For all the sisters on the list...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 08:32:57 -0800 (PST)
>       >
>       >An interesting article by Jean Houston
>       >
>       >Women respond to stress differently than men do.
> Fortunately,
> we also have
>       >better way to fight it: each other. Friendships
> between women
> are special.
>       >They shape who we are and who we are yet to be.
> They soothe our
> tumultuous
>       >inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our
> marriage, and help
> us remember
>       >who we really are. But they may do even more.
> Scientists now
> suspect that
>       >hanging out with our friends can actually
> counteract the kind
> of
>       >stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on
> a daily
> basis.
>       >
>       >A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond
> to stress
> with a cascade
>       >of brain chemicals that cause us to make and
> maintain
> friendships with
>       >other women. It's a stunning finding that has
> turned five
> decades of
>       >stress research - most of it on men - upside down.
>       >
>       >"Until this study was published, scientists
> generally believed
> that when
>       >people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal
> cascade that
> revs the
>       >body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as
> possible,"
> explains
>       >Laura Cousino Klein, PhD, now an assistant
> professor of
> biobehavioral
>       >health at Pennsylvania State University in State
> College and
> one of the
>       >study's authors. "It's an ancient survival
> mechanism left over
> from the
>       >time we were chased across the planet by
> saber-toothed tigers.
> Now the
>       >researchers suspect that women have a larger
> behavioral
> repertoire than
>       >just "fight or
>       >flight." In fact, says Dr. Klein, it seems that
> when the
> hormone oxytocin
>       >is released as part of the stress response in a
> woman, it
> buffers the
>       >fight or flight response and encourages her to
> tend children
> and gather
>       >with other women instead. When she actually
> engages in this
> tending or
>       >befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is
> released,
> which further
>       >counters stress and produces a calming effect.
> This calming
> response does
>       >not occur in men, says Dr. Klein, because
> testosterone - which
> men produce
>       >in high levels when they're under stress-seems to
> reduce the
> effects of
>       >oxytocin. Estrogen, she adds, seems to enhance it.
>       >
>       >The discovery that women respond to stress
> differently than men
> was made
>       >in a classic "aha!" moment shared by two women
> scientists who
> were talking
>       >one day in a lab at UCLA. "There was this joke
> that when the
> women who
>       >work in the lab were stressed, they came in,
> cleaned the lab,
> had coffee,
>       >and bonded," says Dr. Kein. "When the men were
> stressed, they
> holed up
>       >somewhere on their own. "I commented one day to a
> fellow
> researcher,
>       >Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress
> research is on
> males. I
>       >showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us
> knew
> instantly that we
>       >were onto something."
>       >
>       >The women cleared their schedules and started
> meeting with one
> scientist
>       >after another from various research specialties.
> Very quickly,
> Drs. Klein
>       >and Taylor discovered that by not including women
> in stress
> research,
>       >scientists had made a huge mistake: The fact that
> women respond
> to stress
>       >differently than men has significant implications
> for our
> health.
>       >
>       >It may take some time for new studies to reveal
> all the ways
> that oxytocin
>       >encourages us to care for children and hang out
> with other
> women, but the
>       >"tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein
> and Taylor
> may explain
>       >why women consistently outlive men. Study after
> study has found
> that
>       >social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering
> blood
> pressure, heart
>       >rate, and cholesterol. "There's no doubt," says
> Dr.Klein, "that
> friends
>       >are helping us live longer."
>       >
>       >In one study, for example, researchers found that
> people who
> had no
>       >friends increased their risk of death over a
> 6-month period. In
> another
>       >study, those who had the most friends over a
> 9-year period cut
> their risk
>       >of death by more than 60%. Friends are also
> helping us live
> better. The
>       >famed Nurses' Health Study from Harvard Medical
> School found
> that the more
>       >friends women had, the less likely they were to
> develop
> physical
>       >impairments as they aged, and the more likely they
> were to be
> leading a
>       >joyful life. In fact, the results were so
> significant, the
> researchers
>       >concluded, that not having close friend or
> confidantes was as
> detrimental
>       >to your health as smoking or carrying extra
> weight! And that's
> not all:
>       >When the researchers looked at how well the women
> functioned
> after the
>       >death of their spouse, they found that even in the
> face of this
> biggest
>       >stressor of all, those women who had a close
> friend and
> confidante were
>       >more likely to survive the experience without any
> new physi!
> cal
>       >impairment or permanent loss of vitality. Those
> without friends
> were not
>       >always so fortunate.
>       >
>       >Yet if friends counter the stress that seems to
> swallow up so
> much of our
>       >life these days, if they keep us healthy and even
> add years to
> our life,
>       >why is it so hard to find time to be with them?
> That's a
> question that
>       >also troubles researcher Ruthellen Josselson, PhD,
> coauthor of
> Best
>       >Friends: The Pleasures and Perils of Girls' and
> Women's
> Friendships (Three
>       >Rivers Press,1998). "Every time we get overly busy
> with work
> and family,
>       >the first thing we do is let go of friendships
> with other
> women," explains
>       >Dr. Josselson. "We push them right to the back
> burner. That's
> really a
>       >mistake, because women are such a source of
> strength to each
> other. We
>       >nurture one another. And we need to have
> unpressured space in
> which we can
>       >do the special kind of talk that women do when
> they're with
> other women.
>       >It's a very healing experience."


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