The End of Stress As We Know It

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: As a teacher and avid learner in many areas of study, I find this book most disappointing. To begin with, the title is misleading. There is very little here that will teach you how to stop the vicious cycle that eventuates in the resetting of the body-mind's set points to levels far outside those norms safe for its continuting health. It is a dumb and ill-considered title, for, in fact, the book is a hodge-podge that has no audience in mind and no focus of presentation for any audience. The olla podrida I talk of is a mixture of the history of research in this area that might be appropriate to professionals in the medical field, some oversimplified discussion of physiological systems that, at best, would not educate the ignorant, and a jumble in between that might be OK, were it not hidden away where no reader can locate or focus upon it, plus a technical but woefully inadequate appendix, footnotes that meet no reference standards, an incomplete and poorly assembled index, and inadequately proofed text with a number of spelling mistakes, especially in technical words. It is no wonder that a major press would not take this work for publication. The only heart of the book is in the middle in a section called "Stress and the Cardiovascular system." Here we learn about the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems and the "vagus brake." But though there is a reference in the index to "excitoxicity," a fundamentally important concept developed recently, we look vainly on the indicated page for any discussion of the topic. McEwen has difficulty teaching us about basic concepts that relate to the body-mind's drive for homeostasis in its physiological responses. Unfortunately for the field, a term coined in 1987 by University of Pennsylvania doctors (I cannot tell whether one of them was McEwen) is very misleading. "Allostasis" is the buzzword, and the reader will serve herself better by putting this word in the search engine and reading the resultant hits rather than reading this book. Too bad that the etyma in allo-stasis can have no such meaning as the practitioners in this field would have it mean: "The concept of "allostasis" (active responding of biological mediators that maintain homeostasis) leads to the concept of "allostatic load" (the wear and tear on the body due to overuse of allostasis by repeated stress or disregulation of the mediators-failure to shut them off when no longer needed)." Too bad the originators did not seek the help of a classics professor to help them coin the word. Perhaps the etyma in "allelostasis" or the like could be stretched to include what they want: a word of meaning like "homeostasis" but with the added notion that several systems of mediators inter-react to achieve the body-mind's set points.

Rating:
Summary: Data-packed to inspire change for those who are data-driven
Review: For any person who is under stress and who wants real data to support the theory that stress really does impair your performance, make you feel bad, and make you downright stupid, this book could be the influential force that sets you on a journey to turn your life around.

For as long as you are breathing, you are experiencing some level of stress. Knowing about the stress hormones constantly circulating through your body and bathing your brain, the naturally-occurring chemical balance that generates the sensation that stress really does make you stupid, can make the difference between a life lived on the edge or a life lived in that peak performance zone that we all desire.

As a psychologist,I have traversed diverse terrain. Whether I was working street corners with juvenile offenders, providing peak performance mental training for elite athletes, or consulting in manufacturing plants or Fortune 500 corner offices, stress has always been a constant force in my clients' lives. No matter what the setting--moguled ski slope, Courtroom, or Boardroom, slippery pool deck or muddy sports field--my hard-driving clients have sought strategies to learn to thrive even under the most stress-full conditions. Usually that entailed making strategic changes. To enlist their hearts and minds in order to get their legs moving in the right health-promoting directions, most of them responded to persuasive information. But few had the time to read through lengthy full-blown research reports (though, rest assured, some did).

Dr. McEwen's research on how we respond to stress and the debilitating effects of chronic excess stress is state-of-the-art and compelling. However, you have to really love neuropsych to plow through the original pieces (I have, as a self-proclaimed nerd, and I really did love them.) Now Dr. McEwen has distilled compelling research into a book format that provides a quick read for those who want you to show them the data if they are going to consider shifting from the fast-pace-high-stress lane where time rarely allows for a perusal of the research surveyed in this book.

A useful book, it is a fast sprint for the fast-paced stressed-out person who will benefit the most from just such a read. And it is a great first step to move you to take some health-promoting stress-reducing actions to keep you at the front of the pack and in it for the long run.

Rating:
Summary: The End of Stress As We Know It
Review: This book is cutting edge. It catches up with what the scientific research has found for two decades -- that the origins of stress are not primarily external. It is largely psychological and the good news is that we can avoid the chronic and life threatening health problems caused by the long term activation of the stress mechanism by fostering our own mental health in simple ways. And the first step is to consider the possibility that stress is not the result of what people or events do to us, but is primarily due to our own thoughts, feelings and attitudes about people and events. This book is not based on one man's opinion, but rather on scientific findings. And the evidence is that we can shift our stress provoking attitudes fundamentally through strong social support, which simply means deepening of our connection with one another in meaningful ways, supporting one another in making a mindful shift out of stress. This book sees the stressed-out condition most of us experience as a wake-up call to evolve our consciousness by first taking responsibility for the stress in our lives and next having the courage to join with others in exploring ways of shifting it. It seems, as a culture, we need a 12-step program like AA but devoted to the crisis of stress.

Rating:
Summary: The End of Stress As We Know It
Review: This book is cutting edge. It catches up with what the scientific research has found for two decades -- that the origins of stress are not primarily external. It is largely psychological and the good news is that we can avoid the chronic and life threatening health problems caused by the long term activation of the stress mechanism by fostering our own mental health in simple ways. And the first step is to consider the possibility that stress is not the result of what people or events do to us, but is primarily due to our own thoughts, feelings and attitudes about people and events. This book is not based on one man's opinion, but rather on scientific findings. And the evidence is that we can shift our stress provoking attitudes fundamentally through strong social support, which simply means deepening of our connection with one another in meaningful ways, supporting one another in making a mindful shift out of stress. This book sees the stressed-out condition most of us experience as a wake-up call to evolve our consciousness by first taking responsibility for the stress in our lives and next having the courage to join with others in exploring ways of shifting it. It seems, as a culture, we need a 12-step program like AA but devoted to the crisis of stress.