Everyone has experienced stress in some capacity. Whether it be related to an upcoming midterm, a job, or moving to a new location, stress plays a significant role in daily life. Stress refers to mental and physical responses to exposure to new challenges or changes (stressors), and these responses are inherent to humankind. However, beyond our own stress responses, it is possible that exposure to signs of stress in others can elicit personal feelings of stress. This phenomena is referred to as secondhand stress : feelings of stress and anxiety because someone else appears to be stressed. In recent years, research has discovered that secondhand stress can even be “contagious.” 

It is possible that exposure to signs of stress in others can elicit personal feelings of stress.

A study by Stephanie J. Dimitroff and colleagues sought to investigate the physiological basis of stress contagion and the role of empathy in susceptibility to this contagion. This study began by creating a set of videos featuring participants speaking under multiple conditions: minimal stress, high stress, and recovering from stress. These videos were used as stimuli for a second group of participants. During the study, participants from the first group (speakers) and the second group (observers) were monitored by electrocardiogram (ECG). By measuring cardiac activity of the second group and comparing it to that of the first, the effects/contagiousness of secondhand stress can be noted. For example, comparison of heart rate using ECG measurements can compare stress levels between primary and secondary subjects. The ECG results were used to create figures with measurements of inter-beat intervals, which refers to the time in milliseconds between two heartbeats. As the heart rate increases, the IBI decreases. In addition, the study used various questionnaires to study capacity for empathy and levels of anxiety.

Results showed that there were distinct cardiac patterns for the observers who watched others experiencing or recovering from stress. Interestingly, these patterns were of slower heart rates, where instead of speeding up as expected, the heart rate decelerated. So, stress contagion is complex in the sense that these cardiac patterns are not identical to those of the speakers (group one), which had accelerating heart beats. This deceleration indicates a sort of “freezing” stress response, characterized by a brief spike in heart rate, followed by a decrease where the body becomes immobile and rigid in response to a stimulus. Although these responses seem “opposite” to each other, they demonstrate that secondary stress exists in some capacity. The act of viewing someone else in distress still sets off an autonomic nervous system reaction. 

The most important thing we can do is recognize where our own stress is coming from.

So what does this tell us about stress response? Does it mean that people should stay away from others going through tough times in order to protect themselves? Not necessarily. The most important thing to do is recognize where personal stress is coming from as a way to reduce anxiety. Recognizing its origins and being mindful of its triggers may be the key to reducing the stress response.