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.

A good introduction to the effects of stress on human physiology, as good, and comprehensive as a lay-person can wish for. It elaborates greatly on the negative effects of artificially, and repeatedly triggering stress responses that were evolved to get us out of mortal danger, at the same time giving clear headed explanations as to why these responses might be useful in the first place, and why they are beneficial when controlled, and used sparingly.

All in all, for someone who had little knowledge about anything stress related, this has given me plenty of starting point to do further research.

Interesting data to think about... A tad academic focused and blah,blah,blah... but still interesting.

I have never read such a dry piece of nonfiction. Robert throws with medical words around as if he is writing to someone who studied medicine instead of the normal person. Am I just the wrong audience?

The author is really good at making confusing biological concepts accessible to the reader. Also I think chapter 17 on the relationship between low socioeconomic status and poor health outcomes should be required reading for everyone. Because some of y’all still don’t get it!

Difficile ma ne vale la pena, tutto quello che devi sapere sullo stress... quello vero.

I read this on the recommendation of an Ezra Klein podcast.

Unlike zebras, we get stressed because we're constantly worrying about the future.

Takeaways included: sleep is really valuable and waking up for hours in the middle of the night is a classic symptom of depression; prolonged depression elevates risk of heart disease three- to four-fold; abusive parenting lifts the risk of adult depression; the role of learned helplessness; feeling chronically time-pressured is a function of a chronic need to prove oneself due to feeling insecure.

There are no silver bullets. Only to strive for more of a sense of control, more predictability, more outlets and more social affiliation.

Well researched book. Sapolsky, who I am a big fan of, explains why certain types of stresses like long work days end up having more serious negative effects on your physiology than do other types of stress such as a lion chasing after you. Sure the lion stresses you out then and there but a week from now your bodily functions won't still be affected by it.

My one beef with this book is that it doesn't give you much in the way of how to handle stress. I felt somewhat more stressed after reading reading this book because I finally had a good understanding of all of its negative effects but still didn't know what to do about it....

This is a book packed full of information on how stress can cause our body to go haywire. You will find explanation for how stress affects your weight, sleep, and health in general.
Although there are still lots of jargon and terms in the book that you will find alien, the explanation is given in the most simple way possible, making it an accessible material in general.

However, after reading through all the chapters on how stress can wreak havoc to our body, you don't actually get a lot of materials on how you can counter them.
So, this is a book on how stress can cause damage to your body. If you're looking for a solid book on recommendations to deal with stress, this might not be it.
To the author's credit, he is trying to be as accurate as possible, and therefore I believe he is trying his best to recommend the most scientifically accurate practice to deal with stress; and sadly, there may not be many, although there is a few practical one such as exercise and meditation.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Mr. Sapolsky attacks a very scientific subject with wit and charm. If you're a biologist or anthropologist or like me, just a reader who's interested in finding out more about our bodies and about my disease, multiple sclerosis, you will greatly enjoy this book. I took it in chunks and that was probably the best thing to do but I do recommend it for anyone who's curious about how chronic stress affects the human body.

Ar yra geresnė knyga apie stresą ir jo poveikį mums? Galbūt, bet kol kas su tokia nesusidūriau, tad laurai atitenka Roberto Sapolskio knygai su itin šmaikščiu pavadinimu, kurio prasmė jau greit atsiskleidžia knygoje. Knyga parašyta labiau moksliniu stiliumi, tačiau jis labai gyvybingas, šmaikštus ir aiškiai suprantamas. Ilgametė Sapolskio patirtis dirbant su gyvūnais ir tyrinėjant stresą atsiskleidžia šioje knygoje. Knygą labai rekomenduoju, ji taip pat turi ne tik teorinių, bet ir praktinių įžvalgų.

Jei Sapolsky rašytų knygą apie šiaudų kaugės pasipriešinimą vėjui - vistiek skaityčiau. Tiek “Elgesys”, tiek ši knyga apie stresą, iš ties didelėje ir išsamioje apimtyje tyrinėja ganėtinai siaurą, tačiau labai plačią temą. Jo rašymo stilius, kokybė, žinios yra aukščiausioje knygų lentynoje. Ši knygą yra sveiko proto atsvara prieš visas “nugalėk stresą / 10 būdų gyventi be stresos” ir kitoms saviugdos knygoms. Kas ieško tokios - nemanau, kad ši patiks. Ji apie stresą kalba iš esmės, pirmiausia suvokiant kas jis toks, kaip jis veikia organizmą, leidžia pažinti savo priešą, kuris ne visada toks priešiškas yra. Knygos antraštėje parašyta, kad bus pateikiama būdų kaip jį įveikti, bet tai ne visai tiesa. Paskutiniame skyriuje galima rasti tam tikrų būdų, tačiau realiai autoriaus mintis yra tokia: pasirink tėvus, kurių šeimoje gimsi. O tuomet, jei jau nepavyko pasirinkti, yra fundamentalių gairių kaip su tuo kovoti, kas jau žinoma kaip mantra judėk-socializuokis-miegok-keisk požiūrį. Rekomenduoju tiems, kurie nori stresą pažinti iki smulkiausių detalių.