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Stress can worsen allergy attacks, research suggests
15 Aug 2008
Anxiety can make a person's allergic reactions substantially worse, a new study suggests.
The research, presented yesterday at the annual American Psychological Association meeting by staff from Ohio State University, indicates that even slight stress can intensify an individual's reaction.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the academic institution, states that allergies are not minor problems.
"A huge number of people suffer from allergies and while hay fever, for example, is generally not life-threatening, allergy sufferers often also have asthma which can be deadly," she adds.
Participants in the study were placed into either a high-stress or low-stress category and had raised wheals that formed on their arms as a result of anxiety measured.
The high-stress participants were required to give a speech and solve maths problems in front of a panel of evaluators, while the low-stress group were given a magazine to read.
It was found that people who were anxious had wheals some 75 per cent larger after the completion of the experiments, the researchers noted, suggesting that this provides an insight into the nature of allergic reactions.
According to the International Stress Management Association, stress affects one in five of the working population.
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