cortisol tagged posts

New AI model can estimate a person’s true biological age from five drops of blood

Top Left: A small blood sample is analyzed to measure 22 key steroids, and the data is fed into an AI system to calculate biological age. Top Right: The AI-predicted biological age (BA) shows a general correlation with chronological age (CA), but individual differences widen over time. Bottom: Using the metaphor of a “river widening as it flows downstream,” the illustration visualizes how biological age evolves with the passage of time. Credit: Zi Wang

We all know someone who seems to defy aging—people who look younger than their peers despite being the same age. What’s their secret? Scientists at Osaka University (Japan) may have found a way to quantify this difference...

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Elevated Stress Hormones linked to Higher Risk of High Blood Pressure and Heart Events

In a study of more than 400 adults with normal blood pressure, those who had high levels of stress hormones detected in their urine were more likely to develop high blood pressure over the next 6-7 years. Higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol were also linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke.

Adults with normal blood pressure and high levels of stress hormones were more likely to develop high blood pressure and experience cardiovascular events compared to those who had lower stress hormone levels, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

Studies have shown that cumulative exposure to daily stressors and exposure to traumatic stress can increase cardiovascular disease r...

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Researchers achieve Remote Control of Hormone Release

MIT engineers have developed magnetic nanoparticles (shown in white squares) that can stimulate the adrenal gland to produce stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol.
Image: Courtesy of the researchers

Abnormal levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are linked to a variety of mental health disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MIT researchers have now devised a way to remotely control the release of these hormones from the adrenal gland, using magnetic nanoparticles.

This approach could help scientists to learn more about how hormone release influences mental health, and could eventually offer a new way to treat hormone-linked disorders, the researchers say...

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Just 20 minutes of Contact with Nature will Lower Stress Hormone levels, reveals new study

A pleasant walk in the woods, a ‘nature pill,’ measurably reduces stress hormone levels.
Credit: © robsonphoto / Fotolia

Taking at least twenty minutes out of your day to stroll or sit in a place that makes you feel in contact with nature will significantly lower your stress hormone levels. That’s the finding of a study that has established for the first time the most effective dose of an urban nature experience. Healthcare practitioners can use this discovery, published in Frontiers in Psychology, to prescribe ‘nature-pills’ in the knowledge that they have a real measurable effect.

“We know that spending time in nature reduces stress, but until now it was unclear how much is enough, how often to do it, or even what kind of nature experience will benefit us,” says Dr...

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