Stress-Reliever?

I read something today that made me laugh - it's from the book Women's Ministry in the Local Church, in which Susan Hunt sites an article in The Psychological Review reporting on the way women react when they are stressed. It struck me as funny that something which can be the cause of large amounts of stress can also help relieve stress.

" . . . Scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible . . . Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioral repertoire than just "fight or flight" . . . it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is released as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the "fight or flight" response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. This calming response does not occur in men . . . because testosterone - which men produce in high levels when they're under stress - seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogen . . . seems to enhance it."

It is kind of incredible to discover yet another of God's provisions. It makes perfect sense that fulfilling my God-given calling as wife and mother is actually beneficial to my mental / emotional health. Every law and task He's laid before us is intended for our benefit - and ultimately His glory.

That said, I somehow think Karis is going to be very unimpressed the next time I throttle her and yell that she is supposed to be relieving my stress . . .