Suzanne Mercier - Saturday, April 10, 2010
Yesterday, a friend Richard Stacey pointed me in the direction of an ABC programme I had missed called "Portrait of a Killer". The programme highlights the significant and surprising results of stress in two quite different studies: One was a tribe of baboons in the Masai Mara Reserve, Kenya and the other was British Civil Servants in Whitehall, London.
Understandably, stress triggered very different behaviours in those being studied. In baboons, gathering food only took 3 hours per day, leaving them with up to 9 hours to fill. They did that by generally making each others' lives miserable. The alpha males in the group would abuse those lower on the hierarchy who would, in turn, take their frustration out on those further down the food chain. The abuse was overt and physical. In fact, it wasn't so different to what can be experienced in the workplace when senior leaders and managers taking their frustration out on those beneath them. It's just more subtle in the human sphere and takes the form of emotional and mental abuse rather than physical punishment.
Findings on the consequences of stress from both studies included:
- increased heart rate and blood pressure which is linked with deteriorating health
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reduction in the number of brain cells, effectively shrinking our brains
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telomeres that cap the ends of our chromosomes unravel, speeding up the aging process
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damaged artery walls enable deposits of plaque which prevent the artery wall from expanding and increase our risk of heart attack
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reduction in the capability of our immune system to control bacteria in the body, resulting in increased dis-ease
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changed brain chemistry to resemble that of a chronically depressed human
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altered the brain circuits impairing the ability to remember and learn
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modified metabolism which changes the way our bodies store fat (around the middle - the dangerous fat)
When we consider the impact that each of these factors has on our happiness as individuals, our ability to contribute to our highest potential, the impact on our families of being stressed and frustrated when we return from work, the very real cost to our health and wellbeing, stress needs to be understood and handled now!
In my next blog, I'll examine the surprising causes of stress and why some people experience it while others seem to have a much easier time of it.
What do you think about the cost of stress in our lives? I'd love to hear.
All the very best
Suzanne
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