Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

by Robert M. Sapolsky Narrated by Peter Berkrot

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

Booknews

The subtitle continues: This book looks at the big monster of the entertainment industry from two primary perspectives: the artist's and the manager's. Some chapters are even subdivided into several parts to speak independently to the different readers. The authors cover a huge range of material gleaned from their combined sixty plus years in the industry, but their breadth sometimes comes at the expense of depth. For a good overview of what to expect in a music career from either side of the contract, this is a good reference. For the details, consult a manager. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

From the Publisher

"Robert M. Sapolsky is one of the best science writers of our time."—Oliver Sacks

For the first edition of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers:

Sapolsky succeeds in interpreting technical material in a way that leaves readers with an understanding of how the same physiological responses, so well suited for dealing with short-term physical emergencies, can turn into potential disasters when chronically provoked for psychological or other reasons....The author has a way with words and images....you'll find plenty to intrigue you. —The Washington Post

Robert Sapolsky wittily dissects the anatomy of human stress-response. —The Wall Street Journal

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170514670
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/31/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

From Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers:

Regardless of how poorly we are getting along with a family member or how incensed we are about losing a parking spot, we rarely settle that sort of thing with a fistfight. Likewise, it is a rare event when we have to stalk and personally wrestle down our dinner. Essentially, we humans live well enough and long enough, and are smart enough, to generate all sorts of stressful events purely in our heads. How many hippos worry about whether Social Security is going to last as long as they will, or even what they are going to say on a first date? Viewed from the perspective of the evolution of the human kingdom, psychological stress is a recent invention. If someone has just signed the order to hire a hated rival after months of plotting and maneuvering, her physiological responses might be shockingly similar to those of a savanna baboon who has just lunged and slashed the face of a competitor. And if someone spends months on end twisting his innards in anxiety, anger, and tension over some emotional problem, this might very well lead to illness.

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