Synopses & Reviews
We think of medical science and doctors as focused on treating conditions—whether it’s a cough or an aching back. But the sicknesses and complaints that cause us to seek medical attention actually have deeper origins than the superficial germs and behaviors we regularly fault. In fact, as Jeremy Taylor shows in
Body by Darwin, we can trace the roots of many medical conditions through our evolutionary history, revealing what has made us susceptible to certain illnesses and ailments over time and how we can use that knowledge to help us treat or prevent problems in the future.
In Body by Darwin, Taylor examines the evolutionary origins of some of our most common and serious health issues. To begin, he looks at the hygiene hypothesis, which argues that our obsession with anti-bacterial cleanliness, particularly at a young age, may be making us more vulnerable to autoimmune and allergic diseases. He also discusses diseases of the eye, the medical consequences of bipedalism as they relate to all those aches and pains in our backs and knees, the rise of Alzheimer’s disease, and how cancers become so malignant that they kill us despite the toxic chemotherapy we throw at them. Taylor explains why it helps to think about heart disease in relation to the demands of an ever-growing, dense, muscular pump that requires increasing amounts of nutrients, and he discusses how walking upright and giving birth to ever larger babies led to a problematic compromise in the design of the female spine and pelvis. Throughout, he not only explores the impact of evolution on human form and function, but he integrates science with stories from actual patients and doctors, closely examining the implications for our health.
As Taylor shows, evolutionary medicine allows us think about the human body and its adaptations in a completely new and productive way. By exploring how our body’s performance is shaped by its past, Body by Darwin draws powerful connections between our ancient human history and the future of potential medical advances that can harness this knowledge.
Review
"Robert M. Sapolsky is one of the best science writers of our time." Oliver Sacks
Review
"[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....You will find plenty to intrigue you." The Washington Post
Review
"Robert Sapolsky wittily dissects the anatomy of human stress-response." The Wall Street Journal
Review
"This book is a page-turner and is anything but depressing or disheartening." Natural History
Review
"A delightful little book." Contemporary Psychology
Review
"Filled with delightful twists and turns, personal anecdotes, and nuggets of odd information on voodoo death, Peter Pan, and the hunting skills of hyenas....First-rate science for the nonscientist." Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Renowned primatologist Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, featuring new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, new insights into anxiety and personality disorder, and the impact of spirituality on managing stress.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
Robert Sapolsky's acclaimed
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers combines cutting-edge research with a healthy dose of good humor and practical advice to explain how prolonged stress causes or intensifies a range of physical and mental afflictions, including depression, ulcers, colitis, heart disease, and more. When we worry or experiences stress, our body turns on the same physiology responses that an animal's body does, but we usually do not turn off the stress-response in the same way through fighting, fleeing, or other quick actions. Over time, this chronic activation of the stress-response can make us literally sick.
This thoroughly updated third edition, which features new chapters on sleep disorders and addictions as well as new sections on gender differences, anxiety, weight gain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and stress management, is richer than ever with insights into how the nervous system responds and how stress responses can be controlled.
Synopsis
Renowned primatologist Robert Sapolsky offers a completely revised and updated edition of his most popular work, with nearly 90,000 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.
Synopsis
The natural world is rich with elegant evolutionary designs, but ask any patient who wakes daily with sciatica, or the many septuagenarians in need of cataract surgery, not to mention any woman who has given birth, and evolution might seem more dismal than divine. The human body is a wonderful example of evolutionary compromise and adaptations. Our eyes were not designed for the arc of our current lifespan, with upright walking the spine had to shift and years of gravitational pull then take their toll. And the sheer size of our heads coupled with the shape of a woman’s pelvis make birth the biological equivalent of a Rube Goldberg machine, with many extra moving parts just to make sure the basics can be done.
While the human body may not be as elegant in form and function as those of other species, when explored from an evolutionary perspective, human medicine can be wonderfully illuminated. And this Darwinian view of body function and failure can in turn lead to innovative treatment and health care. This book takes some of the most fascinating and acute medical issues today--from high rate of autoimmune diseases to the high number of heart transplants needed—and explores them through an evolutionary prism. Evolutionary medicine prescribes new tools for understanding the origins of diseases and new kinds of research on possible treatments, of exactly the sort that this book so vividly describes.
About the Author
Robert M. Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research, National Museum of Kenya. He is the author of A Primate's Memoir and The Trouble with Testosterone, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. A regular contributor to Discover and The Sciences, and a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, he lives in San Francisco.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
1 Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers? 1
2 Glands, Gooseflesh, and Hormones 19
3 Stroke, Heart Attacks, and Voodoo Death 37
4 Stress, Metabolism, and Liquidating Your Assets 57
5 Ulcers, the Runs, and Hot Fudge Sundaes 71
6 Dwarfism and the Importance of Mothers 92
7 Sex and Reproduction 120
8 Immunity, Stress, and Disease 144
9 Stress and Pain 186
10 Stress and Memory 202
11 Stress and a Good Night's Sleep 226
12 Aging and Death 239
13 Why Is Psychological Stress Stressful? 252
14 Stress and Depression 271
15 Personality, Temperament, and Their Stress-Related Consequences 309
16 Junkies, Adrenaline Junkies, and Pleasure 335
17 The View from the Bottom 353
18 Managing Stress 384
Notes 419
Illustration Credits 517
Index 521