Health Hazards Of Stress

Take steps to manage seasonal spikes.

- Suzanne Wright

With shorter, darker days, colder weather and numerous holiday commitments, winter often brings added stress, which can not only take a toll mentally, but can also be bad for your body.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in June is among the latest that suggests a connection between severe stress-related conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the development of an autoimmune disease, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus and psoriasis.

But you don’t need extreme stress like PTSD to feel its effects on your body – especially if you have arthritis. It’s well established that stress itself is a trigger that affects multiple body systems, weakens immune functioning and can contribute to the inflammation that manifests as pain.