#287 - killer stress

i was watching a national geographic show on pbs called stress: portrait of a killer. it was pretty interesting, i'm a total sucker for biological research, especially neurophysiology, and this one was all about how stress takes more than just a psychological toll on the body, but a physical one as well. one of the experiments that they showcased was some weird hippie guy (at least, he looked like a hippie, all long hair and bearded, traveling to africa to tranquilize baboons with blowdarts and all) who studied the bloodwork and tissues of some baboons who lived in a high-stress society. not natural stress, like running from lions or whatever, but societal stress... these monkeys lived in a protected environment and had ample food, so therefore did not need to spend a lot of time finding food or hiding. so, they had TONS of time to torment each other for pleasure and did so with abandon. anyway, he found that the most stressed baboons (the ones on the bottom of the societal totem pole, the subordinates) indeed had more stress and resulting higher blood pressure, more arthrosclerosis, more fat centered around the abdomen, generally unhealthier. makes sense right? just like people, more stress = worse health.

but we could have guessed that right? what was more impressive is that in one baboon colony, some accident happened so that all the alpha males died, and the troop was left with the more docile males and a majority of females. what ended up happening is that the troop was less aggressive in general, more passive, more socially linked, spent more time grooming each other rather than causing trouble to each other. when other baboons would come in, they would try to act cocky and make trouble, but they would soon learn that this society was not like that and they eventually assimilated into the gentler society. the interesting thing is that in this society all those markers of bad health were absent. without that stress of the baboon's aggressive behaviors to themselves, the baboons were healthier. additionally, they found that dopamine receptors were more active, suggesting that sensations were felt more vividly (they propose that quality of life is higher, "the sun is sunnier," etc.).

monkeys are super gross through. barf.

anyway... in an experiment i was most interested in because it involved neuro-imaging... rats with the most stress showed reduced dentridic formation in the brain, more specifically in the hippocampus. meaning that stress affects memory and learning, the more stress you get, the less you are able to remember things and function effeciently.

but it's cool to see it in nature as well as in our society (i say "our society" because for some reason we don't often view ourselves as part of nature, even though how can we not be? we're not above nature, we're still part of the eco-system and still creatures of the earth).

meanwhile, i've been having stress of my own. parents are mean. we all know that. they think that when it comes to THEIR child, they are totally justified in doing whatever the hell they please because it's for the good of THEIR child. bullshit. there's no excuse for being mean and treating people like crap. perhaps you have a logical reason for doing it, but that does not vidicate you from your rude/bad/bitchy/manelovent behavior.

luckily, i'm a damn smart guy, good at my job, and a very professional person (and humble too, haha) to boot so i got through it with help from some co-workers and now that the situation is over and dealt with i can move on. yup, so after watching this show i'm taking a day-off today. i need to get more sleep. it all starts there. gotta give the body time to recover, so i will watch volleyball tonight, have a great dinner, and get to bed early, ready to rise early and raring to go tomorrow... perhaps.

PS - did anyone watch man vs. wild this week? geez, here i thought bear grylls was the crazy one, but man his camera crew is plain NUTS! they follow him all over the place with all their equipment... but at least they think he's insane for all the stuff that he eats!