This semester I am teaching an undergraduate biology course on biofeedback, self-regulation, and intergenerational resilience. One of the books we read is Robert M. Sapolsky’s Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. The book’s thesis is that humans experience chronic stress in ways that animals like zebras do not, primarily because humans have the ability to anticipate and dwell on future threats. Zebras experience only acute, short-term stress when facing immediate danger, like escaping a predator, while humans, with our complex brains, can prolong stress through constant worry about work, relationships, or hypothetical situations. This chronic stress has harmful effects on our bodies, contributing to health issues like ulcers, heart disease, and immune dysfunction, which are less prevalent in animals that only deal with immediate, physical stressors. Relatedly, we read a chapter from Gabor Maté’s book When the Body Says No, which argues that our interactions, especially how we process every day stress and stimuli, have direct physiological consequences and that developing emotional awareness and competence is crucial for maintaining health and preventing stress-related diseases.
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