A little dirt makes you happier
Soil is full of bacteria that digest organic matter. Sometimes we worry that a soil bacteria might make us sick (your mother saying, "Wash your hands!")
But a group of scientists has found that injecting a particular type of soil bacteria into your bloodstream may cause your brain to produce more anti-stress chemicals and therefore reduce depression. Read the Economist article here, and you can see the reference to the research paper here. The interesting part is how the effect was discovered because the vaccine was injected to possibly reduce lung cancer. Clearly, washing one's hands is overrated...
10 comments:
Brandon Mead 5818
I just took Drugs and the Brain last quarter and learned a lot about serotonin levels in the brain and how they effect the emotional status of individuals. It was fascinating to see how even a slight decrease in serotonin really did leave an individual in a much more depressed state. I can easily see how an immune response to M. vaccae that leads to an increase in the levels of seratonin would greatly help any individual dealing with depression. I think it's fascinating that the doctor conducting this experiment didn't just look directly at the seratonin levels in the mice to see if his new vaccine would have any effect on them, but he looked at the dorsal raphe nucleus instead to determine if the vaccine was going to work on more than one level. I don't really know how I feel about the mice being put in water to see if they are depressed or not. I don't really think that if a mice decides to swim we can proclaim that we have found a miracle cure for depression, I would like to see another experiment done to determine depression levels before I completely give into this vaccine. I am hopeful for the results though as I myself struggle with depression. Here is a link to a video that I found that describes very well the relationship of both seratonin and norepinephrine in depression http://www.healthcentral.com/depression/introduction-5003-109.html
Kenny Lim, 7240
I found this article very interesting because I have also read about other researches that have said that sometimes being to clean and staying indoors can be bad for children. The reason for this is because if children aren't able to go outside and get dirty and play around, then they won't be exposed to bacteria and germs. I know a lot of parents want the best for the children and don't want them to get the flu, so they don't let them go outside. It was very interesting to see that the study found that a specific bacteria can actually help lower stress levels. Which is something all of us need, especially in our high paced world. I guess we should all got outside more often to help build up our immune system to help fight off and be exposed to bacteria.
One question I had was that would this ever be used on humans and prescribed to people who suffer from depression or high stress?
This link doesn't deal with bacteria or stress levels, but its a big issue today.
http://www.physorg.com/news95535411.html
Vidya 7546
I thoroughly agree with this article due to personal experience of living in India for four years, and having the general population not be as hygienic as that of the American population, and yet their immunity is so much better than ours. Their lives are less carefree, and less stressful than ours here, leading us to believe, just as the article states, that maybe sometimes "bad is good." The experiment of the mice swimming in the Economist article fully and completely mirrors actions of human beings, where stressed individuals tend not to think about relaxing but rather tend to focus on all the work they have to get done, or dwell on the cause of stress at hand. I believe that, according to the Economist, the reason why depression is becoming so common is because people tend not to expose themselves to thoughts, ideas, areas, activities that go against their belief system or the general conviction that germs are bad, and hygiene is good. Although I do not fully understand the PubMed article due to the highly scientific terms, from what I gathered, I believe that good immunity truly relies on the fact of one’s ability to “test the waters” and test their ability to be healthy by living and surviving in different environments. Gathering from all the ideas expressed in the Economist & Pubmed, too much of a good thing in this case, IS a bad thing – one must know to expose themselves but then have the right treatment at hand as well.
One article I found that somewhat related to my experience and that related to stress and hygiene can be found at this website:
http://www.hindu.com/seta/2003/
12/18/stories/2003121800
381800.htm
I think this article is really fascinating. My parents always told me to wash my hands all the time and most of the time, I wouldn't wash my hands ( I wasn't a really clean kid). Now I can tell my parents that "washing your hands" isn't really the best solution. It's amazing how a specific bacteria can lower stress levels. I believe that college students should get dirty more so that their stress levels would decrease.
I forgot my name and exam code. Crystal Yoo 2036
This article does not seem too surprising to me because our immune system needs certain bacterias to survive. Studies show that more bacteria is needed than harmful to humans. Eating certain foods also gives our body the bacteria it needs, so this study on injecting soil into the bloodstream may be helpful in relieving stress. However, I don't think when mother's tell their children to 'wash there hands' they are referring to all of the mud that is on their children's hands, it is more of a caution of spreading harmful bacteria and sicknesses that could effect them. The question is is this so called vaccine a complete cure for depression or is it a temporary sort of medicine that helps reduce stress levels?
Here is another website I found concerning the affects of depression:
http://psychiatry.jwatch.org
Loren Roberts 3875
Adrian Tafoya 4773?
This articles sounds interesting enough but I don't quite see/understand how a simple bacterium could alter ones psychotic levels. I mean according to this article certain types of bacteria cause you synapse to release higher levels and dopamine? How how how is all i need to know.
I am quite skeptical on research such as this but I do think mud baths would be more fun and entertaining then prozac and other SRI's. But truth be told if this bacteria found in the mud truly made that much of an affect on the patient/mud-bather they would market prozac by the bucket and not by the bottle.
-Adrian Tafoya
Hi all-
Don't forget you need to find and provide a link to some related information!
Michael Chon 3702
I've already heard something about this subject from my Evolutionary Biology class last quarter. Also another interesting thing I've heard is that those anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizers are actually bad for you. The theory is that those things kill 99% of the bacteria on your hands, but leave the strongest 1% to multiply and reproduce. I guess it's better just to leave your hands a little dirty in order to keep "super bacteria" from flourishing on your hands.
I found this article to be fascinating because we always think of people in the mud as being down in the dumps and depressed, but in actuality this is the opposite. I had never heard anything about serotonin and the efect it has on the brain in different levels. It is very interesting that being while being in the mud your body can actually absorb these different bacteria and produce an immune response that actually makes a person happier. That's amazing. I always thought of immune responses as only doing things like swelling or making the body hurt - never feel better. I don't know if I would be too inclined to ever go hang out in the mud just because it made me feel a bit happier, but it is however very interesting and entertaining to think about.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Eat-Mud-to-Get-Happy-51563.shtml
Stephen2068
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