Daily fix


February 14, 2012

Friendship, a protective factor against stress?

A Concordia University researcher, in partnership with American colleagues, recently discovered that having friends is a protective factor for young adults, when faced with a negative event.


January 5, 2012

I’m stressed, you’re stressed…so, are we in love or not?

Californian researchers examined, in a couple’s relationship, whether the stress of a partner might affect the stress of the other partner.


November 22, 2011

Hair stress hormones six months ago are elevated in depressed patients

People suffering from depression generally have increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. For decades, cortisol levels have been measured in blood, urine, and saliva, giving scientists information about levels at the time of collection. Now we can measure cortisol in segments of hair, which gives us a retrospective calendar of cortisol levels months ago.


October 14, 2011

Memory of abused children …reliable source?

Abused children are sometimes asked to testify about their experience in different environments, such as in court. However, one question remains: can we rely on these testimonies?


September 20, 2011

Piano playing reduces stress

A group of researchers from Japan were interested in investigating whether art activities, including music, may have an effect on stress hormone (cortisol) levels and anxiety.


August 23, 2011

Living and growing in cities affects the brain’s response to stress

German and Canadian scientists studied the differences in the brain’s response to stress between individuals living in cities, towns or rural areas.


July 25, 2011

Greater healthy anxiety linked to more frequent health information search on the Internet

Research led by the University of Amsterdam show that health anxiety is linked with searching for health information online and actively posting health-related information online. The first study was an online survey.


June 16, 2011

And if our stress could be read in our faces…

American researchers asked themselves whether there was a link between the emotions displayed in our faces and the level of stress experienced during a stressful situation.


May 16, 2011

Consuming dark chocolate lowers levels of stress hormones

The purpose of this study was to investigate the metabolic effects of the consumption of dark chocolate.


April 29, 2011

Young survivors of Hurrican Katrina experience altered expressions of psychological and biological stress

Research led by the University of New Mexico suggests that natural disasters like Hurrican Katrina change stress physiology and behavior two months after the disaster


March 22, 2011

Exercise is associated with improved cognition and reduced stress hormones

Researchers from the University of Washington were assessed whether exercise related to memory performance and stress hormones (cortisol).


February 25, 2011

Stress strengthens the memory of recent first impressions for the positive personality traits of strangers.

A group of German and Dutch scientists conducted a study on how stress can affect people’s memory of strangers’ personality traits after a first impression.


January 13, 2011

High levels of stress are associated to teeth-grinding

A study, led by a German team, aimed to determine whether there is an association between stress-factors and sleep bruxism, or teeth grinding.


November 19, 2010

Playing violent video games does not have an impact on cortisol

Swedish researchers asked themselves if your stress levels could be influenced by virtue of playing violent video game.


November 19, 2010

Testosterone levels in hockey players watching a victory video

The goal of this study was to investigate if cortisol levels in high performance hockey players varied when they were watching videos of their team in previous games.


November 19, 2010

Cortisol, a detector of male sex-appeal?

American researchers investigated on young women cortisol levels linked to the view of seductive men.


November 19, 2010

The announcement of Barack Obama’s victory was stressful for McCain’s supporters

This study investigated whether cortisol levels of the electors differed at the moment of the announcement of the winner at the presidential elections according to which elector won or lost the election.


November 19, 2010

Gardening can help you recover following a stressor

The goal of this study was to investigate whether gardening activities could have an impact on physiological and emotional recovery after a stressful situation.


November 19, 2010

Breastfeeding and stress: link with milk quantity?

Researchers from Chicago asked themselves if a mother’s perceived stress could be associated with the quantity of milk produced.


November 19, 2010

Are stress hormones affected by jet lag?

Researchers from the University of Chicago studied how stress hormone levels and eastward versus westward time zone travel changes in over 750 American middle-aged men.


November 19, 2010

Teenagers' memory benefits from exercising

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of a short physical exercice on cortisol and testosterone levels as well as on working memory capacities in adolescents of 15 and 16 years of age.


November 19, 2010

Does chewing gum reduces stress?

Australian and English researchers asked themselves if chewing gum could reduce stress.


November 19, 2010

Cortisol: Seduction tool?

Spanish and Dutch researchers have teamed up to study the physiological effects of a women’s presence on 84 men about 20 years of age.


Chaire sur la santé mentale Femmes/Hommes Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin de l’Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine – Website