هذا هو كتابي السحري الذي أدعو الجميع لقراءته، سوف يدهشكم.

ليس كتاب طبي كما يمكن أن يكون الكتاب الطبي إلا أنه أشتغال بالطب لا شك، لكنه اشتغال مبسط يجعلك تفهم كما لو كنت طالباً في الثانوية وتتلقى درساً لطلاب الإبتدائي. أهتم استاذ علم الأعصاب في جامعة ستانفورد الأستاذ سابولسكي بقضية ‘‘ الكرب ‘‘ وأجد هذه الترجمة أفضل من كلمة ‘‘ الضغوط ‘‘ Stress كيف يتفاعل الجسم والدماغ تحديداً مع الكرب، سوف تفهم كثيراً من الأشياء حول آليات عمل دماغك المعقد أمام الكرب وسوف تندهش من بعض الظواهر لهذا العمل.

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.

(The English review is placed beneath Russian one)

Перечитывая книгу во второй раз, всё же нужно признать, что книга и уникальна и не утратила былой свежести, т.е. книгу было так же интересно читать, как и в первый раз. Мне кажется, этой одной книги хватит, чтобы закрыть тему стресса, т.к. автор рассматривает тему стресса со всех возможных точек зрения, из-за чего покупка дополнительной литературы по этой теме выглядит, после прочтения этой книги, бессмысленным решением. И тут некоторые читатели книги как раз могут отсеяться, сказав, что автор слишком уж дотошно описывает детали связанные со стрессом и что всё можно было уместить в книге, которая была бы на половину меньше. Действительно, если читателя не очень интересует тема стресса и психологии в целом, то где-то на половине книги он бросит чтение, т.к. основная идея станет понятна. И в принципе, в этом есть доля правды, ибо основные и самые важные темы будут, как раз, рассмотрены в первой половине книги. Поэтому, во-первых, книгу стоит советовать только тем, кому действительно интересная тема стресса.
Во-вторых, книга не является литературой по самопомощи. Тут читатель не найдёт «10 советов как справиться со стрессом» или чего-то подобного. В данной книге автор будет писать про механизм возникновения стресса, как он протекает и к чему он, в конце концов, приводит. Да, можно даже сказать, что это учебник. Но ведь не все учебники одинаковые и иногда попадаются такие, что дают фору обычным развлекательным книгам из серии «популярная психология». Вот в данном случаи, это определённо одна из них.
Ну и в третьих, что логично вытекает из второго пункта, это сложность текста. Да, текст довольно сложноват и пестрит профессиональным жаргоном. Я бы даже сказал, что его тут много. Однако, во-первых, всё сводится к нескольким наименованиям и во-вторых, сложность текста можно определить как: где-то между учебником и книгой по популярной психологии. Т.е. сложно, но не настолько чтобы отпугнуть неспециалистов в этой области. В конце концов, если библиотека читателя не ограничивается одними лишь романами и книгами типа Дэйла Карнеги, то он вполне одолеет эту книгу без каких-либо серьёзных проблем.
А что же до самого текста? Повторюсь, большая часть будет посвящена тому, почему длительный стресс вреден для человека. И сказать, что он вреден, это ещё слабо. Он очень и очень вреден. Автор будет описывать, как длительный стресс негативно влияет на сексуальную (репродуктивную) сторону человека, как мужчины, так и женщины. Старые шутки про импотенцию и стресс, начинаю выглядеть уже совсем как не шутки, а вполне как будничная действительность. Разумеется, влияние стресса на рак (а также, как позитивный настрой может продлевать жизнь) здесь также присутствует. Каким образом стресс может создать проблемы со сном и почему здоровый и продолжительный сон (не менее 7 ч.) важен, так же как и физические упражнения. Так же автор довольно детально рассмотрит вопрос, связанный с депрессией. Как я понял, имеется в виду не просто плохое настроение, а клиническая депрессия.
В общем, длительный стресс один из самых опасных факторов XXI века.
Ну, и я не могу упомянуть и причину, почему длительный стресс так опасен. Автор даёт ответ на этот вопрос в первых же главах (так что первую часть книги всё же стоит прочитать). Дело в том, что во время стресса организм переводится в особое состояние, организм человек настраивается только на два действия – драться или убегать. Увидел льва и либо дерешься, либо убегаешь. Все ресурсы организма направляются только в те сектора организма, которые участвуют либо в борьбе, либо в бегстве. Как мы понимаем, такие функции как секс, переваривание пищи, приготовление ко сну (имеется в виду приготовление организма), уходят на задний план. Если это кратковременный стресс, то после того как угроза ушла, организм перестраивается обратно в обычное состояние, т.е. пища переваривается, человек ощущает сексуальное желание и может спариваться, а после сразу засыпает. Но ведь если стресс постоянный, организм продолжает пребывать в боевой стойке и организм всё ещё находится в этом особом состоянии «бежать или сражаться» и что самое главное, органы всё так же получают минимальное внимание со стороны организма. Еда всё так же не переварена (или плохо переварена), сон не приходит (ибо понятно, когда на тебя смотрит лев, то тебе становится совсем не до сна) и ни о каком спаривании речь не может идти речи (мышцы ног и рук, получают всё внимание, а не…). И так проходит несколько часов, потом день, потом неделя, месяц. Ну, с небольшими перерывами, конечно. Но ситуация всё равно критическая. Организм не может долго пребывать в таком напряжении. Поэтому и случается «бум». Конечно, я описал лишь упрощённую модель, без конкретики и всех деталей. Но я помню всё это ещё тогда, когда прочёл книгу в первый раз (лет 5 назад, а то и больше). Информация меня уже тогда потрясла.
Да, автор будет отходить от главной темы, и касаться косвенных тем. К примеру, он много времени потратит на тему связанную с бедностью и что бедные люди имеют больше шансов умереть раньше времени и что бедность, это сравнение себя с окружающими людьми (соседями по дому/квартире, штату и стране), а не с недостатком каких-то товаров.

Rereading the book for the second time, one must admit that the book is unique and has not lost its freshness, i.e., the book was as interesting to read the second time as the first one. I think this one book is enough to cover the topic of stress because the author examines the topic of stress from all possible angles, so buying additional literature on the topic looks like a meaningless decision after reading this book. And here some readers of the book can just walk away, saying that the author is too meticulous in describing the details related to stress and that everything could have been placed in a book that would have been half as small. Indeed, if the reader is not very interested in the subject of stress and psychology in general, then halfway through the book he/she will give up reading because the main idea will be clear almost immediately. And in principle, there is some truth because the main and most important topics will be just considered in the first half of the book. Therefore, first of all, the book should be advised only to those who are interested in the topic of stress.
Secondly, the book is not self-help literature. Here the reader will not find "10 tips to cope with stress" or something like that. In this book, the author will write about the mechanism of stress, how it occurs, and what it eventually leads to. Yes, you could even say it's a textbook. But not all textbooks are the same and sometimes you get such that gives a head start to the usual entertainment books from the series "popular psychology". In this case, this is one of them.
And thirdly, what follows logically from the second point, is the complexity of the text. Yes, the text is quite complex and full of professional jargon. I would even say there's a lot of that. However, firstly, all comes down to a few names, and secondly, the complexity of the text can be defined as: somewhere between a textbook and a book on popular psychology. That is, it is difficult, but not so much as to scare away the non-experts in this field. After all, if the library of the reader is not limited to novels and books such author as Dale Carnegie, then he/she will quite easily overcome this book without any serious problems.
But what about the text itself? Again, most of it will focus on the question of why long-term stress is harmful to humans. The author describes how long-term stress negatively affects the sexual (reproductive) aspect of both men and women. The old jokes about impotence and stress are beginning to look quite like everyday reality. Of course, the impact of stress on cancer (as well as how a positive mood can prolong life) is also present here. How stress can create problems with sleep disorder and why a healthy and prolonged sleep (at least 7 hours) is important, as well as exercise. The author also considers the issue of depression in detail. As I understand it, it's not just a bad mood, it's clinical depression.
In general, long-term stress is one of the most dangerous factors of the 21st century.
I can't help but mention the reason why long-term stress is so dangerous. The author answers this question in the first chapters (so the first part of the book is worth reading). The fact is that during stress the body is transformed into a special state, a person is set up for only two actions - fight or flees. You see a lion and either fight or run away. All resources of the body are directed only to those sectors of the body that are involved in either fighting or running away. As we understand, functions such as sex, digestion of food, preparation for sleep (meaning the preparation of the body) move aside to the background. If it is short-term stress, then after the threat has gone, the body is rebuilt back to the normal state, i.e., food is digested, a person feels sexual desire and can mate, and then falls asleep immediately. But if stress is constant, the body is still in this special state of "fight or flees" and most importantly, the organs still receive minimal attention from the body. The food is still undigested (or badly digested), sleep does not come (for it is clear that when a lion looks at you, you are not sleepy at all) and no mating is out of the question (leg and arm muscles get all the attention of the body). And so goes a few hours, then a day, then a week, a month. Well, with short breaks, of course. But the situation is still critical. The body can't stay in this tension for long. That's why "boom" happens. Of course, I've only described a simplified model, with no specifics or details. But I still remember all this when I read the book for the first time (about 5 years ago or even more). I was shocked by the information.
Yes, the author would deviate from the main topic and touch on indirect ones. For example, the author will spend a lot of time on a topic related to poverty and that poor people have a better chance of dying prematurely and that poverty is a comparison of oneself with the people around (neighbors in the house/apartment, state, and country) and not with a lack of some goods.

I would never have guessed Neuroimmunology would be a topic I'd voluntarily read about, never mind enjoy.

This is my second book by Robert Sapolsky, and I couldn't resist getting stuck in after finishing "Behave". Maybe a slightly easier read, less dense and more intuitive material but doesn't sacrifice any of the immense research and thought provoking discussion about subjects we take for granted.

WZDGU (not so catchy) has completely changed how I view the psychological impact of stressors on the body, my favourite quote from the end of the book sums it up for me:

"Perhaps I'm beginning to sound like your grandmother, advising you to be happy and not worry so much. This advice may sound platitudinous, trivial, or both. But change the way even a rat perceives its world, and you dramatically alter the likelihood of it getting a disease. These ideas are no mere truisms. They are powerful, potentially liberating forces to be harnessed."

"In our privileged lives, we are uniquely smart enough to have invented these stressors and uniquely foolish enough to have let them, too often, dominate our lives. Surely we have the potential to be uniquely wise enough to banish their stressful hold."

Awesome stuff, highly recommend

I enjoyed this book but think for most people this book will not be more than a 3.5* hence the rating. My bias is simply that I and am a big fan of Dr Sapolsky after attending his course on Human Behavioral Biology. He covers the driest of things with humor and charm. I would recommend the first four lectures to everyone.

Our body is designed to respond to stressful situations. We are, just like the zebra, wired to temporarily alter our physiology when a lion shows up during our leisurely afternoon stroll. The difference is the zebra goes back to regular life after, but humans seem to treat a myriad of situations as if the lion is back and the stress-response that the body goes through takes a toll on our bodies.

Take the cardiovascular system. When you see the lion (or have an important presentation or an impending difficult conversation), your body starts prepping and marshaling all the resources in the body to get the hell out of there. Your digestive tract shuts down, breathing rate skyrockets, the heart beats faster and your blood pressure goes up. This entire routine saves you from being lunch but is expensive in the long run. For example, as part of the response, the blood pounds through your veins and returns with deafening force to the heart. Now, if this happens very often, the walls of the heart will be forced to thicken to accommodate this regular flood and cause ventricular hypertrophy. In addition, if you chronically increase the force with which blood is coursing through the vessels they have to work harder, it needs more muscle, this thick layer of muscle makes it more rigid and more resistant to flow hence persistent high blood pressure.

As he describes it, your heart is basically a pump with hoses. Subject it to this treatment too often and it will wear out. He then goes on to cover ulcers, aging, sleep, metabolism etc.

The bottom line is this : Chill out and don’t kill yourself. If you want the details read the book, otherwise just remember that most of the stressors in your life are not really life-threatening so leave the panic for when you do meet the lion.

The subject matter is not for the faint of heart; this is definitely not the scientific work for the layman. Although it is full of interesting facts and wittily told, it fails to prove that depression is a biological affair, not a psychological one.

من دیگه نمی‌تونم ادامه بدم!
به عنوان اولین کتابی که نیمه‌خوان رها شدی می‌پذیرمت :(

Fascinating and funny! This book took me WEEKS to finish, as there is a ton of scientific information. But it was so interesting and entertaining and easy for a non-science person to understand. There were some incredible stories and studies.

Selections from the Filmography of James O. Incandenza.

“It could be your glucocorticoids.” - Year of the Ectopic Heartbeat Dubstep Frequency Crowd Dispersal Device (?) Sex Panther Entertainment Unlimited/X-Ray and Infrared Photography by Marvin McGroin’s Medicinal Anthrax Soft Shell Tacos Incorporated, Amarillo, TX. The Ultimate Warrior (John Brian “Jim” Hellwig), Robert Sapolsky (Bill Sapolsky), Jennifer (Jen), Jim (Jim Cornette). George “The Animal” Steele (The Animal Himself). Lucious Malfoy (Jason Isaacs). Listed by some archivists as completed the following year, Y.T.-S.D.B. UNRELEASED

Film begins silent. A naked man (George “The Animal” Steele) is sitting in a nondescript room, stress eating Toblerones. Weeping. His body visibility wracked with anguish as tributaries of warm nougat and honey stochastically traverse the lumpy topology of his hirsute torso. Twisting and bifurcating. His chest and stomach tattooed with a network of lines the color of Swiss mocha, all converging inexorably on the tenebrous vortex of his navel, where their flavors may be lost forever, beyond the event horizon, or else re-congealed into a perfect orb of Toblerone, sans almonds, and shot into another dimension. Adjacent, a dog-eared copy of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers and several disemboweled turnbuckles. Robert Sapolsky (Bill Sapolsky) breaks the silence with susurrus of a glucocorticoidical nature, causing the tremulous bulk of the seated figured (George “The Animal” Steele) to quake with continued sobs.

"Primates are super smart and organized just enough to devote their free time to being miserable to each other and stressing each other out. But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, you're going to compromise your health. So, essentially, we've evolved to be smart enough to make ourselves sick."

Scene transitions to ringside view with J. (Yours truly) and Jim (Jim Cornette) commentating on the arrival of the main event; The Ultimate Warrior (John Brian “Jim” Hellwig) vs. Robert Sapolsky (Bill Sapolsky). In a flourish of flash bang pyrotechnics, The Ultimate Warrior (James Brian “Jim” Hellwig) emerges from backstage like a shaved mule with rainbow plumages fastened and KISS makeup applied. A creature built for carnage. Canines bared in atavistic rage. Nostrils flared to pump Cretaceous levels of oxygen into his swollen musculature.

“Here he comes, Jen.”

“Implacable. Like a force of nature, Jim.”

“A goddamn man mountain, Jen.”

“A veritable mountain of man, Jim.

“Right you are, Jen.

“A being like unto all that was glorious about the era of hair metal, processed and packed into a latex baggie like a summer sausage, Jim.

“Would you just look at that sausage, Jen.”

“An ultra thin condom glistening with obscene amounts of spermicide and stuffed to bursting with walnuts, Jim.”

“Get a load of the vascularity, I mean, would you just look at that, Jen.”

“It’s almost sickening, Jim.”

“I’m a little sick, Jen.”

“I may throw up right here. Watch me, Jim.”

“So help me, if you go, then I go, Jen.”

“I’m more frightened than sick, Jim.”

“I’ll piss myself. You know I’ll do it, Jen.”

“Not again. Stay strong, Jim.”

“I’m clenching, Jen.”

“I’m sympathetically clenching, Jim.”

“Hnnnnnnnnnng.”

“Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng”

The Ultimate Warrior (James Brian “Jim” Hellwig), while striding down the walkway, is flagged by an uppity fan. Lucious Malfoy (Jason Isaacs) resplendent in anti-muggle apparel, is heard to sneer: “Your mother has chronically elevated glucocorticoids.”

“He’s got him by the robes, Jim.”

“By the balls too, Jen.”

“I can confirm that a massive hand is firmly on the hog, Jim.”

“Just look at those hands, Jen.”

“There he goes, Jim!”

“Good God! Would you just look at that parabola, Jen!”

“Like a comet of white hair trailing popcorn and Chardonnay, Jim”

In the center of the ring Robert Sapolsky (Robert Maurice Sapolsky, the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, research associate at the National Museums of Kenya.) Takes up a mic and continues:

"The stress response is incredibly ancient evolutionarily. Fish, birds and reptiles secrete the same stress hormones we do, yet their metabolism doesn't get messed up the way it does in people and other primates. Just look at the dichotomy between what your body does during real stress—for example, something is intent on eating you and you're running for your life—versus what your body does when you're turning on the same stress response for months on end for purely psychosocial reasons. You mobilize energy in your thigh muscles, you increase your blood pressure and you turn off everything that's not essential to surviving, such as digestion, growth and reproduction. You think more clearly, and certain aspects of learning and memory are enhanced. All of that is spectacularly adapted if you're dealing with an acute physical stressor—a real one."

The Ultimate Warrior (John Brian “Jim” Hellwig) grabs hold of the ropes and shakes them violently.

“Would you just look at that intensity, Jen.”

“It’s as if he’s grabbed hold of a live wire, Jim.”

“Strong current flowing through that man, Jen.”

“A mesmerizing vibrational frequency of fixed amplitude is emerging, Jim”

“It’s enough to deter a slop-hound from mounting a gut-wagon, Jen.”

“Well said. Any further attempts to waller in viscera will be met with extreme electrification, Jim.

“Electrification, Jen.”

“He’s got the mic, Jim!”

“I came here for one reason — to attack and keep coming. Not to ask but just to give, not to want but just to sing, sing the power of the Warrior, because this freak of nature right here is just beginning to swell, and when I get big enough, brother, there ain’t gonna be room for anybody else but me and all the Warriors floating through the veins.”

"If you turn on the stress response chronically for purely psychological reasons,” Sapolsky admonishes. “You increase your risk of adult onset diabetes and high blood pressure. If you're chronically shutting down the digestive system, there's a bunch of gastrointestinal disorders you're more at risk for as well."

“I WAS SENT IN A CAPSULE FROM A PLACE NOT FROM HERE AND I CAME HERE FOR ONE REASON: TO ATTACK AND KEEP COMIN'. NOT TO ASK, BUT JUST TO GIVE. NOT TO WANT, BUT JUST TO SEND!”

"Furthermore,” Sapolsky counters. “If you're chronically stressed, all sorts of aspects of brain function are impaired, including, at an extreme, making it harder for some neurons to survive neurological insults. Also, neurons in the parts of the brain relating to learning, memory and judgment don't function as well under stress. That particular piece is what my lab has spent the last 20 years on." The Warrior, seeming terrible confused, opens the floor. "If you plan to get stressed like a normal mammal, you had better turn on the stress response or else you're dead. But if you get chronically, psychosocially stressed, like a Westernized human, then you are more at risk for heart disease and some of the other leading causes of death in Westernized life." The Warrior, having it up to here with relentless mumbo jumbo, explodes, drawing himself up and towering over the diminutive smarty pants, pectorals dancing in rhythmic electrochemical spasms.

LODGED IN MY SKULL ... WAS A PIECE OF THE CRYSTAL OF YOUR KINGDOM! YOUR MADNESS! THEY SAID, "BUT WARRIOR, IT'S LODGED INSIDE YOUR SKULL," AND I SAID, "SEW IT IN! LEAVE IT WHERE IT LAYS!"

"We are capable of social supports that no other primate can even dream of," Sapolsky says. "For example, I might say, 'This job, where I'm a lowly mailroom clerk, really doesn't matter. What really matters is that I'm the captain of my softball team or deacon of my church'—that sort of thing. It's not just somebody sitting here, grooming you with their own hands. We can actually feel comfort from the discovery that somebody on the other side of the planet is going through the same experience we are and feel, I'm not alone. We can even take comfort reading about a fictional character, and there's no primate out there that can feel better in life just by listening to Beethoven. So the range of supports that we're capable of is extraordinary."

“I look up to the gods, and when you fall below the skeletons of the Warriors past, the power of the Warriors will become the eight wonder of the woooorrrrrldddd!!! Normal people, the people that walk the streets every day, we cannot understand. The family that I live for only breathes the air that smells of combat. With or without the face-paint I am the Ultimate Warrioooooorrrr!!! How must I prepare, you must ask yourself. Should I jump off the tallest building in the world? Should I lay on the lawn and let them run over me with lawn-mowers? Should I go to Africa and let them trample me with raging elephants? In my final meeting with the gods from the heavens above, they spoke to me and hit me with the power of the Ultimate Warrior. They told me: action stage left, action stage right. There is no place to run, all the fuses in the exit signs have burnt out. Aaaaarrgghhh, you can feel it dude. You can feel it! Full of the juice that carries the spaceship as far as it wants to go! Because when the moon is blood red the heavens have opened up from above and the Warriors have spoken. You’ve got the power to make the skies rumble and the earth shake. In the sheets of the wind, then I will survive. Load the spaceship with the rocket fuel, load it with the Warriors. With the command of my voice I raise the level of the Warriors to one that can’t be reproduced. Dig your claws into my organs, scratch into my tendons, bury your anchors into my bones, for the power of the Warrior will always prevaaaaaiiiiiilllll. By now all the little Warriors know that the power of the Ultimate Warrior is something that you want to feel, that you want to taste. It’s something that when you turn on that TV screen or when you buy a ticket to the Arenas you know that’ it’s going to be exciting and it might even be a little bit frightening. Now you must deal with the creation of all the un-pleasantries of the entire universe as I feel the injection from the gods above. I only know that the Ultimate Warrior is totally out of controoooooooolllll. Come on in where nightmares are the best part of my daaaaaaaayyyyyy. I live for anger and frustration. Combat is where I will be.”

“I’m peeing, Jen.”

“Me too, Jim.”

An amazing science communicator. Just read it. Reviews are boring.

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Якщо коротко книга чудово розказує як всі ми помремо від стресу :) Але дехто помре швидше, тому тут зібрана викладка фактів що буде якщо продовжувати поводитися вороже, постійно конфліктувати з оточуючими, і бути просто "мудаком" (і ще інтровертам не повезло).
Окрім значної кількості специфічних термінів, які часто повторюються, і за сторінок 100 робляться вже не такими "специфічними", в книзі є легкий знайомий гумор пана Сапольського, який чудово поєднується з вмінням пояснювати різні надзвичайно складні процеси в організмі.
Однозначно варто прочитати (такі б книги та й у школи, зрозуміло і доступно, та й на полиці в кожну родину). З книги мало чого можна забрати, але я думаю багато чого можна було б ще добавити. Читається легко, хоча обсяг не малий.