was I exceptionally stressed or was I just having a hard time facing reality that I was now habitating with Nebraska Cornhuskers and all their life-enveloping fanatacism?

Well, whether work or the Big Red, stress and immune-overaction is again a possible cause, and it’s clearly illustrated in a new study published this week in the American Journal of Pathology. The study makes the case that undue stress may cause immune cells present in the skin to overreact, causing inflammatory conditions such as atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.

The evidence just keeps snowballing; out-of-balance immune response is the driver of a lot of crappy health occurrences, some short-lived, some more enduring.

For a news summary of the study, click here.

For an abstract summary from the researchers themselves, click here.

Filed under Balanced Immune Health, Immune Balance, Immune System, Research, Skin, Stress, Stress-Related Illness