It may sound a bit weird but it's true, researchers suggest that stress lasting for a short duration is good for immune system.

Firdaus Dhabhar, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, said "Short-term stress, the fight-or-flight response, a mobilization of bodily resources lasting minutes or hours in response to immediate threats, stimulates immune activity".

Mr. Dhabhar, also a member of the Stanford University Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection, asserted that such short-term stress related situations is good for making immune system active.

Further, he suggested that it is the immune system, which plays a major role in healing wounds and injuries; it is termed as the first line of defense against any disease too. And if discussing about the injuries and wounds, they are often administered, while fighting with someone or while running for help after being chased or when one has to escape.

During the course of the study, Dhabhar and his team, which included other researchers from Stanford and two other universities, it was observed that when rats were put under a mild stress, special kind of their immune cells got active in the bloodstream and also on skin and other tissues.

The immune response observed in this case was similar to immune response normally observed after two hours.