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Soil bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae relaxes you within five minutes
Earlier this week we wrote about Streptomyces bacteria in the ground, which produce the psychoactive substance geosmin. Streptomyces is not the only soil bacterium that can ensure that people function mentally better. Mycobacterium vaccae has a similar feature.
Study
Biologists from Konkuk University had 29 healthy test subjects mixed in a bowl on two different occasions in a laboratory. That only took 5 minutes. Sometimes the earth was sterile, the other time the earth contained the benign bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae.
Just before and after this activity, the researchers determined the electrical activity in the brain of the test subjects. Moreover, they registered their heartbeat.
Results
Contact with the earth in which Mycobacterium vaccae was present, reduced the heartbeat by 8 strokes per minute. This is shown in the table below.
In the brains of the test subjects, the alpha waves became 5.7 percent stronger after exposure to Mycobacterium vaccae. This is shown in the table above. Click on it for a larger version.
Stronger alpha waves in the brain indicate relaxation and a decrease in psychological stress.
Mechanism
The Koreans suspect that Mycobacterium vaccae influences brain function primarily through the lungs. It is possible that people working in fields or gardens - or, in the case of this experiment, in a laboratory - inhale the bacteria. Or perhaps they inhale substances that Mycobacterium vaccae produces.
This is all getting very interesting. More soon.
Source:
J Amer Soc Hort Sci. 2022;147(3):135-44.
More:
Geosmin, the nootropic from freshly ploughed earth 02.07.2025
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Psychology
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