Should we stop reading newspapers to save yourself stress ? Constant exposure to news whether on TV, on the Internet, on your smartphone, on the radio, or in the newspapers could well have an effect on your health. This is what emerges from a small Canadian study of 60 people. “It is difficult to avoid information, given the multitude of sources available to us, notes Marie-France Marin, from the University of Montreal. Before asking yourself: And if all this news was bad for us It would appear to be the case”.
The results, published in the journal Plos One, show that the information, often negative, affects the person who receives it differently, depending on whether it is a man or a woman.
Women are more reactive to stress for longer
Reading news items, for example, will trigger a stress reaction in women, while it will have no impact on men. To find out, 30 men and 30 women watched for ten minutes sometimes 24 press clippings telling neutral stories (such as film releases) sometimes 24 clippings on negative news such as murders and accidents. They were then subjected to a scientific test to measure their stress. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol were assessed throughout the experiment.
In the end, the women presented levels of cortisol higher in contact with negative information. They also remembered negative news they saw more easily than men.
Women are more sensitive to stress factors than men. Yet they remain less affected by stress-related heart attacks only men. A mystery for researchers: “How do women manage to neutralize the effects of stress on their cardiovascular system? Answering this question would improve the health of all of us”.
