Emotions and Inflammation

Inflammation has been implied in a variety of illnesses as a process that has a pervasive negative effect on our overall health. It can have many causes from food sensitivity to Lyme disease, autoimmune issues, bad diet, lack of exercise, stress etc. But who would have thought that our emotions can have a direct effect on it? 

Indeed positive emotions have been found to lower pro-inflammatory cytokines, the chemicals produced by immune cells, that mediate inflammation. Research has found that optimism, laughter, joy and contentment have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

On the other hand negative emotions like depression, anxiety, anger all increase inflammation. As outlined in another post, anxiety can be construed as the individual persistently perceiving some kind of threat, which results in the activation of stress response. As a result, inflammatory response increases. There is a positive association between one’s increased anger and anxiety when doing a task and their cytokine IL-6 level. People who tend to feel angry or anxious in response to a challenging task are more susceptible to stress-related inflammatory markers, making them more prone to exhibiting inflammatory responses. 

When people are physically ill (e.g.: have an infection), their immune cells produce more pro-inflammatory cytokines to protect the body. When the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines is consistently high, the sickness can get worse and depressive symptoms may arise in vulnerable individuals. The strong association between chronic illness and depression is well known. However, it works the other way around as well where depression can increase inflammation and make up prone to sickness.