How stressful are you? Your earwax can hold the answer.
A new way to collect and analyze earwax for stress hormone levels Cortisol It may be an easy and cheap way to track the mental health of people with depression or anxiety.
Cortisol is an important hormone that spikes when stressed and falls when relaxed. In the short term, hormones are important for survival as they are involved in the “fight or flight” response. However, cortisol is often depression And anxiety, and persistent high levels of cortisol, Immune system, Blood pressure and other physical functions.
There are other disorders with abnormal cortisol, including Cushing’s disease (caused by overproduction of cortisol) and Addison’s disease (caused by underproduction of cortisol). People with Cushing’s disease have abnormal fat deposits, weakened immunity, and brittle bones. People with Addison’s disease have dangerously low blood pressure.
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Tracking cortisol levels
There are many ways to measure cortisol: in saliva, in blood, and even in hair. However, saliva and blood samples only capture the moment, and cortisol fluctuates significantly throughout the day. Even the experience of drawing blood with a needlestick can increase stress and increase cortisol levels. Hair samples can provide snapshots of cortisol over months instead of minutes, but hair analysis can be expensive and some people don’t have that much.
Andrés Herane-Vives, a lecturer at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the Institute of Psychiatry at University College London, and his colleagues listened instead. Earwax is stable and resistant to bacterial contamination, making it easy to ship to the laboratory for analysis. You can also keep a record of cortisol levels that grow over the weeks.
However, previous methods of harvesting earwax involved sticking a syringe into it. ear Then rinse it with water. It can be a little painful and stressful. So Heran Vibes and his colleagues developed a swab that was as stress-free as Q-Tip when used. The swab has a shield around the handle, so use a sponge to collect the wax at the end to avoid piercing your ears and damaging your eardrum.
Earwax collection
In a small pilot study, researchers collected blood, hair, and earwax from 37 participants at two different times. At each collection point, earwax was sampled from one ear using a syringe and from the other ear using a new self-swab method. Next, the researchers compared the reliability of cortisol measurements from self-swab earwax with the reliability of other methods.
They found that cortisol was more concentrated in earwax than in hair, facilitating analysis. Analyzing self-swab earwax was faster and more efficient than analyzing earwax from a syringe that had to be dried before use. Finally, earwax showed more consistency at cortisol levels compared to other methods that were more sensitive to fluctuations caused by recent alcohol consumption and the like. Participants also stated that self-swab is more comfortable than the syringe method.
Researchers reported their findings in the journal on November 2nd helix.. Herane-Vives has also launched a company called Treas to sell new ways. In the future, we hope that earwax can also be used to monitor other hormones. Researchers also need to follow up on the studies of Asian individuals excluded from this pilot study, as a significant number produce only dry flaky earwax rather than moist waxy earwax.
“After this successful pilot study, if our device is further scrutinized in large trials, it will transform the diagnosis, cortisol-related conditions such as depression, Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome, and potentially others. Wants to take care of millions of people with many states, “he Said in a statement..
Originally published in Live Science.
