Stress is Dangerous

...and not worth the damage it can do...to you... oh yeah.

I am stressed. I am super stressed. And we all know stress is life changing. It probably had a more practical application in early civilization than it does today. Stress today is not a good thing. It is common knowledge that stress most likely affects our mind, soul and body and consequently affects the health of our hearts-literally.

Those who know me, know I am a nerd and love love love to watch PBS. Last evening I watched a documentary on PBS highlighting the study of stress in baboons over many years by scientist Robert Sapolsky. He is also a professor at Stanford, an author and a research assistant at the Institute of Primate Research in Kenya. National Geographic teamed up with Sapolsky to create a documentary of his studies and findings to help this modern girl (and you too) understand better the affect of stress on the all of me (and you too).

If you didn’t see it and have a desire to watch the show, you can find information on its next showing and read a blurb about the documentary at PBS. http://www.pbs.org/stress/

Now to a few interesting facts and points of interest that I remember from the documentary. Did you know?

•Extensive exposure to stress in baboons and humans is a killer (on my last life guys)
•Stress eventually shuts down the immune system making us vulnerable to disease (hacking...)
•Stress shrinks our brains (so that’s what happened)
•Stress adds belly fat (no comment)
•Stress rearranges some of our cells -our very own DNA... until we are unidentifiable (not really)

In case you are interested, Robert Sapolsky has authored the following books: Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: Stress, Disease and Coping, Monkeyluv, A Primate's Memoir and The Trouble with Testosterone. (I would like to read the first book please.)

This photo of baboon youngsters eating this car is very stressful, to me. Wait a minute, who cares, it's not my car.

To learn more about stress and Sapolsky you can visit the Stanford University website: http://killerstress.stanford.edu/

A Stress Quiz- if you would like to see how much you know about “killer stress” there is quiz at the PBS website. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/stress-quiz.html I made a 5 out 10 score- not a good score – but considering my brain shrinkage with stress and all… I am just saying.

Source: www.pbs.org/stress