What to Do When You're Stressed
Posted by Danielle Bean in Family on Monday, May 17, 2010 10:00 AM
Listen up, girls. You’re mother is right. If you are feeling stressed, just calling home can make it all better. Or at least help calm you down, anyway.
I loved reading about this study that looked at how young girls, ages 7-12, reacted to interactions with their mothers during times of stress.
At least for young girls, talking on the phone with their mothers reduces a key stress hormone and also releases oxytocin, a feel-good brain chemical that is believed to play a key role in forming bonds, the study found ... oxytocin levels rose sharply in the girls who interacted with their moms, and remained elevated for more than an hour after the test. The girls who didn’t have contact with their mothers showed no increase in oxytocin levels at all.
It goes without saying, of course, that the soothing effect of mother-daughter interactions is dependent upon girls having healthy relationships with their mothers.
God blessed me with an amazing mother, and I can attest to the fact that phone calls home to her, both as a girl, and today as a grown woman, do indeed have that soothing effect on me.
I will never forget the time when, as a high schooler, I was involved in a minor traffic accident. I remained fairly calm throughout my interactions with the other driver and through the process of making a police report, but the moment I called home and heard my mother’s voice, the tears flowed freely—in what I am sure was an oxytocin-filled moment.
I’m always glad to see science back up what many good moms know intuitively. Of all the things we mothers are called to be for our kids, I think that “safe place” is one of the most important.
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
