A new study emerged last week showing that ‘nervous’ mice are more prone to developing aggressive cancer than their more placid counterparts. The research, carried out by the Stanford University School of Medicine, examined the different ways in which mice responded to stressful scenarios (i.e. whether they explored the dark, ‘scary’ parts of their enclosures) and then subjected them to the kind of UV exposure that causes skin cancer in humans. All the mice went on to develop tumours, but the anxious mice developed them in greater number and more invasively. There seems to be a number of mechanisms behind this, including greater levels of immune-suppressing corticosteroid hormones, fewer immune cells circulating in the bloodstream, and greater numbers of regulatory T-cells which dampen the immunological  response to the tumours. It remains to be seen how this translates into human trials.Of course the researchers are already looking at drug-based solutions for suppressing anxiety in cancer patients, but surely a much more effective and safer intervention might start with something like meditation, or relaxation methods such as EFT, Emotional Transformation, and all the other therapies that help restore us to a healing, parasympathetic state? http://www.livescience.com/19904-anxiety-cancer-risk.html