Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 16, 2025 1 hour, 55 minutes ago
Thailand Health News: Understanding a Silent Health Crisis
Chronic pain affects millions worldwide and often leaves sufferers without clear answers or effective treatments. A new scientific review conducted by researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel Belgium, KU Leuven Belgium, the University of Valladolid CSIC Spain, the University of Gothenburg Sweden, and PijnPraxis Belgium shines new light on the deep biological roots of chronic pain, showing how immune system changes and everyday lifestyle habits may directly shape pain severity and long-term health outcomes. This
Thailand Health News report highlights how the study connects stress poor sleep inactivity and unhealthy diets to two overlooked immune processes known as T cell exhaustion and T cell senescence. These processes affect how the immune system responds to threats and how it may mistakenly amplify pain signals.
How Lifestyle Drives Hidden Immune Changes Behind Chronic Pain
What the Researchers Found
The study explains that T cells play a major role in guarding the body from illness but can malfunction when exposed to constant stressors. T cell exhaustion occurs when immune cells face prolonged triggers such as infections or inflammation and gradually lose their ability to function well. On the other hand, T cell senescence is a type of irreversible aging of immune cells linked to long term stress poor sleep inflammation and lifestyle issues. When these cells become exhausted or senescent, they release inflammatory molecules that may heighten pain sensitivity and disrupt healing especially in people already suffering from fibromyalgia, chronic widespread pain, chronic fatigue syndrome or persistent stress related pain syndromes
How Lifestyle Drives These Immune Changes
The review details how sleep loss can alter essential immune markers reduce protective molecules like interferon gamma and even shorten telomeres the DNA caps that naturally decline with age. Stress was found to accelerate immune aging increase harmful inflammatory signals and reduce the presence of youthful functional T cells. Physical inactivity weakened several immune functions while regular movement appeared to protect telomeres and reduce markers tied to senescence. Diet also played a major role with nutrient rich foods supporting healthier immune responses while high fat or Western style eating patterns were linked to more signs of exhaustion and chronic inflammation.
Implications for Chronic Pain Disorders
The study highlights that people with chronic fatigue syndrome fibromyalgia rheumatoid arthritis postherpetic neuralgia sickle cell disease and chronic osteomyelitis show immune patterns that overlap with exhaustion or senescence. Some patients show elevated exhaustion markers like PD1 Tim3 or TIGIT while others display signs of immune aging such as shortened telomeres or increased inflammatory molecules. These findings suggest chronic pain may not be just a nerve problem but a whole body condition involving long term immune imbalance driven by stress lifestyle and disease.
Conclusions
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The researchers conclude that chronic pain may be strongly influenced by hidden immune dysfunction shaped by common lifestyle habits that many people overlook daily. They emphasize that improving sleep reducing stress staying physically active and eating nutrient rich diets may help reduce harmful immune changes linked to long term pain. They also call for deeper studies using advanced tools to map immune behavior more clearly and to explore future treatments such as senolytics or selective immune therapies. Understanding how lifestyle interacts with the immune system could open the door to new diagnostic tools and better pain management strategies that go beyond traditional medication and offer more personalized care.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Biomolecules.
https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/15/11/1601
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