Stress may trigger itching, says study

William Atkins
Monday, 27 October 2008 22:49

Science - Health

A German-British study concludes that a whole lot of stress can activate the immune system to start itching. It’s pretty straightforward—no need to scratch your head, or is there?


The article written by the authors appears in the November 2008 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.

The paper’s complicated worded title is “Stress-Induced Neurogenic Inflammation in Murine Skin Skews Dendritic Cells Towards Maturation and Migration” but it all comes down to “a lot of stress produces itching of the skin.”

An itch, medically called pruritus, is an irritation in the skin that usually causes a person to want to scratch.

It can be localized to one part of the body (such as the head or scalp) or more spread out (occurring in many places or even all over the body).

Itching can be caused by many things such as a sunburn, mosquito bites, but it is usually not caused externally (such as a mosquito) but internally—specifically, by a psychological cause.

Basically, scientists do not know exactly how itching starts in the body (unless some external source such as a mosquito bite occurs).

Page two continues the article.