A German study reveals that stress, which affects more and more people, could be contagious.
Is stress as contagious as a virus? This is what a German study conducted by a group of German researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences from Leipzig, and the University of Dresden, published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.
It would therefore suffice to look at a stressed person for them to transmit their stress to us. This phenomenon is generated by the development of a hormone that indicates the presence of stress in our body, cortisol. Changes in the level of this hormone were observed in 211 individuals who were asked to observe a person facing psychological stress. One in four has seen their stress level increase as well as that of the hormone that generates it.
Very contagious stress in the event of an emotional bond
The researchers also took into account a possible emotional link between the observer and the stressed person. When this person has an emotional bond with the observer, this stress increases up to 40% of cases and when it is an unknown person, stress is only observed in 10% of cases.
Stress would therefore be contagious even when idnidvidu is not directly involved. In 24% of cases, it increases when a person observes a stressful situation on television.
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