To find out how stressed we are, we need to check this unusual part of our body

The stress hormone

The hormone that allows us to assess stress levels par excellence is cortisol. This is produced by the adrenal glands throughout the day in response to stress.

The role of cortisol in disorders such as depression is still unclear anxiety. That is, this hormone is very difficult to measure. Traditional blood tests, in fact, frighten and stress many patients.

This can result in high cortisol levels which however do not reflect the individual’s state over time. They are just a mirror of the acute rise in cortisol due to the exam itself. So far, it hasn’t been easy for scientists to study this hormone.

An innovative method to find out the level of stress

Hair can be analyzed to analyze the individual’s cortisol levels over the long term. However, at least 3 cm of hair is required. Not everyone is willing to cut their hair that much.

Thanks to new studies, however, to find out how stressed we are we have to check this unusual part of our body: the ear. The discovery comes from the team led by Andres Herane Vives of the University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. The study published in the journal “Heliyon” was conducted on 37 participants who had ear wax removed.

Thanks to the cerume it was possible to analyze the quantities of cortisol in the individual over the long term. The earwax is able, in fact, to collect more cortisol from the hair, giving more correct results. Herane-Vives hopes the study will be able to model correlation between cortisol levels and certain disorders such as anxiety and depression. This would make diagnoses and therapies more correct as well as opening a door on the study of the influence of cortisol on the human body and mind.