(Shaking Head) Stess, who'd of thought?

By a raise of hands, how many of you are currently or have ever been stressed to the point that it effects your mood, your thoughts, and your actions? Does this occur rarely, almost never? Or does it occur more times than not? If you belong to the later group: congrats! You are killing yourself, literally.

I just got my hands on a recording of a lecture given at the U by Robert Sapolsky, a Neuro-Endocronologist from Stanford. In short, he knows exactly what stress does to the body and how the body reacts to stress. If any of you want a big dose of "Chill Out" feel free to borrow my copy and prepare to get motivated to relax! (Warning: this is a lecture given to pre-med students and is anatomically and physiologically correct. To put it lightly, it is exhaustive in its effort to uncover just how stress effects every function of the body). It is clinical, funny, very educational, and he does a great job. I would give it a pg-13 rating and I do recommend it to everyone, with the understanding that it is for adults, you have been warned.

As a teaser I would ask you to think back just fifty years and list the top five causes of death, now flash forward to the present day and answer the same question. Fifty years and more ago death was caused by things like Scarlet Fever, the plague, pneumonia, etc. Now, with the one exception of cancer, the leading causes of death are heart attacks, strokes, diabetis, etc. It really is a telling thing.

Well anyways, on to happy subjects. I am back in the saddle again, with four-wheel drive once again as an option in my arsenal! Greatest invention ever!