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Sapolsky's Why Zebra’s Don’t Get Ulcers: a charming tour of stress science
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item type
quotation
attribution
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert M Sapolsky, 255
chapter
Why Is Psychological Stress Stressful?
publisher
Times Books
year
2004
page
255 (3rd edition)
The full quote/excerpt
The stress-response is about preparing your body for an explosive burst of energy consumption right now; psychological stress is about doing all the same things to your body for no physical reason whatsoever. Exercise finally provides your body with the outlet that it was preparing for.
PainSci notes
Sapolsky’s explanation of the role of exercise in relieving psychological stress finally clarified the idea of “blowing off steam” for me. I had only ever understood it in that half-arsed way. I knew I wanted to run when I was freaked out, but I did not really understand why: it was impulsive, instinctive. But this idea (and a bunch of other context) really brought it into focus.
Related Content
- When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress (book), by Gabor Maté. Amazon.com ❐
- Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers (book), by Robert M Sapolsky.
These three articles on PainScience.com cite this item as a source: