Stress: The Portrait Of A Killer

Science has developed a kaleidoscope of different fields of research which in some way or the other have shaped who human beings are today. The study of the effects of stress by neurologists is one that could be a society changing research. Stress is something that we all suffer from. Exams, graduation, peer pressure, constant nagging from our parents to excel, giving performances, public speaking, yelling and shouting bosses in companies, the overall stress of leading a good life, form a core part of being human. Since childhood through school, or sports or mere leisure we basically learn that “Life is a race, If you don’t run fast enough, Others will crush you,” which then becomes the motto of our life – to be the best, leading to a life-long traffic jam in which everyone is trying their level best to beat the others. Whether distress or eustress, one must agree that the world without stress would be utopia, a lofty goal, unachievable.

The two main reasons that were mentioned in this video was the hierarchical and occupational connection to stress. And the research was conducted on mammals, much like us in habits, who are definitely easier to study than a bunch of humans – BABOONS! While this may not yet be applicable to us students, the results of stress were just dumbfounding – people who have a high position with a lot of control tend to have less stress than lower ranked people who seemingly have no control in their hands. This results in low esteem and many other psychological effects but physically other than cardiovascular diseases, high BP and heart rate; it also adds fat in our abdomen, which the most harmful type of fat possible and IT KILLS OUR HIPPOCAMPUS, DECREASING OUR WONDERFUL POWER TO REMEMBER THINGS!! The results of these arduous 30 year research warn us that stress isn’t a part of our life that will extinguish as we move along, leaving us unscathed. The biggest evidence of this was provided by the “children of the Dutch Hunger.” In 1944, when the cruel, malicious strategy was made to starve the country to death, the foetuses inside the mother’s womb had already been exposed to stress as the mother starved and starved, managed an entire day on a bowl of gruel. The kids born during the Hunger or soon after it were known as the Dutch Hunger kids. Having kept all these babies in meticulous records, scientists have tracked that these children, now grown-ups, are more susceptible to cardiovascular attacks, have a high BP and Heart rate as their nervous systems had been altered when they were mere foetuses! And while the Hippocampus incident was an astounding shock, it might be a heart attack for some people to realise that STRESS FRAZZLES OUR CHAROMOSOMES AWAY!! Stress takes away the things that we are coded with – killing us! But there is a beacon of light shining – less stress, happiness, peace can also heal these chromosomes and repair them.

So what is the antidote to saving our lives? Finding a place where YOU have control, where YOU don’t feel overpowered by YOUR surroundings, somewhere where YOU are just YOU, enjoying the beauty of life!