Stress hormone does funny things to teens

If you’re looking for a reason why teenagers suffer with mood swings, researchers may have found the answer:

Researchers have discovered that a hormone produced by the body in response to stress, which normally calms adults and younger children, instead increases anxiety in adolescents.

They conducted experiments with female mice focusing on the hormone THP that demonstrated this paradoxical effect, and described the brain mechanism that explains it.

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If, as the scientists suspect, the same thing happens in people, the phenomenon may help account for the mood swings and anxiety exhibited by many adolescents, they said.

Read (via The Age)