Stress in adolescence helps you deal with future challenges efficiently

By: Agencies | | Published: October 6, 2015 3:21 pm

Unpredictable stress during adolescence may help us deal with future challenges more efficiently, suggests new research. In experiments, the researchers found that rats exposed to frequent physical, social, and predatory stress during adolescence solved problems and foraged more efficiently under high-threat conditions in adulthood compared with rats that developed without stress. The results may provide insights into how humans respond to adolescent stress, the researchers said. They turned to rats to investigate the effects of maltreatment during adolescence because it is unethical to manipulate stress in humans and rats have a short lifespan, allowing them to study long-term effects more efficiently. Also Read - Raising a teen could be quite challenging, these tips may help you

Also Read - 5 signs that your child may be troubled

For the study, Lauren Chaby from Pennsylvania State University exposed adolescent rats to a range of unpredictable stressors, including smaller or tilted cages, social isolation or crowding, and predator scents or vocalisations. The researchers then tested adult animals to see if there were lasting effects of stress in adolescence. We wanted to test them in conditions that were consistent with their rearing conditions to see if that impacted their ability to solve tasks, Chaby said. The team tested the ability of 24 adult rats to solve problems while foraging for food under both standard and high-threat conditions — bright light, a taxidermy hawk swooping overhead, and hawk vocalizations. (Read: Learning a lot during adolescence good for your brain) Also Read - Being bullied increases mental illness risk in teens: Study

Adult rats then manipulated a variety of novel objects to obtain food rewards.Under high-threat conditions, adult rats stressed during adolescence started foraging sooner, visited 20 percent more food patches, and obtained 43 percent more food than a control group of unstressed adult rats.These statistically significant results suggest that growing up in a stressful environment can prepare rats for a stressful, high-predation environment in the future. Chaby hopes that studies like this can help direct how we study adolescent stress in humans. The results were published in the journal Animal Behavior. (Read: Stressed teens are at a risk of heart diseases later in life)

Source: IANS

Photo source: Getty images

Published : October 6, 2015 3:21 pm

Read Disclaimer

California legalises doctor-aided suicide

Demi Lovato poses naked for the cover of Vanity Fair, talks about being 'Confident'

About The health Site

TheHealthSite.com is India's largest health site with more than 40 lakh unique visitors per month. We focus on fitness, beauty, health, pregnancy and more.

Most popular health and wellness website in India in 2012 at the Website of the year awards.

health@corp.india.com

+91 – 22 – 6697 1234

91 – 22 – 2490 0302.

ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTERPRISES LTD, 18th floor, A-Wing, Marathon Futurex, N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013.

We respect your privacy

California legalises doctor-aided suicide

Demi Lovato poses naked for the cover of Vanity Fair, talks about being 'Confident'

Raising a teen could be quite challenging, these tips may help you

5 signs that your child may be troubled

Being bullied increases mental illness risk in teens: Study

World Mental Health Day on 10th October: At which age are children vulnerable to mental health issues?

Active kids may have a healthier heart, says study

About The health Site

Useful Links