Stress and Emotions are Contagious

If your partner is stressed, chances are higher that you may also suffer stress too, reveal researchers.

Partner’s stress could mess with your brain as your stress, found a new animal study.

"Brain changes associated with stress underpin many mental illnesses including PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), anxiety disorders and depression.

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‘Stress is contagious and alters the brain on a cellular level.’

"Recent studies indicate that stress and emotions can be 'contagious'. Whether this has lasting consequences on the brain is not known," said Jaideep Bains, Professor, Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Calgary.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the research team studied the effects of stress in pairs of male and female mice. They removed one mouse from each pair and exposed it to a mild stress.

The researchers then examined the responses of a specific population of cells, specifically CRH neurons which control the brain's response to stress, in each mouse, which revealed that networks in the brains of both the stressed mouse and naive partner were altered in the same way.

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The team discovered that the activation of these CRH (Corticotropin-releasing hormone) neurons causes the release of a chemical signal, an 'alarm pheromone', from the mouse that alerts the partner.

The partner who detects the signal can in turn alert additional members of the group.

Introduction

Stress has become one of the major health concerns in the modern world, but it is still difficult to define. Stress is a normal physical response when faced with a challenge, and in small doses, stress can motivate us and drive us to better performance. But stress overload is typically described as a negative concept that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being ().

There are 10 questions on ‘Stress’ in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Symptoms of stress ()
Stress hormone ()
Complication of chronic stress ()
Phobia ()
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ()

"We readily communicate our stress to others, sometimes without even knowing it. There is even evidence that some symptoms of stress can persist in family and loved ones of individuals who suffer from PTSD, Bains noted.

Source-IANS