66 pages • 2 hours read
Robert M. SapolskyWhy Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping
Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Biology and Effects of Stress
The theme of The Biology and Effects of Stress appears primarily in the first half of the book. It serves to provide the framework for the development of The Implications of Modern Chronic Stress and for identifying the limitations of stress management.
Sapolsky identifies several brain structures, hormones and neurotransmitters, and biological processes involved in stress. Although the processes are complex, Sapolsky presents a simplified version of the biological processes relevant to the material in the text: A stressor triggers the sympathetic nervous system, which sets off a chain reaction of stress hormones. The hormones activate certain bodily functions, such as mobilizing stored energy, while inhibiting others, like growth and digestion, so that the individual physically prepares to deal with the stressor. After the stressor passes, the parasympathetic nervous system restores allostasis. The effects of the stress-response evolved to help evade short-term physical stressors, so stress increases cardiac output and sends energy to large muscle groups, like the leg muscles, which provides the body with additional strength and energy to fight or to flee.
Some researchers have suggested that this is a male stress-response and that females have calmer responses that encourage social behaviors. Many biological processes are improved during the initial stress-response: Memory, growth, and immunity, for instance, are boosted. However, prolonged stress has negative impacts on the body. Sapolsky identifies glucocorticoids as the culprit. High levels of glucocorticoids are associated with immunosuppression, poor memory and hippocampal degradation, and cardiovascular issues caused by prolonged rises in cardiac activity.
Understanding the biological processes and effects of stress drive the discussions on The Implications of Modern Chronic Stress and on the limitations of stress management. The stress-response is better evolved to manage acute physical stress rather than chronic psychological stress. Stress management is limited because the stress-response is an involuntary biological process. One cannot avoid all stressors by practicing positive thinking or by exercising regularly. Such actions may decrease the stress-response or make individuals less susceptible to perceiving certain events as stressful, but they cannot eliminate stress entirely.
Sapolsky’s choice to describe the biology of stress also encourages science literacy and helps classify Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers as a popular science text rather than a self-help book (See: Background). Owing to his status as a science educator, Sapolsky’s goal is not to teach people ways to completely avoid stress but to explain how and why stress functions as it does, and why and how the stress-response can become damaging.
The Implications of Modern Chronic Stress
The Implications of Modern Chronic Stress include stress-related diseases, driven by the predominantly psychological and social nature of modern stressors. Modern stressors are created and exacerbated by existing social structures. The physical implications of chronic stress arise from the evolution of the stress-response, which is adapted to handle short-term physical stressors and not the long-term psychological stressors that are common in the industrial world.
Increased cardiac output during the stress-response increases the risks of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and sudden cardiac events. Changes in the digestive system can cause conditions like peptic ulcers, or can exacerbate disorders, like IBS. Chronic stress also increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, causes immunosuppression, and can impede memory and degrade the hippocampus. Multiple mental health conditions are also closely linked to stress: For instance, it appears that stressors play a role in triggering depression. While modern stress comes with numerous health implications, Sapolsky stresses the limitations of stress’s impact and maintains an academic tone rather than sensationalizing the relationship between stress and diseases. In this way, he avoids placing blame on individuals for contracting medical conditions and avoids offering simple solutions for stress-related diseases.
Instead of targeting individuals for causing their own diseases by not properly managing their stress, Sapolsky identifies and criticizes social structures for causing modern chronic stress. Pre-agricultural humans were likely egalitarian and, although they experienced psychosocial stressors, it is likely their lifestyles were more in-tune with the evolved stress-response. Agriculture laid the foundation for the unequal distribution of resources. Now, low socioeconomic statuses and people living in nations with greater income inequality face more chronic stressors and worse health.
Capitalism and consumerism have led to the creation of intense artificial stimulation. As Sapolsky notes, “Now we have hundreds of carefully engineered, designed, and marketed commercial foods filled with rapidly absorbed processed sugars that cause a burst of sensation that can’t be matched by some lowly natural food” (351). The implication here is that, as individuals become habituated to this artificial intensity, it becomes more difficult for them to mitigate their stress through healthy coping mechanisms. Perspectives driven by social norms also increase stress, such as the intense drive to be financially productive or the pervasive fears surrounding aging and death, which are not as common in hunter-gatherer societies.
Sapolsky thus suggests that current industrial social structures are largely at fault for much of the chronic stress and subsequent physical and psychological implications experienced by modern individuals living in the modern world. This implies that effectively combatting stress would involve systemic and structural changes instead of just individualized efforts.
Strategies for Stress Management and Prevention
While Sapolsky alludes to strategies for mitigating chronic stress, the theme does not fully emerge until the latter half of the text. Sapolsky explores both general and specific methods to manage stress, while also addressing the limitations of stress-management.
Outlets for frustration are identified as crucial to stress management. One of the most effective outlets for frustration is displaced aggression, or when someone harasses or abuses another individual to relieve their own feelings of stress. While this behavior is effective—“the practice works wonders at minimizing the stressfulness of a stressor” (255)—it is socially unacceptable, and Sapolsky does not present it as a valid strategy to manage stress.
Exercise can provide a physical outlet for stress and lower the intensity of the stress-response. Studies also suggest meditation has stress-lowering benefits. Spirituality and religion are correlated with lower stress levels, although some underlying causes of the benefits may include the healthy lifestyles and stronger social network associated with religiosity. Seeking predictive information and a sense of control can also reduce stress, but few specific examples are provided because of the complex nature of these strategies.
While Sapolsky includes several strategies to mitigate stress, he also identifies their limitations. In some situations, stress benefits may be limited, such as with meditation, which has not been proven to have long-term benefits. Many stress management and prevention strategies can become stressors: Exercise, when compulsory, can cause stress, and excess exercise is physically damaging. The values held by religious institutions and certain communities can cause stress as well: “[R]eligion can be very good at reducing stressors, but is often the inventor of those stressors in the first place” (411).
Other coping mechanisms, including seeking predictive information and a sense of control, are difficult to balance, making them potentially useless or damaging. Predictive information about mundane stressors offers no benefits, and information about severe events may exacerbate stress. Control, too, is difficult to balance, as in certain circumstances—such as if a parent were to blame themselves for their child’s illness—a sense of control is psychologically detrimental.
Sapolsky’s emphasis on the limitations of Strategies for Stress Management and Prevention is not intended to imply that the implications of stress are inevitable. Instead, he is avoiding presenting the biased and inaccurate message that stress-related diseases can be completely treated or prevented with a positive mindset—the consequences of which he explores in his discussion on Siegel (See: Key Figures). He also demonstrates academic integrity by addressing both sides of the strategies, offering a more complete picture that aligns with the scientific genre of the text.
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