Stress

We all know what stress is; it is a little hard to define exactly, but we all have an idea what it is. We know the feeling in our stomachs, the racing pulse and even the dizziness. We also know that stress for bad for us; it can lead to high blood pressure, has been linked to cancer and it is a major factor in some mental disorders. So why do we get stressed, what possible benefit could getting stressed be.

Well if we didn’t get stressed at all it would be difficult for us to get out of bed in morning. It is the stress of having to earn money that causes us to get up in the morning. When our stomachs are empty we feel hungry and it is this stress of feeling hungry that causes us to go look for food. If stress is a natural part of life why is stress so bad for us? To answer this question we need to go all way back to Africa perhaps 100,000 years ago. It has always been a bit of a surprise that a monkey as insignificant as homo sapien could have survived on the plains of Africa, yet alone thrive. This is where stress was so useful. When ancient homo sapiens perceived danger their body were flooded with hormones that produced the familiar signs of stress, racing pulse etc. This was like turning on the turbo-boost, early humans were able to run faster, withstand pain; the so-called fight or flight response.

Now fast forward to today. Modern humans are unlikely to encounter lions, crocodiles or other major predators, but yet we experience the same stress response as our hunter-gather forebears. When we get stuck in traffic we experience the same stress response as being chased by a lion. Actually that is not quite the case. There still are some humans living as hunter-gathers in Africa and it is possible to test their stress levels. When the stress level of these hunter-gathers is measured and compared to the stress levels of humans living in the developed world we find that the hunter-gather’s stress level is less. It appears that being stuck in traffic is more stressful than being chased by a lion.

So, even though stress is a natural part of life, modern humans need to learn to re-interpret what stress is or face the adverse consequences.