New Stress Sensor

Scientists have come up with a stress tracking sensor

Olga Ivanova, Naked Science

Scientists from Switzerland have developed a device that can track stress levels by analyzing sweat.

The work was published in the journal Communications Materials (Sheibani et al., Extended gate field-effect-transistor for sensing cortisol stress hormone).

Stress is a vivid and conscious reaction, so it is easy for a person to recognize it: tension appears in the body, a headache may develop and insomnia may develop. But the stress of others can not always be determined. The extent of this condition is often unclear even to those who experience it, especially when it comes to chronic negative emotions.

Scientists from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (Switzerland) have developed an electronic chip that is able to analyze stress levels. This will help in diagnosing depression or emotional burnout, as well as in prescribing effective therapy. It is also important that the information is transmitted in real time.

The portable sensor chip developed by the authors of the work extracts it from the analysis of sweat gland secretions and aims to search for the steroid hormone cortisol in them, which is produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress. The sensor uses short DNA fragments that bind to cortisol.

The researchers emphasize that their development may be important not only for the treatment of depression, but also for the prevention of diseases such as obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular, allergies, fatigue syndrome and others that are traditionally associated with psychosomatics.

According to the authors of the work, with the help of their sensor, it will be possible to measure cortisol levels throughout the day in order to build stress curves and clearly see how they deviate from the norm. Cortisol levels should normally be higher in the morning and lower in the evening. Sustained stress can disrupt this rhythm.

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