Your dog can smell when you're stressed out
It’s no secret that many health professionals have experienced extreme stress over the last couple of years, but now it seems your dog can tell.
New research from Queen’s University Belfast, published in PLOS ONE, suggests the physiological processes associated with an acute psychological stress response produce changes in human breath and sweat that dogs can detect with an accuracy of 93.75%.
Odours emitted by the body constitute chemical signals that have evolved for communication, primarily within species. Given dogs’ remarkable sense of smell, their close domestication history with humans, and their use to support human psychological conditions such as anxiety, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), researchers wondered whether dogs could be sensing chemical signals to respond to their owners’ psychological states.
In the new study, the researchers collected samples of breath and sweat from non-smokers who had not recently consumed anything by mouth. Samples were collected both before and after a fast-paced arithmetic task, along with self-reported stress levels and objective physiological measures: heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). Samples from 36 participants who reported an increase in stress because of the task, and experienced an increase in HR and BP during the task, were shown to trained dogs within three hours of being collected. Four dogs of different breeds and breed-mixes had been trained, using a clicker as well as kibble, to match odours in a discrimination task. At testing, dogs were asked to find the participant’s stress sample (taken at the end of the task) while the same person’s relaxed sample (taken only minutes before, prior to the task starting) was also in the sample line-up.
Overall, dogs could detect and perform their alert behaviour on the sample taken during stress in 675 out of 720 trials, or 93.75% of the time — much greater than expected by chance. The first time they were exposed to a participant’s stressed and relaxed samples, the dogs correctly alerted to the stress sample 94.44% of the time. Individual dogs ranged in performance from 90% to 96.88% accuracy.
The authors of the study conclude that dogs can detect an odour associated with the change in Volatile Organic Compounds produced by humans in response to stress, a finding that tells us more about the human–dog relationship and could have applications to the training of anxiety and PTSD service dogs that are currently trained to respond predominantly to visual cues.
The authors added: “This study demonstrates that dogs can discriminate between the breath and sweat taken from humans before and after a stress-inducing task. This finding tells us that an acute, negative, psychological stress response alters the odour profile of our breath/sweat, and that dogs are able to detect this change in odour.”
The ANMF has filed a landmark application with the Fair Work Commission to increase award wages...
A new national project, involving pharmacists, patients and doctors, aims to reduce medication...
With more than 150 leading health sector speakers, over 100 sessions and two deep-dive master...
Mbwa wako anaweza kunusa wakati unafadhaika - Si siri kwamba wataalamu wengi wa afya wamepitia mkazo mkubwa katika miaka michache iliyopita, lakini sasa inaonekana mbwa wako anaweza kujua. Utafiti mpya kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Malkia cha Belfast, uliochapishwa katika PLOS ONE, unaonyesha mchakato wa kisaikolojia unaohusiana na majibu ya mkazo wa kisaikolojia wa haraka hutokeza mabadiliko katika pumzi ya binadamu na jasho ambalo mbwa wanaweza kugundua kwa usahihi wa 93.75%. Harufu zinazotolewa na mwili ni ishara za kemikali ambazo zimebadilika kwa ajili ya mawasiliano, hasa ndani ya spishi. Kwa kuzingatia hisia ya ajabu ya kunusa ya mbwa, historia yao ya karibu ya kufugwa na wanadamu, na matumizi yao ya kusaidia hali za kisaikolojia za binadamu kama vile wasiwasi, mashambulizi ya hofu na shida ya shida ya baada ya majeraha (PTSD), watafiti walijiuliza ikiwa mbwa wanaweza kuhisi ishara za kemikali ili kujibu hali za kisaikolojia za wamiliki wao. Katika utafiti huo, watafiti walichukua sampuli za pumzi na jasho kutoka kwa watu ambao hawakuvuta sigara na ambao hawakuchukua dawa yoyote kwa njia ya kinywa. Sampuli zilipigwa kabla na baada ya kazi ya haraka ya hesabu, pamoja na viwango vya mkazo vilivyoripotiwa na vipimo vya kisaikolojia: kiwango cha moyo (HR) na shinikizo la damu (BP). Kwa mfano, sampuli kutoka kwa washiriki 36 ambao waliripoti kuongezeka kwa mkazo kwa sababu ya kazi hiyo, na walipata ongezeko la HR na BP wakati wa kazi hiyo, zilionyeshwa kwa mbwa waliozoezwa ndani ya masaa matatu ya kukusanywa. Mbwa wanne wa jamii tofauti na mchanganyiko wa jamii walikuwa wamefundishwa, kwa kutumia clicker pamoja na kibble, kulinganisha harufu katika kazi ya kutofautisha. Katika jaribio hilo, mbwa waliulizwa kupata sampuli ya mshiriki wa mtihani (iliyochukuliwa mwishoni mwa kazi) wakati sampuli ya mtu huyo wa kupumzika (iliyochukuliwa dakika chache tu kabla ya kuanza kazi) pia ilikuwa katika sampuli. Kwa ujumla, mbwa waliweza kugundua na kutekeleza tabia yao ya tahadhari kwenye sampuli iliyochukuliwa wakati wa mkazo katika 675 kati ya majaribio 720, au 93,75% ya wakati - zaidi ya kutarajiwa kwa bahati. Wakati wa kwanza walipoonyeshwa sampuli za mshiriki wa mtihani na kupumzika, mbwa walijulisha kwa usahihi sampuli ya mtihani kwa 94.44% ya wakati. Mbwa mmoja mmoja walifanya kazi kwa usahihi wa asilimia 90 hadi asilimia 96. Watafiti wanasema kwamba mbwa wanaweza kugundua harufu inayohusiana na mabadiliko ya kemikali za kikaboni zinazotokana na binadamu katika kujibu mkazo, jambo ambalo linatuambia zaidi juu ya uhusiano wa binadamu na mbwa na linaweza kuwa na matumizi kwa mafunzo ya wasiwasi na mbwa wa huduma ya PTSD ambao kwa sasa wamefundishwa kujibu kwa ishara za kuona. "Wanahabari wa utafiti huo walisema: ""Utafiti huu unaonyesha kwamba mbwa wanaweza kutofautisha kati ya pumzi na jasho lililochukuliwa kutoka kwa wanadamu kabla na baada ya kazi inayosababisha mkazo." "Utafiti huu unatuambia kwamba majibu ya dhiki ya kisaikolojia ya kukata tamaa, ya hasi, ya kiakili hubadilisha harufu ya pumzi yetu, na kwamba mbwa wanaweza kugundua mabadiliko haya ya harufu. "" - ANMF, Tume ya Kazi ya Haki, ilitoa ombi la hatua kwa Tume ya Kazi ya Haki, ""kuongeza mishahara ya tuzo"" - mradi mpya wa kitaifa, unaohusisha madaktari, waganga na madaktari, unakusudia kupunguza dawa."