how stress affects healing

I watched a documentary last night about how stress affects our body, such as our ability to heal from wounds and our susceptibility to infection.  Some researchers designed a study where they looked at two groups of people.  One group were caregivers for a relative with Alzheimer's, so the assumption was that those people would be under considerable stress.  The other group were very similar in age, health, etc but were not caregivers for anyone.  The researchers used a little tool to make minor wounds on each person.  The wound was perfectly round and a bit smaller than a pencil eraser and it was not very deep at all.  Then they measured the wound and photographed it every day.  The group that was presumed to be under less stress had wounds that healed an average of nine days faster.

The researchers thought this was significant, especially since it was only a small wound.  They believed that healing from major wounds, such as major surgery, would be even slower for people under stress.

So.  Having surgery of any kind is stressful, and having WLS can be even more stressful, I think.  Many of us deal with unsupportive friends and family, and we worry about all the changes we have to make in our lives, and we are afraid surgery won't work for us and we won't lose weight, and so on.  But if we work on reducing our stress, we will probably recover faster and have less pain. 

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for posting this. Stress is a big concern for me. I've always been a bit of a stresser and am very type-A. I've been even more so lately, as I took a very stressful promotion in 10/2010. I love my job, but there are days where I just feel myself boiling over. I am a stress eater as well and I have concerns on how I will handle my stress after WLS. I hope that I will be able to to channel it into healthy alternatives like exercise. I used to really enjoy yoga, but haven't been in a long time because of the weight I put on. I'm looking forward to that again. Other than that I'm banking on bubble baths and decaffeinated hot tea.

Anyone have other ideas on HEALTHY ways to reduce stress?

Thanks,

Alicia

Bubble baths and hot tea work well for me.  There are some herbal teas that are especially relaxing, too.

I also find certain music relaxing.  When I was a social worker, I had this CD of whale songs.  You could hear ocean waves but then you could also hear the whales singing.  I would put that CD on when I was really stressed and I would make a nice cup of herbal tea and sit at my desk and do some sort of boring paperwork and it would relax me.  My coworkers learned that when they heard the whale music, they should stay away.  They knew it meant I was really stressed.

Yoga is a good idea, too.  I know it is hard to do when you're very overweight but you may find you can do some of the poses anyway.

Good information, as always, kelly.  So now I need to figure out how to de-stress before my upcoming surgeries Tues and the 23rd.  I've been working hard to get everything at work and home caught up so I don't have to stress about any of that.