Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping (Third Edition)

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Henry Holt and Company, Sep 15, 2004 - Self-Help - 560 pages

Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with over 225,000 copies in print

Now in a third edition, Robert M. Sapolsky's acclaimed and successful Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress.

As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us literally sick.
Combining cutting-edge research with a healthy dose of good humor and practical advice, Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers explains how prolonged stress causes or intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. It also provides essential guidance to controlling our stress responses. This new edition promises to be the most comprehensive and engaging one yet.

From inside the book

Contents

1 Why Dont Zebras Get Ulcers?
1
2 Glands Gooseflesh and Hormones
19
3 Stroke Heart Attacks and Voodoo Death
37
4 Stress Metabolism and Liquidating Your Assets
57
5 Ulcers the Runs and Hot Fudge Sundaes
71
6 Dwarfism and the Importance of Mothers
92
7 Sex and Reproduction
120
8 Immunity Stress and Disease
144
12 Aging and Death
239
13 Why Is Psychological Stress Stressful?
252
14 Stress and Depression
271
15 Personality Temperament and Their StressRelated Consequences
309
16 Junkies Adrenaline Junkies and Pleasure
335
17 The View from the Bottom
353
18 Managing Stress
384
Notes
419

9 Stress and Pain
186
10 Stress and Memory
202
11 Stress and a Good Nights Sleep
226
Illustration Credits
517
Index
521
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About the author (2004)

Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. His most recent book, Behave, was a New York Times bestseller and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.

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