Stress can either cause physical or psychological illnesses. Stress-related physical illnesses are influenced by stress-related stimulation the nervous system that regulates the heart rate, blood pressure and digestive system. Some of these stress-related illnesses include irritable bowel syndrome, heart attacks, and chronic headaches.
Stress-related emotional illness may be influenced by stress resulting from major life events, like marriage becoming a parent, or retirement, it can also be due to a chemical imbalance an example of this is depression.
In addition to stress, coping styles are also related to the development of illness. Coping is defined as the behavioural and cognitive efforts a person uses to manage the demands of a stressful situation and so changing or controlling the effects.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that is not caused by stress but can be influenced by it. MS occurs because of damage to the nerve fibres of the central nervous system. This means that the immune system mistakes myelin in the body for a foreign substance and attacks it. Stress can suppress the immune system and aggravates autoimmune disorders, where the immune system targets the nerve fibre is unknown.
Avoiding and managing stress will not cure MS, or make a sufferer invulnerable to new episodes and it will not completely stop the progression of the disease but will lower the severity. Ways of controlling stress to lower the effects of MS include:
Behavioural approaches, these strategies include relaxation techniques, breathing exercises, and physical exercise. All of which lower blood pressure and teaches the body to control what it perceives as stressful and so lowing the affect on the immune system. Therapeutic massage relieves stress by relaxing the large groups of muscles in the back, neck, arms, and legs. Cognitive therapy, this approaches teaches patients to reinterpret stress in order to alter the body's physical response.
http://mslessstress.com/
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