Stress is a giant killer to our health, causing stomach-aches, migraines, high blood pressure, skin problems…… The list can be on and on. Thanks to Boing Boing for bringing up mind-opening lectures on the physiology of stress given by Dr. Robert Sapolsky through the iTunes music-store. To me, a significant point of the post compelled my attention to the impact of stress on children’s growth. If you have read the following story quoted from Saplosky, I think you would agree that we cannot under estimate the negative impact of stress on children, yet the bright side is that there’s always a way out:

Saplosky related a story about a boy from a very psychologically-abusive setting who was hospitalized in a New York hospital with zero growth hormone in his bloodstream. Over the next two months he developed a close relationship with the nurse at the hospital–undoubtedly the first normal relationship he had ever had–and soon, amazingly enough, the growth hormone levels zoomed back to normal. The nurse then went on vacation and the levels dropped again, rising once more immediately after her return.

Mind-opening lectures on the physiology of stress [Boing Boing]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at 9:42 am and is filed under Health & Safety, Stress Busters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.