Stress may be a gender issue
By Elizabeth Norton Lasley, Dana Foundation
Some stress-related disorders, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, are twice as common in women as in men. A new study suggests that the difference may not be merely a matter of personality.
In certain cells in the female brain, the receptors for a key stress hormone, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), respond differently to increases in the hormone’s levels–making this part of the brain more sensitive to stress and less able to adapt. The finding provides a biochemical basis for the prevalence of stress-related illness in women.
Rita Valentino, Debra Bangasser, and colleagues at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, knew from previous research in female rats that neurons in a region called the locus ceruleus respond to lower levels of CRF than are needed for activation in male brains. The locus ceruleus is a storehouse of norepinephrine, one of the chief chemical messengers in the fight-or-flight response.
This study also fails to mention that women are more than twice as likely to seek treatment for problems such as depression and PTSD. Because women are more likely to seek treatment, they are also the ones whose numbers are being used in statistics such as the one in this article. Take the results of this study with a large grain of salt.
Good point Aaron, also I would say, that women are more of the multi-taskers, and tend to not be able to say “No”, so maybe they bring the stress on more?
From the original article, “Sex differences on a molecular level have profound implications for drug development, says Bangasser. “Many drugs in the pipeline target CRF receptors,” she says. “But currently they are tested exclusively on male rats. If the receptor works differently in female brains, that has to be taken into account.”
A human brain, autonomic regulation, and physiology are vastly different than a rats. There are many natural alternatives available that would be worth considering before taking drugs tested on rats.
One option:”To address the underlying problem, few things work better than a combination of a high quality omega-3 combined with exercise, which is clearly one of the best-kept secrets for depression. If you haven’t read Dr. Stoll’s book on omega-3’s and depression, I highly recommend it.”
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/08/7-ills-that-don-t-need-pills.aspx