Take a photo of a barcode or cover
290 reviews for:
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
Robert M. Sapolsky
4.05 AVERAGE
290 reviews for:
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping
Robert M. Sapolsky
4.05 AVERAGE
funny
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
Very useful, but very dense. Had to read a page or two at a time and then assimilate.
informative
medium-paced
This is the kind of science book you wish everyone could read. It is dense and sometimes a bit of a slog, but overall Sapolsky does a great job of bringing everything back to a relatable situation or anecdote to make the science easy to understand. Unlike some scientists, he is a great storyteller.
There are too many points for me to put them all here in my review (I have 108 Kindle highlights), but I'll leave this summary:
Our bodies and brains evolved in a natural environment, as primates who lived in small family groups and were primarily concerned with social hierarchy within our groups, finding food, and avoiding predation. Our neurochemistry and physiology is tuned for those situations, and modern life is triggering our adaptive stress responses far too much and for reasons that simply shouldn't require it. In other words, stress response makes sense if you are being chased by a lion and need to sacrifice long term biological processes in order to get the F away from the lion. It doesn't make sense when you're dreading an email from your irate boss, but the same things are happening in the body.
What I loved most about this book is that the author goes through our bodies reactions to stress system by system. That is, reproductive, digestion, growth, etc. He shows how the system works without stress, what happens to the system under stress, and why that reaction is an adaptive one in the right context. Then he explains the ways in which most of us are suffering from stress in that system despite it being a maladaptive response to a modern stressor. This structure has taught me so much about my own body, but has already been useful dozens of time in the month or so since I read the book. Anyone with a body should pick this up.
There are too many points for me to put them all here in my review (I have 108 Kindle highlights), but I'll leave this summary:
Our bodies and brains evolved in a natural environment, as primates who lived in small family groups and were primarily concerned with social hierarchy within our groups, finding food, and avoiding predation. Our neurochemistry and physiology is tuned for those situations, and modern life is triggering our adaptive stress responses far too much and for reasons that simply shouldn't require it. In other words, stress response makes sense if you are being chased by a lion and need to sacrifice long term biological processes in order to get the F away from the lion. It doesn't make sense when you're dreading an email from your irate boss, but the same things are happening in the body.
What I loved most about this book is that the author goes through our bodies reactions to stress system by system. That is, reproductive, digestion, growth, etc. He shows how the system works without stress, what happens to the system under stress, and why that reaction is an adaptive one in the right context. Then he explains the ways in which most of us are suffering from stress in that system despite it being a maladaptive response to a modern stressor. This structure has taught me so much about my own body, but has already been useful dozens of time in the month or so since I read the book. Anyone with a body should pick this up.
A very interesting book, but probably not one to read during a pandemic. Yeah, I know; you would think it would help. But somehow, talking about stress response, cortisol and anxiety during a time of world-wide physical and psychological stress response is actually a bit stressful.
It's somewhat technical, but readable. It walks the reader through different aspects of the body and normal physiological response. Although he relies on the extreme examples ("ancestors confronting lions"), the information contained is valid. I suppose that's one of the troubles with science-translation.
It's been updated twice since original publication. I feel like most of what it is saying isn't surprising, but I last intensively looked at stress response in the late 90s, so I'm wondering what more current thinking is.
It's somewhat technical, but readable. It walks the reader through different aspects of the body and normal physiological response. Although he relies on the extreme examples ("ancestors confronting lions"), the information contained is valid. I suppose that's one of the troubles with science-translation.
It's been updated twice since original publication. I feel like most of what it is saying isn't surprising, but I last intensively looked at stress response in the late 90s, so I'm wondering what more current thinking is.
More like 3.5. This is an excellent book if you like *explanations* for why things happen (stress, i.e.) and its (multitudinous) effects on the body. If you're looking for ways to mitigate stress, this probably isn't the book for you. Overall, a useful framework for the physiological effects of stress.
I think nowadays this stuff is pretty much known (though acted upon). Still, it was a great read because I didn't know the "science behind it".
reading a long book about stress, turns out, is stressful