Stress and the Immune System

We can calm our stress response, support our well-being by tending to body's core needs

If you awaken in the night, Johnson suggests getting more magnesium into your daily diet, ideally from food rather than supplements. Motortion Films/Shutterstock

Occasional stress is good. It kicks our bodies into high gear, making us more able to ward off imminent threats. But prolonged stress—the kind many Americans have felt since COVID-19 arrived—can suppress the immune system and disrupt our digestive system, lymphatic system, and more.

“Stress is physical,” says Chris Johnson, an exercise physiologist and author of a series of best-selling “On Target Living” books, the first of which came out in 2007. “The heart rate goes up, muscles contract, pupils dilate. It doesn’t matter if what you perceive as threatening is in fact near or far, real or not, the effect is still physical and over time, harmful.”