Abstract
Research over the past three decades has clearly established that psychological stress in daily life affects clinically relevant immune outcomes including inflammatory processes, wound healing, and responses to infectious agents and other immune challenges (e.g., vaccination). It is notable that these effects are seen even in young, healthy people experiencing relatively mild stressors, such as medical students undertaking routine academic exams. In this chapter, we provide an overview of key models and findings linking everyday stressors to immune function and health. Research examining stressors in everyday life has implications for understanding effects of more extreme stressors, such as those encountered during space flight which presents an exceptional and intense combination of physical and psychological challenges. Here we provide an overview of key models and findings linking daily life stress to immune dysregulation.
