Protects Against Disease, Injury…

CLEVELAND — Although stress plays a role in the onset of a number of health issues, a new study finds it may also protect the body in certain circumstances.Researchers from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine say the immune system can actually benefit from a little stress.
“This one of the few studies showing that chronic stress could have beneficial effect instead of negative effect,” says senior author Fabio Cominelli, a professor of medicine and pathology and associate dean for program development at the School of Medicine, in a media release. “This was a little bit of a surprise for us.”
What does stress do to your gut?
Studies have found that psychological stress can exacerbate symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Intestinal tertiary lymphoid organs (TLOs), which are immune cells that form in response to chronic inflammation or injury, also have a link to severe inflammation.
In the new study, researchers examined mice dealing with a Crohn’s disease-like condition called ileitis after experiencing stress for 56 days. Results reveal that the mice experienced incr …