Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 16 July 2026 · From issue 08
Drinking water after stress turns on a brain reward pathway that calms anxiety in mice.
Lan Tang, Run-Jie Wu et al., Neural circuits for stress-induced water drinking in relief of anxiety, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Mice often drink water right after something stressful happens. This study found the brain pathway behind that habit. Mild stress turns on a thinking part of the brain. That part sends a signal down to a thirst center, and the mice start drinking. Drinking then turns on a second pathway that reaches a reward center in the brain. This releases a brain chemical tied to pleasure, and it helps calm the stress-related anxiety.
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