Comments on: Trigger: Stress kick starts tumor growth

By: The Problem with Sour Candies & Other News of Note « Know Thy Health

The Problem with Sour Candies & Other News of Note « Know Thy Health — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:07:11 +0000

[...] Trigger: Stress Kick Starts Tumor Growth (Futurity) [...]

By: celia kozlowski

celia kozlowski — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:43:51 +0000

Before we go concluding that this proves we can reduce cancer in humans by reducing stress, it’s important to “stress” that this was research done in fruitflies. They mention humans have two of the three enzymes involved, but what about JNK, and does the stress of causing a wound in a fruitfly translate biochemically to the processes in humans? Do we have additional systems in our bodies that counteract these forces? What does epidemiology show — is there a higher rate of cancer in people under stress? Do people who sustain flesh wounds have higher rates of wnt/scribble-related tumors? This research does not link directly to cancer in humans.

I’m all for reducing stress, but I wouldn’t say this research, at this point, adds much to the the pile of reasons we should combat stress in our lives. In fact, it could stress people unnecessarily if it turns out that stress is not an important direct factor in causing human cancer! (Thinking about indirect links between stress and cancer, I have seen that people under stress often smoke more and/or put on weight. These behaviors do have proven links to elevated human cancer risk.)

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:21:41 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by alexco: Relax People! RT @FuturityNews: Is it even easier to get cancer if you’re stressed? http://bit.ly/8FaM3C...

By: Gail

Gail — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:21:14 +0000

This is good to know about. Stress is so pervasive in our lives that is easy to become complacent about it. This research indicates that there really is a powerful relationship between stress and disease.

The research might seem discouraging but it is actually beneficial. The stress is not “all in our heads.” When we realize that stress does impact our health then we can be more motivated to take corrective action and reduce our stress levels.

Fortunately there are many simple effective ways to relieve stress. Slow deep breathing, laughter, herbs, meditation, massage, exercise, healthy diet, positive visualization, getting organized, and learning better communication and time management skills are just a few of the powerful ways we can learn to reduce stress and feel better.