Stress, Everyday Stress, Is A Cancer Risk Factor

A new study shows exactly how stress alters the immune system to cancer’s benefit.

Think for a moment about what causes cancer. What comes to mind? For me, the first thing that I think about is lifestyle factor stuff: smoking, alcohol intake, overweight, etc. And then I think about genetics. And then I think about bad luck — you know random chance and cosmic rays hitting just the wrong segment of DNA and so forth. But one thing I don’t really think about, and I wonder if you do, is stress.

I am, of course, not a cancer doctor. But you know who is? My wife, the great breast cancer surgeon and expert charcuterie-board maker Niamey Wilson.

And when I asked her what factors cause cancer, she quickly and assuredly said “stress”. Why? Well, she told me, she has just noticed it too many times. A woman comes in with a new breast cancer — often without risk factors. No family history, no particular genetic risks, young. And the common thread, my wife says, is stress. She has lost track of the number of times that the individuals who come in had a recent divorce, or death of a parent, or even just an incredibly stressful work life over the past year or so. She believes in the link between stress and cancer through sheer pattern recognition.