Why Girls Can't Stop Stressing

Girls Can't Stop Stressing

Women may be more prone to emotional stress than men because of heir brain chemistry. US researchers found females were more sensitive to low levels of a key stress hormone called corticotropine-releasing factor.

A study of rats undergoing a swim stress test showed female animals had neurons that were more sensitive to CRF.

It was also found that stressed male rats adapted by making themselves less responsive to the hormone, but females didn't. The same signaling pathway is known to play a role in humans.

This may help to explain why women are twice as vulnerable as men to stress-related disorders.