9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What am I thinking about? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mortgage, debt, money pouring out... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I felt a lump ...I know cancer when I feel it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Where is she? What is she up to? Never calling, never saying a word... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is everyone's inferno, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 bedevilling our minds, igniting our nights, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 upending our equilibrium, but it hasn't[br]always been so. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Once, its purpose was to save us. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you're a normal mammal, what stress[br]about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is three minutes of screaming terror[br]on the savannah, after which it's either 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over with you or you are over with. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But everything changed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What once helped us survive has now[br]become the scourge of our lives. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I just burst into tears, and wept, and wept. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 scientific discoveries, in the field 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and in the lab, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 prove that stress is not a state of mind,[br]but something measurable 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and dangerous. This is not an abstract[br]concept. It's not something that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 maybe someday you should do something about.[br]You need to attend to it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 today. In some of the most unexpected[br]places, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 scientists are revealing just how lethal[br]stress can be. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Chronic stress could do something as[br]unsubtle 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and grotesque as kill some of your[br]brain cells. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The impact of stress can be found deep[br]within us, shrinking our brains, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 adding fat to our bellies, even[br]unraveling our chromosomes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is real this is not just somebody 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whining. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress... savior, tyrant, plague... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 its portrait revealed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This program was made possible by[br]contributions to your 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 PBS station from viewers like you. Thank[br]you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of us have a personal[br]relationship with stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but few of us know how it operates[br]within us, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or understand how the onslaught of the[br]modern world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can stress us to the point of death. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fewer still know what we can do about[br]it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But over the last three decades, Stanford[br]University neurobiologist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Robert Sapolsky, has been advancing our[br]understanding of stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how it impacts our bodies, and how our social standing can make us more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or less susceptible. Is the aggregate[br]bad news 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and more... Most of the time, you can find him teaching and researching in the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 high-achieving, high-stressed world of[br]brain science. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The paper is this huge contrast between... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 class... But that's only part of his[br]story. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For a few weeks every year or so,[br]Sapolsky shifts his lab to a place more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than 9,000 miles away 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the plaines of the Masai Mara Reserve,[br]in Kenya, East Africa. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Robert Sapolsky first came to Africa[br]over 30 years ago on a hunch. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He suspected he could find out more[br]about human stress and disease 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by looking at non-humans, and he knew 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just the non-humans. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You live in a place like this, you are a[br]baboon, and you only have to spend about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 three hours a day getting your calories. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And if you only have to work three hours[br]a day, you got nine hours of free time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 every day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to devote to making somebody else just[br]miserable 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They're not being stressed by lions[br]chasing them all the time, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they are being stressed by each other. They're[br]being stressed by social and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 psychological tumult 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 invented by their own species. They are a perfect model for Westernized 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stress-related disease. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To determine just what toll stress was[br]taking on their bodies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sapolsky wanted to look inside these[br]wild baboons at the cellular level 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the very first time. To do this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he would have to take their blood in the[br]most unassuming way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Basically, what you're trying to do is anaesthetize a baboon, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without him knowing it's coming.[br]Because you don't want to have any 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of this anticipatory stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so you can't just, you know, get in your jeep[br]and chase the baboon up and down the field 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for three hours, and finally when he's[br]winded, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 dart him with an anesthetic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, the big advantages of a blow gun 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are that it's pretty much silent, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hasn't a whole lot of moving parts,[br]but the big drawback 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that it doesn't go very far. So what you[br]spend just 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a bizarre amount of time doing, is[br]trying to figure out 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how to look nonchalant around a baboon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Got him... Time? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, he is wobbling now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Whoop, there he goes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 From each baboon blood sample, Robert measured[br]levels of hormones central to the stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 response. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, to make sense of what's happening in[br]your body, you've got these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 two hormones that are the workhorses of the[br]whole stress response. One of them we all 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 know 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 adrenaline, American version, epinephrine,[br]the other is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a less known hormone called[br]glucocorticoids that comes out of the adrenal gland 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 along with adrenaline and these are[br]the two backbones of the stress response. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That stress response 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and those two hormones are critical to[br]our survival. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because what stress is about is that somebody[br]is very intent on eating 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you, or you are very intent on eating[br]somebody, and there is immediate crisis 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 going on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When you run for your life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 basics are all that matter. Lungs work[br]overtime to pump mammoth quantities of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 oxygen into the bloodstream. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The heart races to pump that oxygen[br]throughout the body 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so muscles respond instantly. You need[br]your blood pressure up to deliver that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 energy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You need to turn off anything that is not[br]essential... growth, reproduction, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you're running for your life this is no[br]time to ovulate, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tissue repair, all that sort of thing... do[br]it later, if there is a later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When the zebra escapes, its stress[br]response shuts down. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But human beings can't seem to find[br]their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 off switch. We turn on the exact same[br]stress response 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for purely psychological states... thinking[br]about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the ozone layer, the taxes coming up,[br]mortality, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 30-year mortgages... we turn on the[br]same stress response and the key 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 difference there is, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we're not doing it for real[br]physiological reason and we're doing it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 non-stop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By not turning off the stress response[br]when reacting to life's traffic jams, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we wallow in a corrosive bath of hormones. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even though it's not life or death, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we hyperventilate, our hearts pound, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 muscles tense. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ironically, after a while the stress[br]response is more damaging than the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stressor itself, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because the stressor is some psychological[br]nonsense that you're falling for. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 No zebra on Earth, running for[br]its life, would understand why... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fear of speaking in public 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would cause you to secrete the same[br]hormones that it's doing at that point 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to save its life. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress is the the body's way of rising to[br]a challenge, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whether the challenge is life-threatening,[br]trivial 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or fun. You get the right amount of stress and we[br]call it stimulation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The goal in life is not to get rid of stress,[br]the goal in life is to have the right 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 type of stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because when it is the right type, we love it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We jump out of our seats to experience it,[br]we pay good money to get stressed that way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It tends to be a moderate stressor, where you've[br]got a stressor that's transient... it's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not for nothing roller coaster rides are not[br]three weeks long. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And most of all, what they are about is that you[br]relinquish a little bit of control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in a setting that overall feels safe. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but in real life for so many of us[br]primates including Roberts baboons 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 control is not an option. Here you have a[br]big male 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who loses a fight and chases a sub-adult 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who bites on a female who slaps a[br]juvenile that knocks an infant 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 out of a tree, all in fifteen seconds 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know in so far as a huge component of[br]stress is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 lack of control, lack of predictability[br]you're sitting there and just 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 watching the zebra 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and somebody else is having a bad day and it is your rear-end that is going to get slashed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some tremendously psychologically stressful for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for the folks further down on the hierarchy. One of[br]Roberts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 early revelations was identifying the[br]link between stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and hierarchy in baboons. Some baboons troops are over 100 strong 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like us they have evolved large brains[br]to navigate the complexities of large 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 societies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 survival here requires a kind of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 baboon political savvy with the most[br]cunning and aggressive males 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gaining top rank and all the perks, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 females for the choosing, all the food[br]they can eat 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and an endless retenue of willing[br]groomers. Every male knows where he 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stands in society 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who can torture him whom he can torture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and who in turn the torturee can[br]torture 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well it sound like a terrible thing to confess[br]after thirty years but 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't actually like baboons all that much and there[br]has been individual guys over the years 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I absolutely love 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but they are these scheming, back-stabbing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 machiavellian bastards that hurt each[br]other 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so they're great for my science, I mean I'm[br]not out here to commune with them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're perfect for what I study. [br]22 years ago 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the age of 30 Sapolsky's landmark[br]research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 earned him the MacArthur Foundation's[br]Genius fellowship 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 his early work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 measuring stress hormones from extracted[br]blood led to two remarkable discoveries 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a baboon's rank determine the level of[br]stress hormone in his system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so if you're a dominant male you can[br]expect your stress hormones to be low 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if you are submissive 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much higher, but there was an even[br]more revealing find 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in Sapolsky's sample of low rankers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the have-nots had increased heart rates 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and higher blood pressure. This was the[br]first time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 anyone had linked stress to the[br]deteriorating health 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a primate in the wild. Basically 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you're a stressed, unhealthy[br]baboon in a typical troop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 high blood pressure. elevated levels of[br]stress hormones, you have an immune 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 system that doesn't work as well 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your reproductive system is more[br]vulnerable to being knocked out of whack 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your brain chemistry is one that has[br]some similarity to what you see in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 clinically depressed humans 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and all that stuff those are not[br]predictors of a hale and hearty old age 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could this also be true for that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 other primate as Robert Sapolsky 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was monitoring stress in baboons[br]professor Sir Michael Marmot 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was leading a study in Great Britain they[br]tracked the health of more than 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 28,000 people over the course of forty[br]years 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it was named for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Whitehall, citadel of the British civil[br]service where every job is ranked in a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 precise hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the perfect laboratory to determine[br]whether in humans 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there might be a link between rank and[br]stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean that's the thing about stress I[br]think you've got to look at it in both 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 acute terms and chronic terms I think[br]I've been under chronic stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in this organization simply because I'm[br]a square peg in a round hole 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Kevin Brooks is a government lawyer, his[br]rank 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 level 7 means he has little seniority in[br]his department 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he lives the life of a subordinate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think what I was most aware of at the[br]time was the workload and how 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had most of it under control but one of my[br]cases wasn't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 wholly under control I let it slip[br]and it was a bit like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 being in a car hitting an[br]ice patch 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and skating but nonetheless I came in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Monday morning and my immediate[br]manager 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 let's call him Ben, then wants a word[br]with you, so we find a room 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he shuts the door, then he says you know what you have[br]done 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know what happened while you were away we[br]couldn't find one of your files 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Do you know what that meant? He just gave me a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 good kicking, psychologically he did me over 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and at the end of it it was more threats. It was right[br]that's maybe a disciplinary matter 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I left the room crossed over the[br]corridor to my own room 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I just burst into tears and wept and[br]wept 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sarah Woodall also works for the[br]government 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 unlike Kevin she is a senior civil[br]servant 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there about a hundred and sixty people[br]reporting to me ultimately 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one way or another within the sector. I do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 really enjoy working with our service[br]it's quite a dynamic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 environment, it can be quite exciting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I like working with lots of people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I do really enjoy my job. Such[br]dramatically different reflections 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 dramatize one of the most astounding[br]scientific findings in the Whitehall 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 study 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 firstly it showed that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the lower you were in the hierarchy the[br]higher your risk of heart disease 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and other diseases, so people second from[br]the top 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had higher risk than those at the top[br]people third from the top 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had a higher risk than those second from the top and[br]it ran 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all the way from top to bottom. We are[br]dealing with people in stable jobs with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no industrial exposures 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and yet your position in the hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 intimately related to your risk of disease 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and lenght of life. I've been very[br]lucky 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have never experienced any problems with[br]my health 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 since I've been in the senior service I haven't had a day off 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with ill health, I've been very[br]fortunate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In my own situation I think that my career is pretty much 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tainted, is pretty much 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 arrested because I have had, for instance, for the[br]last three years at work I've been off 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sick 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for probably half that time. This[br]particular study is sort of the Rosetta 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stone of a whole field because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's the British civil service system,[br]everybody's got the same medical care 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 everybody's got the same universal[br]health care system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just like the baboons all the baboons eat[br]the same thing, they have the same level 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of activity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's not the stuff that oh if you're a[br]low-ranking baboon you smoke to much and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you drink too much and if you're a[br]low-ranking british civil service 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 guy you never go to the doctor and you[br]don't get preventive vaccines both of this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 studies rule out all this confounds 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they produce virtually identical[br]findings. On both sides of the primate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 divide 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are soul wrenching stories and[br]life-threatening consequences 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For every subordinate like Kevin 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 living a life of baboon uncertainty there[br]is an alpha 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 strutting his stuff, glorying in power 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over someone else someone unsuspecting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 someone low ranking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Got him. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 12:46 do either of you see where the[br]dart is? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Yes. Okay guys who do you think[br]is higher-ranking? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Our guy... Yes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Much carefully make sure the other guy[br]doesn't hassle him. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this year Robert brought his family to[br]Africa 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 his wife neuropsychologist Lisa[br]Sapolsky 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has also done extensive research with[br]baboons 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and for the first time they brought[br]along their kids 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Benjamin and Rachel. As asleep as he looks... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all the baboons are perfectly[br]willing to get very freaked out by 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a human coming over and touching one of [br]these guys but cover him with a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 burlap and he doesn't exist anymore 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 oh my God he's there, he's... not there[br]anymore 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this is not quite like taking your kids to[br]work day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it's a pretty central feature of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who I am by now and who my wife and I[br]are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and kids want to know where we came from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and this is pretty fundamental. As in[br]previous seasons 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Robert measures how individuals at every[br]level of the baboon hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reacts to and recovers from stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what we're doing it is, we're now going to[br]challenge the system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with increasing doses of epinephrine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the baboon's response is immediately picked[br]up in its blood 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 vital signs that can be deep frozen in[br]perpetuity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's this storehouse of potential knowledge and I[br]got 30 years of those blood samples 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 frozen away at this point because 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you never know when some new hormone or some[br]new something or other pops up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that is the thing to look at and start pulling out this[br]samples back to when 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know Jimmy Carter was[br]president. 150... 125... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anticipating the long reach of stress is[br]a recent idea, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for one when robert was Rachel's age,[br]scientists believed stress was the cause 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of only one major problem. This is a[br]picture of a major american 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 personnel problem... an ugly sore that[br]doctors call a peptic ulcer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 eating away at the wall of a man's[br]stomach. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Those stomach pains that you talk about, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the gnawing, the burning, those are obvious symptoms of[br]gastric ulcer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thirty years ago, what's the disease that[br]comes to everybody's mind when you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 mention stress... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's ulcers, stress[br]and ulcers. And 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this was the first stress related disease[br]discovered, in fact 70 years ago. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I want you to do is to work on your attitude. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My attitude? That's right. Ulcers breed on the wrong kind of feelings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You've got to be honest with yourself[br]about the way you feel about it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Finding a new doctor sounds like a better[br]answer to me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The connection between stress and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ulcers was mainstream medical gospel[br]until the early 1980s. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then Australian researchers identified a[br]bacteria 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as the major cause of ulcers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this overthrew the entire field, this was, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's got nothing to do with stress, it's[br]a bacterial disorder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I'm willing to bet half the[br]gastroenterologists on Earth when they 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 heard about this, went out and celebrated[br]that night. This was, like, the greatest 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 news... never again were they going to have to sit[br]down their patients, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 make eye contact and ask them how is it going, so, anything stressful... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's got nothing to do with stress, it's a[br]bacterial disorder... So no longer would the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 solution be stress management, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 now it could be something as simple as a[br]pill. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was a major breakthrough. Stress[br]didn't cause ulcers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Case closed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But a few years later, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the research took a new twist. Scientists[br]discovered that this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ulcer-causing bacteria wasn't unique... in[br]fact, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as much as two thirds of the world's[br]population has it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So why do only a fraction of these[br]people develop ulcers? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Research revealed that when stressed, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the body begins shutting down all[br]non-essential systems, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 including the immune system. And it[br]became clear that, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you shut down the immune system,[br]stomach bacteria 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can run amok... Because what the stress[br]does, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is wipe out the ability of your body to[br]begin to repair your stomach walls 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they start rotting away from this[br]bacteria... So stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can cause ulcers by disrupting our[br]body's ability to heal itself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If stress can undermine the immune[br]system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what other havoc can it wreak? One[br]answer comes from a colony of captive 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 macaque monkeys 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. People[br]think of stress as something that keeps 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 them up at night, or 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 something that makes them yell at their[br]kids. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But, when you ask me, what is stress, I say 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 look at it, it's this huge plaque 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in this artery, that's what stress is. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For two decades doctor Carol Shively 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has been studying the arteries of macaques. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like baboons and British Civil[br]Servants, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these primates organize themselves into[br]distinctly hierarchical groups, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and subject one another to social stress. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress hormones can trigger an intense[br]negative cardiovascular response, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a pounding heart, at increased blood[br]pressure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So if stress follows rank, would the[br]cardiovascular system of a high-ranking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 macaque, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 call him a primate CEO, be different from[br]his subordinate? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When Shively looked at the arteries of a[br]dominant monkey, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 one with little history of stress, its[br]arteries were clean. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But a subordinate monkey's arteries 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 told a grim tale... A subordinate artery 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has lots more atherosclerosis build 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 up inside it than a dominant artery has. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress, and the resulting flood of[br]hormones, had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 increased blood pressure, damaging artery[br]walls, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 making them repositories for plaque. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So now, when you feel threatened, your arteries[br]don't expand, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and your heart muscle doesn't get more blood, and that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can lead to a heart attack. This is not[br]an abstract concept, it's not something 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 maybe someday you should do something[br]about, you need to attend to it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 today, because it's affecting the way[br]your body functions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a stress today will affect your[br]health tomorrow and for years to come. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Social and psychological stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whether macaque, human, or baboon, can[br]clog our arteries, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 restrict blood flow, jeopardize the[br]health of our heart... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that's just the beginning of[br]stress's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 deadly curse. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Robert's early research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 demonstrated that stress can work on us[br]in an even more frightening way. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, back when I was starting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in this business what I wound up focusing[br]on was what 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 seemed an utterly implausible idea at[br]the time, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which was chronic stress and chronic[br]exposure to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 glucocorticoids could do something as unsubtle[br]and grotesque as 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 kill some of your brain cells. As a PhD[br]candidate at Rockefeller University in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the early 80s, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sapolsky collaborated with his mentor,[br]doctor Bruce McEwan, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to follow the path of stress into the[br]brain. They subjected lab rats to chronic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stress, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then examined their brain cells. The[br]team made an astonishing find. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 While the cells of normal rat brains[br]have extensive branches, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stressed rats brain cells were[br]dramatically smaller. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And what was most interesting in many[br]ways was the part of the brain where this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was happening... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the hippocampus. You take Intro Neurobiology[br]anytime for the last 5000 years and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what you learn is: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hippocampus is learning and memory.[br]Stress in these rats 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 shrank the part of their brain[br]responsible for memory. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Stress affects memory in two ways. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Chronic stress can actually change 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 brain circuits, so that we lose the[br]capacity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to remember things as we need to. Very[br]severe 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 acute stress can have another effect, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which is often... we refer to as stress[br]makes you stupid, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which is making it impossible for you in, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 over short periods of time to[br]remember things you know perfectly well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We all know that phenomenon, we all know[br]that one, from back when we stressed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ourselves by not getting any sleep at[br]all. And 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the next morning at nine o'clock, we[br]couldn't remember a single thing for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that final exam. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You take a human and stress them[br]big-time, long time, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you're going to have a hippocampus that[br]pays the price as well. In addition to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 undermining our health 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stress can make us feel plain miserable 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Carol Shively set out to find out why 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she began not with misery but with[br]pleasure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Shively suspected that there was a link[br]between stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 pleasure and where we stand on the[br]social hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just like stress, pleasure is linked to[br]the chemistry of the brain 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when a neurotransmitter called dopamine[br]is released in the brain 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it binds to receptors signaling pleasure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Shively used a positron emission tomography scanner to[br]examine the brain of a non-stressed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 primate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 our primate CEO. What we see 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is that the brains of dominant monkeys[br]light up bright with lots of dopamine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 binding 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in this area that is so important to[br]reward and feeling pleasure about life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Shively then looked at the[br]subordinates brain. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What we discovered is that the brains of[br]the subordinate monkeys 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are very dull because there's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 much less receptor-binding going on in[br]this area. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why is that, what is it about this area[br]of the brain? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When you have less dopamine everything 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 around you that you would normally take[br]pleasure in, is less pleasurable. So the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sun doesn't shine so bright, the grass is[br]not so green, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 food doesn't taste as good. It's because of[br]the way your brain is functioning that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you're doing that, and your brain is functioning that[br]way because you are low 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the social status hierarchy. One[br]feature of low rank is being low 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ranking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the reality, an even stronger feature by[br]the time you get to humans, is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not just being low ranking or poor, it's feeling 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 low ranking or poor and one of the[br]best ways for society to make you feel 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like one of the have-nots 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is to rub your nose over and over and[br]over again 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with what you don't have. Richmond California 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a town where societies extremes can be[br]spotted right from your car 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this is the regular commute of cardiologist Jeffrey Ritterman 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can learn a lot about the distress[br]and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 health outcome just from the[br]neighborhoods you visit and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in this neighborhood the life[br]expectancy is quite good and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 most of the people are pretty healthy[br]and as we reach the top of the hill it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 gets to be a little bit less 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 privileged and as we make this[br]transition 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the social status begins to drop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and correspondingly in those areas 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the health outcome is much worse[br]and these people are not going to have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the same life expectancy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as the people in that middle class[br]area we started in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 People are on guard, people are vigilant,[br]they are living a more stressful life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this is a community that produces high[br]stress hormones in people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and overtime it takes its toll. One of[br]doctor Ritterman's 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 patient is 65-year-old Emanuel Johnson 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 his career is guidance counselor in one of[br]America's most dangerous neighborhoods 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 well last year actually I think we had forty seven[br]homicides 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the last four days we had[br]11 shootings three deaths 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and nine times out of ten it's[br]going to be a relative 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or someone I bet the kids know. For Emanuel[br]Johnson 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there is a price for chronic exposure to[br]this stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 five years ago I had a heart attack I'm a[br]diabetic too. I have to work on it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 constantly 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because I've been in this business twenty[br]years, so just it's stressful 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just working the job, so over the years[br]that, you know 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the cholesterol, the blood pressure, the sugar came on later 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but the stress was always in[br]before they came on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emanuel Johnson's body may be telling[br]yet another story of stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Whitehall study in england 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 found an incredible link between stress,[br]your position in the social hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how you put on weight. So it may not[br]be just 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 putting on weight but also the[br]distribution 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of that weight and the distribution of that[br]weight 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 putting it on around the center is[br]related to position in the hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that in turn may be related to[br]chronic stress pathways. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we said, does that happen in monkeys 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because they organize themselves in a[br]hierarchy too and it turns out that it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 does. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Subordinate monkeys are more likely to[br]have fat in their abdomen 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then are dominant monkeys. I think the[br]most amazing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 observation that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've made in my lab is this idea that[br]stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could actually change the way you deposit fat[br]on your body 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to me that was a bizarre idea that you[br]could actually 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 alter the way fat is distributed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sapolsky, Shively and others think stress[br]could be a critical factor in the global 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 obesity epidemic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Even worse fat brought on by stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is dangerous fat. You know that fat[br]carried on the trunk or actually 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 inside the abdomen is much worse for you[br]than fat carried elsewhere in the body 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it behaves differently, it[br]produces different kinds of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 hormones and chemicals and has different[br]effects on your health 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whatever it is that works 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for an individual, they need to value 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stress reduction. I think the problem in[br]our society is that we don't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 value stress reduction we in fact value the opposite 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We admire the person who not only[br]multitasks and does two things at once 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but does five things at once. We[br]admire that person. How they manage that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that's an incredibly stressful 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 way to live we have to change our values[br]and value people who understand 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a balanced and serene life. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One heartbreaking moment in history[br]reveals that stress may in fact 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 damage us long before we are even aware 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Holland late 1944 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a brutal winter and a merciless army of[br]occupation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 conspire to starve a nation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it is known as the Dutch hunger winter[br]for those who survive today 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these are haunting memories. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had nothing. I could no longer feed my son. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was so sick. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then you have to take care of a child. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I found that terrible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I went to the church at the Dam next to the palace, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and asked the priest's wife if she would raise my child as long as the war took place. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because I can't do it anymore. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 dutch researcher Tessa Roseboom had[br]heard many of those tragic memories 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she and her team wanted to know if[br]there were any lingering effects 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Roseboom knew 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that our bodies respond to famine in[br]much the same way they respond to other 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stressors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so she set out to see if the fetuses of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 women pregnant during these arduous days[br]could possibly be affected by stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because of meticulous record-keeping by[br]the Dutch 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Roseboom was able to identify over 2400[br]people 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who could have been impacted. She and her[br]team 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 analyzed the data from those born during[br]and after the famine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and came to a surprising conclusion. I[br]think that you could say that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these babies were exposed to stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in fetal life and they're still[br]suffering the consequences of that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 now, sixty years later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Many of the Dutch hunger winter[br]children live today 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all in their sixties many still bear the[br]scars of war 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we found that the babies who were conceived[br]during the famine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have an increased risk of cardiovascular[br]disease they have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more hypercholesterolemia they are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more responsive to stress and [br]generally are in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 poorer health than people who were born[br]before the famine 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or conceived after it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 researchers think that stress hormones[br]in a mother's blood 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 triggered a change in the nervous system[br]of the fetus as it struggled with 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 starvation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this was the fetuses first encounter[br]with stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 six decades later the bodies of these[br]Dutch hunger winter children 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 still haven't forgotten. What we now know[br]is that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's not just your fat cells that[br]wind up being vulnerable to build up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 towards events like this, it's your brain[br]chemistry, it's your capacity to learn 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's your capacity 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to respond to stress adaptively rather[br]than maladaptively 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how readily you fall into depression, how[br]vulnerable you are to psychiatric 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 disorders 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 yet another realm in which early[br]experience and early stress can leave a very 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 very bad footprint. If I had had an 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 option I would not have opted to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 bipolar but now that I am bipolar 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'll have to live with it. It's hard for me to be flexible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am very quick to anger. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What the Dutch hunger winter phenomenon[br]is about is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 experience, environments start long[br]before birth and adverse 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 stressful environments can imprint and leave scars 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 lasting a whole lifetime. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We are taking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fingerprints because no baboon has the same fingerprints as another one. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we just took Gummibear's and I am hoping to get over to Riff and get his. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 During this[br]years multi-generational research, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Robert who has spent his career[br]documenting stresses effects on the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 individual 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and on the cell tracks the trail of[br]stress even deeper into our bodies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of the most interesting new direction in stress[br]research 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is taking the effects of stress down to[br]a bolts and nuts level 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how cells work, how genes work, that half[br]a dozen years ago nobody could have 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 imagined. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the once unimaginable genetic structures[br]called telomeres 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which protect the ends of our chromosomes[br]from fraying 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as we age our telomeres shorten. What is[br]interesting 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is stress, by way of stress hormones 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can accelerate the shortening of[br]telomeres, so the assumption is for 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the exact same aged guys 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you're a low-ranking guy who's just[br]marinating in stress hormones 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your telomeres are going to be shorter. So[br]how does this formidable finding apply 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to us 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 San Rafael California 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 once a week Janet Lawson keeps a very[br]important appointment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She joined other mothers who share[br]circumstances that produce chronic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 unremitting stress. So... but she looses her[br]balance and that's the scary part 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so we just went out actually last night[br]and bought a new helmet just for fun 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She's getting older and wanting more[br]independence, it's getting harder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Each of these women is mother to a[br]disabled child 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For us my son's only 8 and and there's[br]enough I can handle and I don't allow 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 myself to go 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 too much out, i can't. I had a friend recently[br]who said to me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know I think you really should[br]consider putting Lexie at a home and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that was really stressful in and of itself[br]to think 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 wahou so... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so it's like how can you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even say that? She is, you know a little[br]girlfriend 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she's, even though she can't really[br]communicate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she loves 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 she loves 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These remarkable women came to the[br]attention of biologist 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 doctor Elizabeth Blackburn. I didn't[br]directly know the individuals 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I know the stories and I am a mother[br]myself and so when I heard about this 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 cohort 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I really thought it was worthwhile[br]finding out 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what really is happening at the heart of[br]the cells in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these mothers who are doing such a difficult[br]thing for such a long time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Doctor Blackburn is a leader in the[br]field of telomere research. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We have 46 chromosomes and they are capped off 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at each end by telomeres. Nobody knew in[br]humans 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 wether telomeres and their fraying down over[br]life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 would be affected by chronic stress, and[br]so, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we decided we would look at this cohort[br]of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 chronically stressed mothers. And we[br]decided to ask what's happening to their 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 telomeres and to the maintenance of their telomeres. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What we found was the length of the telomeres 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 directly relates to the amount of stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 somebody is under, and the number of years 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that they've been under the stress. Such[br]stressed mothers became the focus of a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 study by doctor Blackburn's colleague, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 psychologist Elissa Epel. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mothers of young children are a highly[br]stressed group. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They are often balancing competing demands[br]like work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and child rearing, and often don't[br]have time to take care of themselves. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, if you add on top of that, the extra[br]burden of caring 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for a child with special needs, it can be[br]overwhelming. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It can tax the very reserves that sustain[br]people, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if they're stressed, if they report[br]stress, they tend to die earlier. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These women have shortened telomeres,[br]decreased activity of this enzyme, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and a very very rough number for every[br]year you were taking care of a chronically 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ill child, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you got roughly six years worth of aging. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is real, this is not just somebody[br]whining... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this is real, medically serious 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 aging going on, and we can see that it is[br]actually caused 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by the chronic stress. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But there is hope. Doctor Blackburn co-discovered an 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 enzyme, telomerase, that can repair the[br]damage. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is what I always call the threat of hope... That's good. That's good... Yes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Preliminary data 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 suggests that a meeting of minds, such as[br]this, may actually have a health benefit, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by stimulating the healing effects[br]of telomerase. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And laugh and laugh, if you[br]don't laugh, forget it, you can't handle it... It's... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What I found is that the humor is[br]something... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there's a certain level of black humor[br]that we have about our kids 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that only we appreciate, we're the only[br]ones who get the jokes, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in a way we are the only ones who are[br]allowed to laugh at the jokes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One of the questions in the stress field is, you[br]know, what are the active ingredients 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that reduce stress and that promote[br]longevity? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And compassion and and caring for others 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 maybe one of those most important[br]ingredients. So, those maybe the factors 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that promote longevity and increase telomerase, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and keep our cells rejuvenating and[br]regenerating. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, perhaps connecting with and helping[br]others 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can help us to mend ourselves, and maybe[br]even live longer, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 healthier lives. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Twenty years ago, Robert got a shocking[br]preview of this idea. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The first troop he ever studied, the[br]baboons he felt closest to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and had written books about, suffered a[br]calamity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It would have a profound effect on his[br]research. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Keekorok troop is the one[br]I started with thirty years ago, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they were your basic old baboon[br]troop at the time, and which means 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 males were aggressive, and society was[br]highly stratified, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 females took a lot of grief, in your[br]basic off the rack baboon troop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then about, by now almost twenty[br]years ago 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 something horrific and scientifically[br]very interesting happened to that troop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Keekorok troop took to foraging[br]for food in the garbage dump of a popular 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tourist lodge. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it was a fatal move. The trash[br]included meat 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tainted with tuberculosis. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The result was that nearly half the[br]males in the troop died. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not unreasonably, I got depressed as hell[br]and pretty damn angry about what 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 happened. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, when you are 30 years old, you can[br]afford to expend a lot of emotion on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a baboon troop, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there was a lot of emotion there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For Robert, a decade of research appeared[br]to have been lost. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But then he made a curious[br]observation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about who had died and who had survived. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It wasn't random who died. In that troop, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you were aggressive, and if you were[br]not particularly socially connected, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 socially affiliative, you didn't spend your[br]time grooming and hanging out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if you were that kind of male you died . 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Every alpha male was gone. The Keekorok troop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 had been transformed. And what you were[br]left with was 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 twice as many females as males. And the[br]males who were remaining were, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you know, just to use scientific jargon, they[br]were good guys. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They were not aggressive jerks, they[br]were nice to the females, they were very 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 socially affiliative, it completely transformed[br]the atmosphere in the troop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When male baboons reach adolescence, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they typically leave their home troop and roam, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 eventually finding a new troop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And when new adolescent males would join the troop,[br]they'd come in just as jerky as any 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 adolescent males elsewhere on this[br]planet, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it would take them about six months to[br]learn... we're not like that in this troop. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We don't do stuff like that. We're not[br]that aggressive. We spend more time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 grooming each other. Males are calmer[br]with each other. You do not dump on a 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 female if you're in a bad mood. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And it takes these new guys about six[br]months, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they assimilate this style, and you have[br]baboon culture. And this particular troop 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has a culture of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of very low levels of aggression, and high[br]levels of social affiliation, they're 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 doing that twenty years later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so the tragedy had provided[br]Robert with a fundamental lesson, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not just about cells, but how the 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 absence of stress could impact society.[br]Do these guys have the same problems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with high blood pressure? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 No. Do these guys have the same[br]problems with brain chemistry related 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to anxiety stress hormone levels? Not at all. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's not just your rank, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it is what your rank means in your society.[br]And the same is true for humans, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with only a slight variation. We belong[br]to multiple hierarchies, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you may have the worst job in your[br]corporation, and no autonomy and control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and predictability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but you're the captain of the company[br]softball team that year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And you better bet you are going to have[br]all sorts of psychological means to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 decide 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's just a job, 9 to 5, that's not what[br]the world is about, what the world is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 about is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 softball, I am the head of my team, people[br]look up to me 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you come out of that deciding you are on top[br]of the hierarchy that matters to you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, that worked... and lots of baboon excrement. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Which, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 under the right circumstances, with the right[br]season's experiment is a gold mine. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Unfortunately, this time around it is just 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a cage that I have to clean now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am studying stress for thirty years[br]now, and I even 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 tell people how they should live differently, so presumably I should 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have incorporated all of this, and the reality is, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like, I am unbelievably stressed, and type A, and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 poorly coping, and why else would I[br]study the stuff 80 hours a week? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 No doubt everything I advises could lose[br]all its credibility if i keel over dead 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from a heart attack in my early 50s. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm not good at dealing with[br]stress. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, one thing that works to my[br]advantage is I love my work and I love 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 every aspect of it, so that's good... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Nonetheless, this is pretty clearly a[br]different place 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than the savannah in East Africa. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can do science here that's very[br]different and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more interesting in some ways, you can[br]have hot showers on a more regular basis 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That is a more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 interesting, varied world in lots of ways 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but there is a lot out there that you sure[br]miss. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There is a pretty miraculous place, where 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 every meal tastes good, and your are 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ten times more aware of every sensation.[br]This is a hard place to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 come to year after year without getting,[br]I think, a very 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 different metabolism and temperament. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am more extroverted here, I am more, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more happy... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is a hard place not to be happy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So one 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 antidote to stress may be finding a place[br]where we have control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but how do we reckon with all the time[br]we spend at work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I would say what we've learned from 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the Whitehall study, from the studies of[br]non-human primates 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the conditions in which people live[br]and work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are absolutely vital for the health 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Senior civil servant Sara Woodhall 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 enjoys the benefits of control. I[br]don't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 think I suffer from stress I don't work[br]a 100 hours a week 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I control the amount of work that I do[br]to make sure that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can continue to deliver long-term 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Control... the amount of control is[br]intimately related 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to where you are in the occupational[br]hierarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and what we have found is in general 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people report to us that things have[br]got worse. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That the amount of work stress has gone[br]up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Their illness rates go up. Where people[br]report to us that they got more control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're being treated more fairly at[br]work, there is more justice 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the amount of treatment, so things[br]are getting better, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the amount of illness goes down. I've[br]been very lucky I 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have never experienced any problems with my health. But not everyone is so lucky. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So is there a prescription for the vast[br]majority of us 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who aren't at the top? Give people more[br]involvement in the work give them more say in 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what they're doing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 give them more reward for the amount of[br]efforts they put out 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it might well be you have not just a[br]healthier workplace 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but a more productive workplace as well. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've managed to achieve a degree of[br]control 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the moment I'm in a very good[br]position this is the first time were I feel 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have had 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a boss who appreciates me. He doesn't[br]dominate team meetings he sits back 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he invites people to contribute, he lets[br]other people chair 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He's a real manager and he, from the[br]start when I returned of my latest sick 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 leave just six months ago 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he was so positive I think I feel[br]sufficiently 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 empowered 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Who would have imagined 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that Robert's baboons would point us[br]humans 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 towards a stress-free utopia. This may[br]sound 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a little fanciful but I think what we're[br]trying to create 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is a better society. The implications[br]both of the baboons 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and of the British civil services is how[br]can we create 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a society that has the conditions[br]that will allow people to flourish. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's where this is heading to[br]create 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a better society that promotes human[br]flourishing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what does the baboons teach the average[br]person in there 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 don't bite somebody because you're[br]having a bad day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 don't just displace on them in any sort of[br]manner, social affiliation is a remarkably 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 powerful thing and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that said by somebody who lives in a[br]world where ambition and drive and type A things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and all of that sort of things[br]dominates 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 those things are really important and one[br]of the greatest forms of sociality 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is giving rather than receiving and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all those things make for a better world 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Another one of the things that baboons teach us 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is if they are able to, in one[br]generation transform what are supposed 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to be 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 textbooks social systems, sort of engraved in[br]stone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we don't have an excuse when we say[br]they're certain inevitabilities about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 human social systems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so, the haunting question that[br]endures from Robert's life work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are we brave enough to learn from a[br]baboon? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The Kikarak troop didn't just[br]survive without stress 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they thrived. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Can we? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000