Financial stress linked to worse biological health

decorative People who experience stressful life events or circumstances are more likely to have worse biological health, as indicated by biomarkers involved in the interaction between our immune, nervous and endocrine systems, according to a new study by UCL researchers. The study, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity , found that not only major stressful experiences such as bereavement but chronic challenges such as financial strain were detrimental to the healthy interaction of these systems. Communication between our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems is necessary to maintain good health. Disruption of these processes is linked to a wide range of mental and physical illnesses, from cardiovascular disease to depression and schizophrenia. When a threat like stress occurs, signals between the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems are activated and spur physiological and behavioural changes. In this new study, the researchers analysed blood concentrations of four biomarkers in 4,934 people aged 50 and over who were participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Two of these were proteins involved in the innate immune response to inflammation (C-reactive protein and fibrinogen), and two were hormones involved in the physiology of the stress response (cortisol and IGF-1).