One more bad thing about unemployment, it kills your immune system

According to a new study reported in Psychosomatic Medicine, the stress associated with unemployment can suppress the immune system. The stress associated with unemployment effects the nervous system by triggering the release of norepinephrine (the hormone that underlies the "fight-or-flight" response impairing the body's "natural-killer" cells.

Past research has linked chronic stress to impaired immune function and a higher risk of infection and other illness:

Psychological stress has also been shown to increase susceptibility to viral infection. Subjects exposed to stress showed increases in infection rates from 74% to 90%, and clinical colds rose from 27% to 47%. Earlier studies have shown that medical students have an increased risk of mononucleosis during examination periods (McEwen & Stellar, 1993). This is not surprising, as stress does suppress the immune system; latent viruses then have an easier time resurging, since the body cannot defend itself as well (Brosschot, et al, 1994). This is supported by studies showing that colds and other infections manifest themselves on weekends after busy and stressful work weeks.

However this new study at the University of California San Francisco is unique in two aspects. First it focused on the stresses associated with unemployment. If tracked 100 employed and 100 unemployed adults noting the differences in "natural-killer" cell activity. Second, and this is the good news, those participants who found jobs during the study period saw their natural killer cells get back on track. In other words, the body showed resiliency in bouncing back after the cause of the stress (unemployment) was removed.

"We believe this is the first study in humans to document immune function recovery after the definable end of a chronic stressor", Dr. Frances Cohen and her colleagues report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

The lesson here isn't to sell the unemployed to "get a job" since there are plenty of motivators already out there for people to find work as quickly as possible. Instead it is to give peace of mind to those in the job hunt that if they find themselves getting sicker than normal that this is a natural response to the stress of being unemployed and that their illness immunity will improve as they gain employment.

Furthermore, if you are suffering from unemployment-related stress, there are numerous techniques for reducing stress that can be utilized while in the process of looking for a job. Mediation, Tai Chi, and exercising are just a few that come to mind.