STRESS: A LESSON FROM THE LABORATORY
An interesting study demonstrated what happens when the powerful stress hormones are released too often. A group of rats was forced to listen to a tape recording of a cats chasing rats, complete with hissing and squealing. Stress chemicals flooded the rats’ bodies as they prepared to fight or run away from the cat. But the cat was imaginary, nothing more than a recording. Like the stress seeker at work, at home and in traffic, the rats were preparing for a battle they would not, and could not, fight. Eventually, the stress wore out their “doctor within,” and many of the rats died. Autopsies showed that they had suffered from death of heart tissue. There had been no cat threatening them; their reaction was based solely on their perception of the facts.
We think we’re smarter than animals, but we make the same mistakes the rats did. In fact, our mistakes are worse, because we’re supposed to know better. The rats couldn’t know it was only a recording they were hearing; they couldn’t help turning on their stress response at the wrong time. But we should know better than to respond as stress seekers when we’re caught in traffic, when the boss promotes someone else or when a police officer gives us a ticket.
Remember: Your interpretation of the facts determines your thoughts; thoughts can create or add to stress and stress will sabotage your “doctor within.”
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