Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

by Robert M. Sapolsky

Overview

Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with over 225,000 copies in print

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805073690
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	560
Sales rank:	31,461
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.12(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. His most recent book, Behave, was a New York Times bestseller and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.

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.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers?
2. Glands, Gooseflesh, and Hormones
3. Stroke, Heart Attacks, and Voodoo Death
4. Stress, Metabolism, and Liquidating Your Assets
5. Ulcers, the Runs, and Hot Fudge Sundaes
6. Dwarfism and the Importance of Mothers
7. Sex and Reproduction
8. Immunity, Stress, and Disease
9. Stress and Pain
10. Stress and Memory
11. Stress and a Good Night's Sleep
12. Aging and Death
13. Why is Psychological Stress Stressful?
14. Stress and Depression
15. Personality, Temperament, and Their Stress-Related Consequences
16. Junkies, Adrenaline Junkies, and Pleasure
17. the View from the Bottom
18. Managing Stress
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher

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.

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