Nervous-wreck monkeys are inflamed
• • by Paul Ingraham
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The evidence that chronic stress ruins people is getting strong. The role of subtle systemic inflammation is particularly interesting. Dr. Robert Sapolsky, regarding a new study of nervous-wreck monkeys:
At the end of the day, being a chronically subordinate nonhuman primate and being a human mired at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale are similar in the most fundamental ways. You have remarkably little control and predictability in your life, your outlets for frustration are limited, and it’s relatively hard to access social support. That’s the prescription for chronic, stress-related maladies.
Poignant.