Stress is something a majority of people will experience at some point in their life. According to the World Health Organization, stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional or psychological strain. There are numerous events or experiences that can catalyze periods of stress, from starting a new job to having a child, but is it possible to catch stress from someone else?

A 2014 paper in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology made headlines after its authors suggested that stress can be contagious. The authors wrote that just seeing another person in a stressful situation can make our own bodies release cortisol, a hormone involved in the stress response. This phenomenon, dubbed “empathic stress,” tends to be more prevalent when seeing a loved one or a close friend in distress, the researchers suggested, but it can also occur when seeing a stranger suffering.

“It's definitely possible to [subconsciously] perceive another person's emotions, especially negative ones,” Tara Perrot, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Dalhousie University in Canada, told Live Science. “This would have been selected for in our evolutionary past as it would provide a non-verbal way to communicate danger and fear.”