Robert Sapolsky: The Power Of The Mind

1. Dr. Sapolsky’s research in the Masai Mara National Park of Kenya involved collecting blood samples from baboons to measure hormones involved in the stress response. After anaesthetizing the baboon in an unassuming way (to avoid hormones produced from anticipatory stress) he collected blood samples from their bodies.

The video “Stress Portrait of a Killer” was enlightening. The correlation between each individual’s placement in the hierarchy and their level of stress was not surprising. In fact, it made a great deal of sense. When one is on the lower end of the spectrum, it is a reasonable to anticipate higher levels of stress than when one is at the higher end. The latter, has more control over what is happening in their lives which in turn eliminates that stress. What I found most interesting, is that stress lowers the body’s immunity. I had no idea that the brain cuts non-essential systems like the immune system when stress is present. I found this fact fascinating and rather concerning. For as long as I can remember, I have been very susceptible to

Director Boaz Yakin created film “Remember the Titans”. This film was set placed in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. At this time T.C. Williams high school was the first school having black race and white race together and neither race were happy about it. This film talks about how they overcome the racism and how each individual person on the team become one as team. And analysis of “remember the titans” shows people can overcome challenges by hard work, determination and perseverance.

The documentary, Stress, Portrait of a Killer, examined how stress is known to kill, yet humans still believe they are invincible. Dr. Robert Sapolsky studied primates in Africa in order to learn about what effects stress has on the body. Interestingly, he found that the baboons who were considered to have a higher rank actually had lower stress hormones in their blood. Conversely, the baboons who were considered to be low rankers actually had elevated stress hormones, increased heart rate, and a higher blood pressure—all of which lead to deteriorating health. Furthermore, the documentary uncovered that weigh and weight distribution is directly related to stress which is unfortunate because the more weight you gain, the more you stress! More

Throughout the history of the American presidential elections there has never been an election that is being dread this much. The choices for the election are Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton has spent years in politics, and has held both the position Secretary of State and First Lady. She is well known for the federal investigation into her and the corruption of the Clinton Foundation. Trump on the other hand, is a very successful businessman and is worth billions. He has never been in politics and it shows when he makes rude comments. Recently, he has been accused of rape and sexual harassment.

Psycho-social stress can be anything psychological or social that causes us to feel upset. We can be “stressed out” because of our job, or because of school, or because we are poor. We define what we react to and how much time and energy we spend reacting to it. There are some people who have very difficult lives, who do not experience stress in the same way others do (Myers, 2014). Sapolsky set out to discover what psycho-social factors could be indicators about who is more likely to experience a stress response. Sopolskys research with primates with similar social structures to humans, revealed that there are several

“This video is about Robert Sapolsky explaining the psychology of stress. Sapolsky talks about how homeostasis means being in a homeostatic balance, meaning that your body temperate is regulated ideally to how it should be comfortably or how your glucose levels in the blood stream are ideally regulated to how it should be. Sapolsky also talks about how we humans have to understand as well as to expand homeostasis/homeostatic balance to a whole new level critically than if we were just a lion and a zebra. This is because, Sapolsky talks about how sometimes we humans can turn on the stress response due to a change in the homeostatic balance or how we humans can turn on the stress response because we feel like we are about to be stressed. Sapolsky

The National Geographic film, A Portrait of a Killer, examines the types of stress that living beings can endure, and how it can thus affect the rest of their bodies. Severe chronic stress can lead even lead to the destruction of brain cells. Dr. Robert Sapolsky is a neurobiologist of Stanford University who has been researching stress for over thirty years. In order to study stress and its implications upon nonhumans, he went to Africa to study baboons. This species has only three hours of stress caused by eating, and the rest of their daily routine is consumed by about nine hours of free time. Much like Western society, baboons socially stress out one another, as they have social hierarchies to regulate how them interact with one another.

There are three different theories that are used when talking about how we react to stress through the physiological aspect or the psychological aspect. The first is part of the physiological aspect of stress called the Cannon Fight or Flight theory which was proposed in 1914. Fight or Flight response is a physiological stress response that evolved to help organisms to survive immediate danger. The theory states that when an organism, human being or animal, faces imminent danger (acute stressor) the body arouses quickly and is ready to act via two different systems. They are the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla which is part of the endocrine system and is the region that produces the hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones increase heart rate, blood flow, and glucose levels to prepare the body for an emergency. This response from the body suggests that the body knows how to protect itself and reach homeostasis. These two systems work together to either fight against the danger or flight away from the danger. Lord, King and Pfister in 1976 studied the Fight or Flight response in animals through a very unethical study. They administered chemicals on male hooded Wistar rats which inhibited the neurotransmitters from functioning normally. This made it very difficult for the rats to escape an electric shock. The results of the study suggest that the Flight or Fight response

The Science of Stress is an informative video by National Geographic detailing the body response to stress. Stress is the body’s way of getting itself prepared to face a challenge. It is constant problem that everyone has to deal with. It was originally meant to aid our survival, but over time it has become dangerous and lethal to our well being. National Geographic’s video gives us a scientific view of what goes on in our bodies when experiencing stress and its effects on it.

Although gross medical advancements have allowed the human population to live longer and fuller lives without the threat of death from infectious diseases, it is apparent that we are now dealing with a different phenomenon that may be just as harmful to our health. The impact of psychological, social and environmental factors from our daily lives is having a drastic impression on the mental and physical wellbeing of our society. It has been shown in various studies that psychological and neurological factors influence the immune system and can have an effect on our health (Breedlove, Rosenzweig & Watson, 2010). As we allow various stressors, poisonous substances, unhealthy diets and lack of rest to overwhelm our existence, we are

1.) Summary: Kelly McGonigal who is a health psychologist gives a thought-provoking lecture called “How to Make Stress Your Friend” at an official TED conference in June 2013. During the first part of the presentation, Ms. McGonigal confesses to the crowd that she been teaching about stress completely wrong, “Basically, I’ve turned stress into the enemy. But I have changed my mind about stress…” Ms. McGonigal emphasizes the point that people who view stress as not harmful (not their enemy), were less likely to die to people who view stress as their enemy; therefore, when people change their mind about stress, they can change their body response to stress to make them healthier. As the presentation gets further along, Kelly McGonigal states how oxytocin plays a huge role in controlling stress. This neuro-hormone, which is released during stress, motivates you to seek support, which is the reason why stress makes you social. At the same time, oxytocin acts

The Stanislavski's System Konstantin Sergeivich Stanislavski was born in 1863 and dies in 1938. He was a Russian actor, director and acting trainer. In 1898 together with Nemirovich- Danchenko, he founded the Moscow Art Theatre. =

Viewed from an evolutionary standpoint, in early times stress caused the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in an outpouring of the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucocorticoids that were essential to the life-preserving fight or flight reactions of primitive man (Anthony 1988). However, the nature of stress for the individual today is different. It is only occasionally and unexpectedly that one is confronted with overwhelming, life-threatening stresses. Present stresses arise from everyday stresses of work, finances and school. The problem is that the body still continues to respond in the same fashion as primitive times. This makes the large release of hormones very harmful. They can cause an increase in blood pressure, damage muscle tissue, lead to infertility, inhibit growth, damage the hippocampus and suppress the immune system (Carlson 1994). It is therefore, important that individuals learn to control the stresses in their lives. The more detrimental coping behaviors will cause a larger change

Chronic stress can also interfere with the body’s immune system directly through hormonal changes. Glucocorticoids-a hormone