Stress, Portrait Of A Killer

All that we do, we are bound to encounter stress. Stress can be defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Whenever one is facing difficulty ,suffering anxiety, or feeling worried,stress will immediately take over. Stress has been, and will remain to be, a natural part of our daily routine. This causes many to underestimate its overall effects. The 2008 National Geographic documentary, Stress, Portrait of a Killer, explains stress in many different perspectives. The film discusses its history, who has the most of it, it's mental and physical damages to the body, and how we can reverse its effects. Few are aware of the lasting damages stress has on one’s body; this includes

Sapolsky and his family are able to detect stress levels in each of the samples.“They are not being stressed by predators, they’re being stressed by ech other”, social and psychological turmoil invented by their own species. The film goes on to discuss the social positions of wild baboons,“Every male knows where they stand, who can torture him, who he can torture and who the torture can torture.” Sapolsky links the stress of a “lower troop” baboon to its declining health while the most intelligent and aggressive male baboons receive the top perks and have relatively lower stress levels. Also, the brains of high ranking baboons showed a higher level of dopamine, the pleasure chemical of the body. Sapolsky concludes based on his study of the species that one place in a social hierarchy, plays a role in the amount of

People had only incorporated stress with stomach ulcers, with these ulcers being caused by the Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria.This created the false belief that stomach were not caused by stress, but by the bacteria. Once scientist discovered that way more people that the H. pylori bacteria than those with stomach ulcers, meaning that the bacteria did not cause these ulcers.The truth is that during the fight-or-flight stage, the body shuts down all non-essential body processes, the immune system included. This allows stomach bacteria to rip through the stomach and create ulcers without the immune system doing its job and stopping the bacteria. This is just one of many damages stress can do to the body.

An interesting point in the documentary is the discussion that stress makes people stupid. Scientists at Rockefeller University put lab rats though stressful situations, this causes damage to the rat’s hippocampus, the memory center of the brain. Also, young children who were abused with stress see an effect in their neuron development and their brain size in the future.Increase levels of stress, especially at a young age, causes fewer brain branches in the hippocampus region.This effect makes is can be explained, for example, forgetting information after being stressed before a big