When you live with herpes, it's essential to understand that "everyday" stress isn't an HSV trigger. There's no need to worry that you will never be able to have a single emotion without breaking out in a rash of blisters, even though it may seem that way at times. Going to work every day, picking kids up from practice, and having to run to the store in the middle of the night aren't what triggers an outbreak. No. It's ongoing stress or traumatic stress that triggers emotions long after situations and events have come and gone that trigger outbreaks.
Ongoing stress is a significant cause of herpes outbreaks because stress triggers inflammation, which wakes the Herpes Simplex Virus from its dormant state. How so?
Well, for one thing, stress shuts down your digestive tract until the stress passes. If a vicious dog were chasing you, your body would need energy to run like hell, pulling energy away from less essential functions until the danger passes. But this can happen when you're in a state of chronic stress, which is easy to be in these days. What does this have to do with herpes, and why is this so detrimental to your health? Because your immune system is mostly in your gut. No optimal digestion. No optimal immunity.
Stress also triggers emotions, which trigger chemical reactions in the body. These chemical reactions affect your hormonal balance. Some of these chemicals are hormones themselves. For example, cortisol is a natural steroid hormone released during stressful events. Cortisol affects nearly every organ and tissue in your body. It regulates metabolism, controls blood sugar levels, assists memory, is involved in your sleep-wake cycle, and helps to control salt, water, and blood pressure. However, when stress is ongoing, cortisol breaks down the gastrointestinal, immune, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems, which opens the door to inflammation and more frequent and severe herpes outbreaks (and other viral infections, such as colds, flu, and COVID-19).
Additionally, stress promotes the loss of minerals that generally manage the body's acid load. When minerals are unavailable to manage acids in the body, pH becomes imbalanced. Different parts of the body have specific acid requirements. When you have a pH imbalance, you have either too much acid (acidosis) or not enough (alkalosis). pH imbalance makes it impossible to keep herpes in remission. Why? Because when you're too acidic, you're toxic. Toxicity causes inflammation, and inflammation is an HSV trigger.
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