Last Updated on January 7, 2021
©American Heart Association
Like anything in life, there is the good and the bad type of stress. While positive stress can motivate you to do better at your job, adapt to a new environment, deliver a killer speech, or improve your athletic performance, negative psychological stress causes you pain and distress in life. It could be caused by the death of a loved one, illness, abuse, etc.
When you feel threatened and uneasy, your body activates the fight-or-flight response which prepares it for danger, but when you are chronically stressed, your body remains in the fight-or-flight mode constantly and releases more stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol.
This is how stress takes a toll on your health, leading to mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, and physical problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. But can psychological stress and emotional pain cause cancer? Maybe…
Several scientific studies were dedicated to investigating the relationship between stress and cancer development, but do they have the evidence that we all want. Find out for yourself!
#1 – Does psychological stress really cause cancer?
While there is no scientific proof indicating that psychological stress can be a direct cause of cancer, intense chronic stress may still contribute to cancer risk, among other physical health problems like heart disease, weakened immune system, and stroke.
Several studies have deemed cancer as a “consequence” of stressful events rather than a “cause” of its symptoms and diagnosis by itself, according to a medical research paper published at the US National Library of Medicine.
It is evident that stress changes your body’s physiology. For example, a high level of stress hormones can affect blood pressure or lead to a heart attack. But it is how you deal with psychological distress in terms of eating habits and lifestyle that may result in the development of cancers.
Among the habits that you may pick up when stressed and which can trigger cancer include heavy smoking, drinking, eating unhealthy foods, overeating, and physical inactivity which may lead to obesity and increase the risk of cancer.
