Can Stress Cause Swelling Of Lymph Nodes?

Swelling in the lymph nodes has been linked to a variety of health problems, including some types of cancer, and some infections. But what about stress, can stress cause swelling of lymph nodes, as well?

And if so, how dangerous is lymph node swelling as a result of stress?

The answer is far from black and white, and it requires understanding a bit more about the body’s immune system and how stress affects it, in order to properly understand it.

In this article, we’ll go over how the immune system and stress are linked to one another, the connection between stress and certain types of cancer, and finish by answering the question presented in the title.

The Effects Of Stress On The Immune System

The link between stress and the immune system is well-researched, and proven to be true beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, the immune system is so vulnerable to high levels of stress, that it can be virtually entirely subdued in severe cases of chronic stress.

Stress directly affects the immune system, due to its release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol, which lead to a decrease in the amount of natural killer cells, or leucocytes, present in the body.

These leukocytes are the cells that your body, specifically your immune system, relies on in order to fight off infections, both bacteriological and viral in nature (or fungal, for that matter, but that’s another can of ‘shrooms).

The decreased number of these leukocytes means the immune system has less resources with which to stave off infections, meaning infections have an easier time both making it inside the body, as well as staying in it and multiplying.

Additionally, stress also impedes the immune system’s anti-inflammatory response, causing the body to be more susceptible to inflammation of tissue as a result of infection, which further makes it harder for the body to fight off the infection.

Due to these factors, stress makes the body much more vulnerable to all sorts of infections, as well as making infections more dangerous, and in fact potentially more lethal.

Stress And Cancer

While stress itself does not directly cause cancer, it does lead to an increased risk of developing various types of cancer, particularly if the stress is chronic in nature.

This is for the same reasons as listed above, namely that the immune system becomes impaired by prolonged periods of stress, which results in a direct lowered ability to fight off threats to the body.

Leukocytes, the body’s natural killer cells used by the immune system to destroy threats, are also responsible for fighting and getting rid of cancer cells which appear. In fact, every single day, your body destroys cancer cells using these leukocytes.

With the number of leukocytes available to your immune system’s disposal reduced, due to the chronic stress, this increases the risk of cancers of all kinds, as the immune system now has to rely on less resources to find and destroy these cancer cells.

In people with comorbidities, such as smokers, vape users and people with already lowered immune systems, stress exacerbates the risk of cancer even further.

As an added element of risk, the cortisol released by the body as a response to stress has been linked by research to some cancers. This means that, on top of the hindered ability of the immune system to defend itself from cancer cells as a result of stress, stress also causes a hormone to be released that is believed to be able to directly cause cancer itself.

This makes stress even more dangerous, in this regard.

Can Stress Cause Swelling Of Lymph Nodes?

By and of itself, stress has no effect on the lymph nodes, at least not directly. However, as I’ve written above, stress does have an effect on the immune system, a very negative one.

This means that, indirectly, stress can lead to inflamed lymph nodes. This is because stress lowers the immune system’s capability to protect the body from threats, and some of these threats can cause swelling of the lymph nodes.

Various bacterial and viral infections are known to cause inflammation of the lymph nodes as one of their primary symptoms, and even more are known to do the same as less common secondary symptoms.

In addition, several types of cancer have been known to cause swelling in the lymph nodes, and stress can also be responsible for the appearance and evolution of these cancers, due to the decreased functionality of the body’s immune system.

It is then safe to answer the question of whether or not stress can cause swelling of the lymph nodes in the following way: Yes, stress can certainly lead to health conditions which result in swelling of the lymph nodes, some of these conditions very serious and life-threatening.

However, by itself, stress does not have the ability or effect of directly acting upon the lymph nodes in order to cause them to swell up, or have anything else happen to them as a direct result of stress, either.

This means that, if you have swollen lymph nodes, as well as stress, the most likely explanation is that the stress caused a drop in your body’s ability to defend itself, and in turn you ended up with an illness that resulted in the swelling of the lymph nodes, for which you need to go to a doctor to get checked out, in order to rule out the more serious potential causes, and receive treatment.

Conclusion

Stress is a contributing factor to a lot of health conditions, some of which can be very serious and downright life-threatening. It’s highly important to manage your stress levels as well as you can, in order to prevent issues from appearing, or further aggravating.

Can stress cause swelling of the lymph nodes? Yes, but indirectly, by allowing infections and other illnesses to bypass the immune system, and these ailments in turn cause the swelling themselves.

I hope you manage to achieve the healthier, less stressful lifestyle that you deserve, to be able to enjoy life more and for longer. Take care of yourselves until next time!