Different emotions have an impact on immune function. Usually this effect is short-term, but this pattern persists even with different outlooks on life: for example, optimists, in principle, have better immunity than pessimists, says a professor at the Department of Physiology at Novosibirsk State University, principal investigator of the Research Institute. Neuroscience and Medicine Galina Idova told socialbites.ca.
“Fear, anxiety, unpleasant, negative emotions reduce the content of cells called T helpers, which are the most numerous population of T lymphocytes that help other immune cells function and also reduce the activity of natural killer cells that cause death. (lysis) of tumor and virus-infected cells. At the same time, watching a funny comedy causes the opposite picture: an increase in these indicators. Moreover, the largest increase was observed precisely in people who laughed more, that is, felt positive emotions more strongly,” explained Idova.
According to the professor, optimists, in principle, have more T-helper and natural killer cells because they experience positive emotions more often in life. In pessimists, their numbers decrease due to depressive behavior.
“But it’s interesting that optimists and pessimists respond differently to stress, which also affects the immune system. Positive people who believe everything will be fine perceive stress as a terrible thing. Therefore, it greatly reduces their immunity. Stress does not affect pessimists in this way: They thought everything would be bad, and it really was,” the expert noted.
Previously Idowa saidLaughing while watching comedy strengthens immunity.