my 2012 resolution: stop acting like a gazelle with a hungry lion lunging at my ass (you should consider the same)

"Thousands of years ago, we mostly lived until we either starved, were accidentally poisoned or we were eaten by another animal. Now, we have the distinct ability to slowly kill ourselves over a period of about 80 years with chemical laced foods, too much alcohol and prolonged reaction to stressful events. All are avoidable, if we make the choice to do so."


http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/stress-portrait-of-a-killer/

(you can also watch it on Netflix, which is where I saw it, per my free 30 day trial with an AWESOME company whose stock I picked to triple in value February 2009, only to watch it, without buying any, increase ten-fold through this past summer!)

The point that stuck me in the chin and rocked my dome back like a Dr. Dre beat was how a certain breed of monkey, in its normal, wild habitat, evolved to serve as the ideal non-human population for studies concerning lifestyle and social interaction, due to the fact that they spend, like humans, very little time obtaining calories required for homeostatic sustainability (big combo-word there... thanks ASU biomed), and, therefore, had quite a bit of time remaining prior to subsequent caloric consumption and consequent slumber, to do whatever they wanted. In this case, annoy each other and ultimately compete for social status.

Damn. Sound familiar? I'll let you watch to learn more about that. Moving on to the part that is more appropriate relative to my post title.

The film introduces the scientific details behind how external stimuli triggers the release of certain types of hormones associated with the "fight or flight" psyche, or chemicals responsible for physiological processes that help us "fight", or defend ourselves when threatened, or "flight", or run like hell when we are not confident we can win that fight (again, designed to help defend our life). This is a process we humans share with the wild kingdom.

"Stress" is what we experience when in the throws of the "fighting" or "flight-ing". The film dissects how gazelles, or zebras, when being chased by a hungry lion (we've all seen that infamous "slow-mo" race through the African safari...) is experiencing "flight" and all its sacred physiological processes (without them he's lunch), including the release of certain chemicals that, relative to the rather short nature of the experience and subsequent short "burst" of chemical release, are not harmful to the prey's state of being long-term (assuming he / she escapes becoming an entree). In other words, the prey "flight", they escape, and the animal has the ability to no longer acknowledge the stimulus because...

well, it's gone, and so are the chemicals that helped the animal "flight"...

Humans, on the other hand, are currently exposing themselves to the same "burst" of chemicals, only doing so repeatedly, all day, day after day, for years on end, in response to stimuli that either 1.) exist, with potential consequences over exaggerated, or 2.) don't exist, with imaginary consequences. The film's scientists prove this by measuring the concentration of the aforementioned hormones in 1.) animals, following a "stressful", or life-threatening event, and 2.) humans, following a "stressful" event, such as being late for work, etc., but not life-threatening.

We both share the same reactions.

In other words, we have conditioned ourselves to respond to heavy traffic in the same way a gazelle responds to being chased by a hungry lion.

Wow. That is incredibly...

sad.

Think about that the next time your overpaid boss shoots you a negative look after you fail to include a key chart or piece of data in an important meeting. You likely just excreted the same type of chemical, at a relatively similar concentration, as the gazelle who is being chased by a hungry lion, 4,000 miles away, through the Africa safari, at the same time.

The difference is when the gazelle survives, he forgets about it, "stops responding", and goes on about his day grazing, trotting, sexing, and wild-ing. You will dwell on that look from your boss all day, all night, and probably the next day, repeating the event over and over and over in your mind, "still responding" the same way you both did shortly after the stimulus occurred.

Watch the film to learn how this "continuous response" is killing you.

2012 motto: "stop acting like a human and piss off a lion!"