The Impact of Emotional Stress on Raynaud’s Disease

The Impact of Emotional Stress on Raynaud’s Disease

Raynaud‘s Disease is a condition that causes blood vessels to constrict resulting indiscomfort in and discoloration of the hands and feet. Raynaud‘s Disease can occur inboth a primary and secondary form. The primary form is idiopathic while the secondaryform is comorbid with a second disease and is often classified as ̳Raynaud‘s Phenomenon‘. The sympathetic nervous system(SNS) mediates the vasoconstrictiveresponses to cold exposure and also emotional stress. In fact, the symptoms of Raynaud‘sDisease are often exaggerated during periods of emotional stress. However, the impact of emotional stress on the development and instances of Raynaud‘s Disease is not wellunderstood. Here, synthesize the available literature on the impact of emotional stress onRaynaud‘s Disease and provide a model of how emotional stress, primarily through SNSactivation, can exacerbate the symptoms of the disease.