Stress can be caught from others

Stress can be contagious, even if you see it experienced by a character in a TV show.

A study by the Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in Leipzig, Germany, found that being around a person under stress can make others feel pressured.

The effects, which can be measured, are felt even when an unknown TV character shows signs of stress.

The researchers said stress was a major health threat, causing a range of psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. Even people who lead relatively relaxed lives constantly come into contact with individuals under stress, either at work or on TV.

During the experiment, subjects were paired with loved ones and strangers of the opposite sex then divided into two groups.

The group of 211 observers watched the test and interviews through a one-way mirror and on closed-circuit TV. As expected, 95% of the people placed under direct pressure showed signs of stress.

But 26% of the observers also had an increase in the secretion of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress.

The effect of stress was particularly high when a subject was observing a romantic partner in a stressful situation (40%) but it applied to stressed strangers as well (10%).

About 30% of the observers watching through the one-way mirror experienced a stressful response. Another 24% felt stressed when they watched the events unfold on TV.

The researchers said stress becomes a serious problem when it is experienced for an extended time.