BALTIMORE, Md. (Ivanhoe Newswire)— Chronic, long term stress can cause serious health problems, like anxiety and depression, high blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, obesity. And the list goes on … but could long-term stress, like what we are experiencing right now during this pandemic, impact the health of our next generation?
There’s no doubt. Months and months of this, may be wearing us down.
Now, there’s new evidence to suggest that stress can have a lasting impact on future babies.
Tracy Bale, PhD, an epigenetic researcher at University of Maryland School of Medicine explained to Ivanhoe, “So, we set out to do a chronic stress experience on dad and then look at the timing after that stress resolved. Did he pass on effect of his offspring?”
Researchers wanted to know if stress alters sperm, they first tested the theory in mice. After male mice were given a stress hormone, researchers noted changes in their reproductive cells. Then sperm from the stressed mice was used to fertilize an egg. The resulting baby mice showed big changes in early brain development. Bale then recruited male college student volunteers.
Bale elaborated, “If we could look at and measure the stress in their environments over final exams, et cetera, at that time, could we detect changes in their sperm compared to their previous month or their next month?”
Researchers say they did detect changes in human sperm that were similar to those in the stressed-out mice. While Bale and her colleagues didn’t measure the impact of stress reduction on the male students, she says lifestyle habits that are good for the mind, may be good for reproductive health.
Whatever the activity, there’s one more reason for men to reduce stress right now. Your kids may thank you for it in the future.
While the study showed that the babies’ brains developed differently if the father was chronically stressed, researchers say they still don’t know whether the offspring could run the risk for mental health issues, or if experiencing the stress and then managing it will help promote resilience. Bale and her colleagues did not specifically study men who were under stress during the coronavirus pandemic.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Executive & Field Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: COVID STRESS AND NEWBORN BRAINS
REPORT: MB #4790
BACKGROUND: Stress can actually be a positive or negative force. It’s positive as it motivates us to perform well at a task, but negative if it moves us to anxious thoughts and feelings. If stress is experienced over a prolonged period, it could become chronic. When stress starts interfering with the ability to live a normal life for an extended period, it becomes even more dangerous. The longer stress lasts, the worse it is for both your mind and body. You can become fatigued, unable to concentrate, or irritable for no reason. Chronic stress causes wear and tear on your body, too. It may cause disease, either because of changes in your body, or from overeating, smoking and other bad habits people use to cope with stress. Another form of chronic stress is depression.
(Source: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-facts)
AFFECT ON HEALTH BY REDUCING STRESS: Reducing stress levels can make you feel better and help protect your health long-term. Researchers examined the association between feelings like happiness, joy, contentment and enthusiasm, and the development of coronary heart disease over a decade. They found that for every one-point increase in positive affect on a five-point scale, the rate of heart disease dropped by 22 percent. While the study doesn’t prove that increasing positive affect decreases cardiovascular risks, the researchers recommend boosting your positive affect by making a little time for enjoyable activities every day.
(Source: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-facts)
STRESS AND MALE FERTILITY: A study published in Fertility and Sterility, and led by researchers from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, NY, and Rutgers School of Public Health in Piscataway, NJ, investigated whether stress may affect sperm and semen quality. The researchers assessed 193 men aged 38 to 49 who were required to complete a series of tests that measured levels of stress, including that from the workplace, stressful life events and overall perceived stress. They also were required to provide semen samples. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, analyzed the semen concentration, sperm shape and movement in each sample. They found that men who experienced two or more stressful life events in the past year had a lower percentage of sperm motility and a lower percentage of sperm of normal morphology, compared to those who did not experience any stressful events. Researchers also found those who experienced job strains had lower levels of testosterone in their semen, which could affect reproductive health.
(Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/277543)
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DEBORAH KOTZ
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