| Chronic stress dramatically impacts mental, physical health | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 3:15:46 AM by Blog57 Team | | As college students we find ourselves stressed all the time. Whether it is from an unruly professor, a slob roommate, a 60-page paper due tomorrow morning, the traffic on I-76 or the usual Drexel Shaft, stress has become an integral part of all our lives. Although we see its short-term effects now as lost sleep, irritability and crankiness, we need to look ahead to the long-term implications of chronic stress for our lives. In his book Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, Robert M. Sapolsky, professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, details the grim effects of chronic stress on our cardiovascular health. The predominant effect of chronic stress is an increase in blood pressure, which activates the sympathetic nervous system and causes vasoconstriction of blood vessels. In the short-term, this is beneficial to us, as blood flow is increased to the necessary muscles.... | |
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| | | Stress May Hasten Alzheimer's | | Posted Thursday, August 31, 2006 2:57:43 PM by Blog57 Team | | Stress hormones may exacerbate the formation of brain lesions that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, according to California researchers. Frank LaFerla led a team of University of California at Irvine researchers that found that when young animals were injected for just seven days with dexamethasone -- similar to the body's stress hormones -- the levels of the protein beta-amyloid in the brain increased by 60 percent. When beta-amyloid production increases and these protein fragments aggregate, they form plaques, one of the two hallmark brain lesions of Alzheimer's disease. They also found that the levels of another protein, tau, also increased. Tau accumulation eventually leads to the formation of tangles, the other signature lesion of Alzheimer's. .... | |
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| | | Ease moving stress with a plan | | Posted Sunday, July 30, 2006 4:57:52 AM by Blog57 Team | | (07-29) 04:00 PDT Albany, N.Y. -- The sweat is pouring from Carl Cazalet's brow, but he's got it easy. It's the movers he's hired whose shirts are soaked and whose muscles are straining. "I think they rank moving as the No. 3 most stressful thing behind divorce and the death of a family member," says Cazalet in his Clifton Park, N.Y., kitchen as movers fill a truck with his family's things. "It's not really that bad. We've been busy getting ready, but I'm OK with the stress of it." Kevin Holmes has taken the opposite approach, though not by choice. Moving from Wilton, N.Y., to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the owner of Holmes Painting has enlisted the help of his painting crew. "It's been pretty painless," Holmes says, wearing his moving gear of shorts and a tank top. "It's not what I'd call fun, but if you have reason to move yourself, it's not an impossible task." Cazalet and Holmes are proving that moving doesn't have to be as stressful as death or divorce, whether you do it yourself or hire a moving company.... | |
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| | | Kelly Marker: Uncontrolled parental stress can damage children | | Posted Saturday, July 01, 2006 6:57:33 PM by Blog57 Team | | Stress is an emotional response to the perception that the demands on oneself exceed the personal and social resources available. In other words, life events become overpowering. During stressful times, most of us have a tendency to lash out, and our loved ones particularly our children often get the brunt of our emotions.Many of us will do whatever it takes to not face the hurt and pain, to make it all OK, to not fail, or to just make it through another day. Sometimes, we'll even turn to destructive coping strategies such as excess alcohol, sex, drugs, denial (lying to ourselves or refusing to see the problem), running away, over control, rage, fear and busyness.)In her book, "The Invitation," Oriah Mountain Dreamer writes, "It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.... | |
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