can you 'catch' stress? this toronto researcher says yes
4 minute read
"stress and odours from stressed individuals can be detected by others, and even change the physiology of others who detect these odours," says uhn's jaideep bains. getty
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you know the cartoon image of a person who is always walking with a dark cloud over their head?
chances are, you probably know someone like this, struggling with chronic stress and functioning on autopilot because of it. what science is now showing is that their stress can actually infect people around them, triggering similar emotions and physiological responses.
stress, as it turns out, is contagious.
jaideep bains, director of the krembil research institute at the university health network in toronto, is exploring how the brain adapts to stress, and how activity in the brain’s stress command neurons can transmit stress from one person to another.
“experiments that have been done in mice and in people show very similar things that stress and odours from stressed individuals can be detected by others, and even change the physiology of others who detect these odours,” he says. “what’s fascinating, and kind of like the science fiction part of it, is that they can be detected in a way that we are not consciously aware of, yet they still change our physiology.”
we wear the emotions of others
not only that, bains suggests there’s a possibility that when we are in groups with others, we are detecting and starting to wear their emotions without knowing it.
this may bring a whole new scientific bent to talking about empathy. bains says that research into the brain continues to reveal that there is still an “incalculable” amount that we don’t know about how the brain works and impacts our health.
“but some of the approaches that we use in the way that we study the brain give us some very definitive answers around how cells in the brain talk to each other, how circuits in the brain connect and how that directly links to behaviours,” he adds. “[understanding the brain] is just a really fascinating and difficult problem to solve.”
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his team is also researching concepts for wearable technology that measures stress chemicals that are emitted by your skin.
can we avoid “catching” stress?
one way to avoid the contagion of stress is by surrounding yourself with positive people. another key is managing your own stress and building resilience. getting there though, comes from understanding science of stress.
the stress response is a complex biological system designed to help you, or any organism, for that matter, survive and recover from a threat. there’s an immediate rush of adrenaline and then the stress hormone cortisol releases into your body slowly to mobilize energy stores to make up for the energy deficit that you’ve accumulated in trying to deal with the situation. with chronic stress, cortisol levels remain elevated in your body and leave imprints on the brain that may disrupt its ability to shut off your fight-or-flight response.
but, as bains points out, the trouble with detecting someone’s stress is that people are good at masking it, which is like a defence mechanism to help us keep calm and carry on.
“we know that chronic stress, cortisol and a number of other factors have been implicated in so many other disorders, like anxiety and depression, but also in cardiovascular disease and diabetes,” he says. “so chronic stress really seems to be this linchpin that is so important to try to understand.”
exercise is the most effective way to lower stress
bains and his team have also looked at people’s perceptions of control over stressful situations, and how that perception influences the stress response. this may vary from person to person, however it is all about the belief that regardless of the intensity of stress, you’re going to be ok. it’s a perception can also benefit your brain and your resilience to adversity.
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so how can we decrease our vulnerability to stress?
neuroscience has proven a number strategies, with exercise being one of the most effective.
“one of the reasons busy, successful people often exercise is to relieve their stress,” says bains, adding that there’s a component of control that helps you to feel that you are doing something to manage your stress. “the other part about exercise, which is fascinating, is that exercise releases and increases cortisol.”
he also says that other molecules are being studied to learn more about why exercise is so medicinal. for example, scientists are looking at how lactate — which is produced during exercise — can be used by the brain for energy. other research has shown that exercise also stimulates rising levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or bdnf, that helps to develop stronger connections between brain neurons. the notion is that bdnf is a kind of “plasticity molecule” that helps neural networks grow and change to protect your health.
and the good news is that exercise does not have to be intense or lengthy for you to reap those benefits. one recent study in jama psychiatry concluded that participants who went from little to no regular physical activity to 15 minutes a day of brisk walking lowered their risk of depression by 18 per cent.
bains also points out that if exercise is paired with a social activity — like walking with someone else, or joining a class — you can get even more of a health boost.
“for me, it’s playing basketball or playing tennis,” he says. “it’s as much about talking with your friends when you’re playing, as it is about getting exercise, and building those social connections.”
karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.
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