Many people wonder if their stressful lifestyle led to their cancer diagnosis. Although stress can contribute to a number of health problems, the evidence that it can cause cancer is weak. However Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon and surgical oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, says stress can decrease your body’s ability to fight certain cancers.
What’s more, Dr. Yeo says there are some studies which show stress could worsen healing and recovery from surgery as well as affect the risk of recurrence. “We know that when your immune system is down when there’s an excess of stress hormones going on,” explains Dr Yeo, “your body has a hard time recovering and cancer takes advantage of that.”
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