No, Stress Doesn’t Cause Cancer. But it Can ...
No, Stress Doesn’t Cause Cancer. But it Can Lead to Other Cancer-causing Habits and Conditions
Published Jun 6, 2019
There’s no question: living in a state of constant stress is bad for your health. Stress can cause high blood pressure and weight gain, and sometimes heart disease and diabetes if it’s left unchecked. Constant stress can also make you extremely tired, but somehow unable to fall asleep. It can affect your mood, your relationships, your habits.
But can it also cause cancer?
That’s a question that researchers have been trying to answer definitively for years. But as of now, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), “the evidence that stress causes cancer is weak.”
We recently spoke to Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an advisor to SurvivorNet and a breast cancer oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, about stress and cancer, and she told us that, “the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of people who are super stressed out and not getting breast cancer, [while] there are also people who are vegan and doing yoga, and meditating every day, and living in the middle of a farm somewhere in Costa Rica, and they’re getting breast cancer.”
Most studies to date have highlighted a link between stress and cancer, not a cause. This means that the evidence does not show that the cancer diagnoses in people with chronic stress are because of the stress. They could, instead, stem from some other variable, like genetic inheritance or known cancer-causing behaviors that tend to go hand in hand with stress.
“It may be that stress leads people towards unhealthy behaviors that are more directly associated with cancer,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College/ New York Presbyterian Hospital told SurvivorNet. Smoking, unhealthy eating, and drinking too much alcohol are just several examples of stress-related behaviors that have known associations with cancer.
When someone experiences stress—be it emotional, physical, or mental stress—the body responds by releasing the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). These hormones increase blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels—all of which are vital for the human “fight or flight” response. They make it possible to escape danger and perform physical feats in times of duress.
But when these hormones are released constantly over an extended period of time, that rapid heart rate and heightened blood pressure can become a problem. Risk factors for heart conditions, weight gain, and diabetes may rise.
“With regard to cancer, there is little convincing evidence that chronic stress causes cancer initiation,” Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, Professor and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet, “[But] there is extensive evidence that chronic stress can promote cancer growth and progression.” This, he said, is due to the fact that the constant release of epinephrine and norepinephrine “leads to diverse biological effects of key cancer pathways, including the stimulation of cancer invasion, suppressed immune function, and even reduced efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents”.
The suppressed immune function that Dr. Cohen mentioned may make it difficult for your body to attack cancer cells on its own.
“We know that there have been several studies that have looked at healing and recovery after cancer surgery or have looked at recurrence,” Dr. Heather Yeo, Associate Professor of Surgery and Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College, assistant attending surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and medical advisor to SurvivorNet previously explained. “And we know that when your immune system is down—when there’s an excess of stress hormones going on—your body has a hard time recovering and cancer takes advantage of that.”
So no, stress does not cause cancer. But it can cause various chain reactions of unhealthy phenomena, in turn creating a more hospitable environment for cancer to develop and spread.
That’s why it’s so important—whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer already or are looking to prevent a future diagnosis—to take care of your body and mind.
Physical activity can work wonders. “Exercise, which is recommended to reduce stress levels, has been associated with a decrease in recurrence rates for certain cancers like colorectal cancer and breast cancer,” Dr. Ocean told us. Other ways to mitigate stress include getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and practicing mindfulness.
Meditation has also been proven to decrease psychological stress in those who are dealing with cancer. Survivor Shannon Masur, who previously spoke to SurvivorNet about her colon cancer and Lynch Syndrome, told us she knew very little about meditation at first, but that it ultimately helped her to let go of her fears.
“I had never meditated before,” Shannon said. “I thought it would be such a challenge. But it really wasn’t … and just having that sense of calmness that comes into me when I’m meditating has been really, really helpful for me.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
There’s no question: living in a state of constant stress is bad for your health. Stress can cause high blood pressure and weight gain, and sometimes heart disease and diabetes if it’s left unchecked. Constant stress can also make you extremely tired, but somehow unable to fall asleep. It can affect your mood, your relationships, your habits.
But can it also cause cancer?
That’s a question that researchers have been trying to answer definitively for years. But as of now, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Cancer Institute (NCI), “the evidence that stress causes cancer is weak.”
We recently spoke to Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an advisor to SurvivorNet and a breast cancer oncologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, about stress and cancer, and she told us that, “the truth of the matter is that there are a lot of people who are super stressed out and not getting breast cancer, [while] there are also people who are vegan and doing yoga, and meditating every day, and living in the middle of a farm somewhere in Costa Rica, and they’re getting breast cancer.”
Most studies to date have highlighted a link between stress and cancer, not a cause. This means that the evidence does not show that the cancer diagnoses in people with chronic stress are because of the stress. They could, instead, stem from some other variable, like genetic inheritance or known cancer-causing behaviors that tend to go hand in hand with stress.
“It may be that stress leads people towards unhealthy behaviors that are more directly associated with cancer,” Dr. Allyson Ocean, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College/ New York Presbyterian Hospital told SurvivorNet. Smoking, unhealthy eating, and drinking too much alcohol are just several examples of stress-related behaviors that have known associations with cancer.
When someone experiences stress—be it emotional, physical, or mental stress—the body responds by releasing the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline). These hormones increase blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels—all of which are vital for the human “fight or flight” response. They make it possible to escape danger and perform physical feats in times of duress.
But when these hormones are released constantly over an extended period of time, that rapid heart rate and heightened blood pressure can become a problem. Risk factors for heart conditions, weight gain, and diabetes may rise.
“With regard to cancer, there is little convincing evidence that chronic stress causes cancer initiation,” Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, Professor and Director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, told SurvivorNet, “[But] there is extensive evidence that chronic stress can promote cancer growth and progression.” This, he said, is due to the fact that the constant release of epinephrine and norepinephrine “leads to diverse biological effects of key cancer pathways, including the stimulation of cancer invasion, suppressed immune function, and even reduced efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents”.
The suppressed immune function that Dr. Cohen mentioned may make it difficult for your body to attack cancer cells on its own.
“We know that there have been several studies that have looked at healing and recovery after cancer surgery or have looked at recurrence,” Dr. Heather Yeo, Associate Professor of Surgery and Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medical College, assistant attending surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and medical advisor to SurvivorNet previously explained. “And we know that when your immune system is down—when there’s an excess of stress hormones going on—your body has a hard time recovering and cancer takes advantage of that.”
So no, stress does not cause cancer. But it can cause various chain reactions of unhealthy phenomena, in turn creating a more hospitable environment for cancer to develop and spread.
That’s why it’s so important—whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer already or are looking to prevent a future diagnosis—to take care of your body and mind.
Physical activity can work wonders. “Exercise, which is recommended to reduce stress levels, has been associated with a decrease in recurrence rates for certain cancers like colorectal cancer and breast cancer,” Dr. Ocean told us. Other ways to mitigate stress include getting enough sleep, eating healthily, and practicing mindfulness.
Meditation has also been proven to decrease psychological stress in those who are dealing with cancer. Survivor Shannon Masur, who previously spoke to SurvivorNet about her colon cancer and Lynch Syndrome, told us she knew very little about meditation at first, but that it ultimately helped her to let go of her fears.
“I had never meditated before,” Shannon said. “I thought it would be such a challenge. But it really wasn’t … and just having that sense of calmness that comes into me when I’m meditating has been really, really helpful for me.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.