How children respond to the smell of alcoholic beverages is related to their mothers’ reasons for drinking, according to a new study from the Monell Chemical Senses Center. When asked to smell both the odor of beer and an unpleasant odor and then indicate which they liked better, children of mothers classified as ‘Escape drinkers were more likely than children of Non-escape drinkers to select the unpleasant odor over beer.
“Children’s responses to odors provide us with a window into their emotions, says study lead author Julie Mennella, PhD, a Monell biopsychologist. “When given a choice between beer and pyridine – the smell of rotten eggs – children of mothers who drink to relieve tension and worry choose pyridine as smelling better. That’s pretty powerful.
In the study, which appears in the journal Alcohol, 145 children between the ages of 5 and 8 years were presented with seven pairs of odors. One of the odors was always beer; the others were bubblegum, chocolate, cola, coffee, green tea, pyridine, and cigarette smoke. For each pair, the children indicated which odor they liked better. [continue reading…]
Did you know that one person in 20 has had a fight with a next-door neighbour? That one driver in four admits to committing an act of road rage? That cases of “air rage” rose by 400 per cent between 1997 and 2000? That stress has overtaken the common cold as the main reason for taking time off work?
Link to read this Times Article written by Carol Midgley,
Published 13 June 2008Â
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The New Scientist , May 31, 2008, reviews a study on how severe stress affects pregnant women.
Stress has been linked to premature birth, high blood pressure and other health problems associated with stillbirths. Now Kirsten Wisborg from the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and colleagues have shown that stress increases the risk even when women don’t have these problems. “We don’t yet know for sure whether stress may directly cause stillbirth, but our results are enough for doctors and midwives to be concerned,” she says
Source: AlphaGalileo, The New Scientist , May 31, 2008Â
Published: October 25, 2007
Image Credit: iStockphoto
New Poll Shows Stress on the Rise, Affecting Health, Relationships and Work Americans Say Housing Costs an Added Stressor in 2007
New York—One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. [continue reading…]
