Stress is Contagious

Halima Akter: Stress can actually be passed from person to person. You can become stressed just by being around someone who is stressed or anxious. The stress you fell from being around other stressed people has the exact same effect on your brain as stress you personal experience on your own. Scientists were studying mice and how stress affected male and female partners, in their experiments; the researchers separated the pairs of mice and then exposed one to a mild stress before it was returned to be with its partner. The results of the experiment showed CRH neuron activation in both mice. CRH neurons are the cells that affect the brain’s responses to stress. The researchers measured the neurons in the mice and found that the mouse that was not exposed to stress had the same CRH neuron response as the one that was. The researchers then turned off the neurons in the partner mouse that was not exposed to stress when the stressed partner returned the stressed response was not transferred over to the one that had its CRH neurons switched off. Additionally researchers switched on the neurons in mice that were not under any stress and the mice showed signs of stress just from the neuron activation. Researchers discovered that mice release a mice release an “alarm pheromone” to warn other mice that something is stressful. In human, when we see others who are anxious or stressed we release a stress hormone called Cortisol. The experience is called “empathic stress” that was showed in the human stress study where one group was exposed to stress while another group watched those who watched either witnessed it directly or watched the stress group’s video.
Source: Curiosity