AS COVID-19 vaccine roll-out begins in earnest in many countries, there is an extra reason to be cheerful. Such an outlook, along with other personality traits and the kinds of social interactions we have, can enhance how our bodies react to immunisations.
“There is now a large literature that shows that these sorts of psychological factors influence how people respond to vaccinations as measured by magnitude of antibody response,” says Anna Marsland, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
In one of the first studies of its kind, in 2006, Marsland and her colleagues found that produced a 73 per cent greater antibody response to vaccination against the virally transmitted disease hepatitis B than those who regarded themselves as more nervous, tense or angry.
Advertisement
Since then, numerous studies have expanded our understanding of the impact these so-called soft drivers of immunity can have.
Other research, for instance, . Among 138 older people, those who were in a 16 weeks later than those who were in a less upbeat mood. The study examined other factors that might have an influence, such as sleep and physical activity in the run-up to the vaccination, but none of these had a significant effect.
Similarly, can act as a vaccine boost, while neuroticism is linked to a .
Social connections can also influence how well our body responds to a vaccine. In one experiment, and with whom they were in contact at least once a month. At check-ups one month and then four months later, those who had listed fewer than 13 friends produced significantly fewer antibodies to the influenza virus.
: students reacted better to it if they felt they had someone who listened to them when they needed to talk or who could help them if they were confined to bed.
“10%
The boost in antibodies after a flu vaccination for those happily married or cohabiting”
Romantic love, too, appears to be good for vaccinations. One study by a team at the University of Birmingham, UK, found that older people saw their antibody levels rise 10 per cent higher on average in response to the flu vaccine compared with those who were single or in unhappy relationships.
The link between emotions, relationships and the immune system makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, says Steve Cole at the University of California, Los Angeles. In general, our immune systems evolved to have two basic settings, he says: an antiviral one and an antibacterial one.
In our evolutionary past, being with people meant more exposure to viruses, while being alone on the savannah meant a greater risk of wounds, be they from predators or accidents, which require an inflammatory, antibacterial response, he says. “The immune system doesn’t have an infinite capacity and so it shifts resources back and forth between different modes of defence,” says Cole.
Even though things that stress us out these days don’t routinely injure us – think mortgages or work deadlines – chronic stress and loneliness might switch our immune system from the antiviral setting to the antibacterial one. In contrast, a positive emotional style, says Cole, may help prevent such an automatic switch to the inflammatory setting when we are feeling lonely – it is as if optimists didn’t believe they might be attacked by lions while alone.
Research, including randomised trials, confirms this on a biological level: , and have all been shown to switch the genes of the immune system away from an inflammatory response towards gearing the body to fight viruses.
When it comes to the coronavirus vaccines, if they act like other shots, says Marsland, “there is reasonably consistent evidence that psychological factors will relate to the magnitude of antibody response”.
Based on her work on hepatitis B immunisations, Marsland believes that such variations may be more pronounced after the first dose, levelling out after the second one.
For Cole, the nub of the issue lies in whether these factors will influence how long the protection will last. “That’s our big challenge: how can we prevent this kind of stress biology from quantitatively impairing the vaccine responses, so they look good at first, but they decay relatively quickly,” he says. Chronic stress in its many forms, social isolation included, has been repeatedly shown to undermine the immune system and the vaccine response.
The research is all the more crucial given the mental toll of the pandemic and the isolation that can come with social distancing.
One thing is certain, however, although stressing out about your antibody production isn’t the way to go, talking to a loved one to boost your mood before your coronavirus shot certainly won’t hurt.
