Scientists have discovered that stress and anxiety can make it harder for wounds to heal.

Researchers inflicted small 'punch' wounds on healthy volunteers whose levels of life stress were gauged using a standard questionnaire. The wounds of the least anxious participants were found to heal twice as fast as those of the most stressed, and changes in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol reflected the difference in healing speed.

Professor John Weinman, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, has previously shown that healing can be enhanced by psychological help aimed at easing emotional stress.

He says: "These studies focus specifically on how the life stresses people experience can impact on their ability to recover from different types of wound, such as those caused by surgical procedures and by different medical conditions, including venous leg ulcers.

"I hope that these findings can now be used to identify psychological interventions to help speed up the recovery and healing process."
Feeling unwell? Check your symptoms with the NHS
Be a fan of That's Fit on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter!