Can Stress/Anxiety make you catch a cold?

[Munchlet]

Since last Sept I've had 5 colds and as you can imagine I'm seriously worrying about my Immune System.

So far they've only been colds, none of them fortunately have progressed to any type of infection and the last 3 have been little more than a bit of a runny nose and a scratchy throat in fact oddly the last 3 appear to have only affected the right side of my nose and not my left which I find really strange and on the whole apart from being a bit sniffy I've felt ok with them.

I did start a new job in an infant school in November and everyone there has been telling me that the first year is usually awful and you catch everything going but I keep thinking it's something sinister like leukemia (because my immune system is compromised).

My family keep saying that if it was anything sinister they would be a lot worse that little colds and that they'd more than likely progress to nasty infections etc.

Thing is because I'm worrying about the colds all the time and it's stressing me out that I keep catching them I've read that stress makes you more susceptible to them.

Other people in my office have been off with stomach bugs and when they've caught colds they've had really bad throats/coughs with them, which touch wood I haven't but I'm still worrying.

Does anyone know if stress does make you catch more colds??

thanks

[wnsos]

Yep - weakened immune system thanks to anxiety makes you catch all the seasonal nasties.

[Light_Bringer777]

Any form of stress can affect your immune system, yeah. As for frequent cold, your answer definitely lies in "I did start a new job in an infant school". I know 2 school teachers, and they're ALWAYS sick. Nothing bad, but they always seem to be entering or coming out of a cold.

On the bright side, those infections stopping at being just colds means your immune system is actually doing its job.

[Serenity1990]

Absolutely! This is why you often hear of people being really busy and stressed at work, take a few days off and wind up in bed with flu: over-stressed, weakened immune systems mean your firewall is compromised. There's not much of the boring and benign stuff that anxiety can't do!

[anthrokid]

Stress and anxiety use A LOT of energy. Your nervous system is always on high alert and that means that other areas of your body, such as your immune system, can become weaker because the body isn't allocating enough energy to them. This means that you can be more likely to catch a cold than someone without anxiety.

[Munchlet]

Thanks for the replies.

I've decided to start using a saline rinse, I suffer from allergies and dry nasal passages anyway and I've read it can help prevent colds, so I figure it can't do any harm and might actually help.

I just wish I didn't over analyse everything, my husband keeps saying "you've had a few colds so what?" He thinks I'd be a lot sicker if I had leukemia but I've read about the chronic one where people haven't felt sick at all and only know through routine blood tests.

His reply to that was "how convenient you have found a serious illness you can have without symptoms".

I know he's frustrated with me and I also know the reassurance doesn't help in the long run, just wish I could be normal and not worry constantly about having a terminal illness!

Thanks again x