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Posted on 03/02/2003 5:57:04 PM PST by Dog Gone
MEN have always said it, and now scientists appear to have confirmed it - women are born worriers.
Research has shown that women have lower levels of a brain chemical that influences anxiety. Having less of the chemical, an enzyme called COMT, appears to make a person more anxious and highly strung.
Researchers in the US discovered the strong link between COMT and anxiety while investigating the roots of alcoholism.
Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that women with the same gene variant had similarly high scores in tests that measure anxiety.
The women also had similar recordings of electrical activity in the brain - characteristic hallmarks of anxious temperament.
But men having the same genetic make-up did not appear to be extra anxious.
Previous studies have shown that women generally have lower COMT levels. The NIAAA research found that women scored higher than men in psychological tests which used harm avoidance as a measurement of anxiety.
The results indicated that women experienced a higher state of general anxiety than men.
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No worries, Mate!
"This fully explains why I am always worried. And concerned"
I just couldn't stand to see you hanging out there after posting this, slowly twisting in the wind!!! (all alone, that is)(grin)
If memory serves me correctly, there was a major news magazine, like Time or Newsweek, a few years ago, that came to the conclusion that men and women are different. What a bunch of gomers.
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