Science News Archive

How To Avoid The Flu This Winter

How you feel can powerfully affect the strength of your immune system and how susceptible you are to infection. Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that negative emotions like depression, anger and fear can significantly weaken your immune response. Volunteers were asked to recall some of their best and worst experiences whilst the researchers monitored their brain activity and their physical signs of emotion. The volunteers were then given a flu jab and then a blood test to monitor the effectiveness of the vaccination 6 months later. The volunteers who showed the most intense negative emotions also produced the fewest antibodies, suggesting that they had lower immunity.

9th Nov 2003