MemeMachineGo!

Scientists discover stress is bad for you.

Researchers have known for many decades that physical stress takes a toll on the body. But only relatively recently have the profound effects of psychological stress on health been widely acknowledged. Two decades ago, many basic scientists scoffed at the notion that mental state could affect illness. The link between mind and body was considered murky territory, best left to psychiatrists.

But in the last decade, researchers have convincingly demonstrated that psychological stress can increase vulnerability to disease and have begun to understand how that might occur.

Occasionally I hear some yahoo say "Modern life isn't stressful! We've got it easy! Our cavemen ancestors, facing down sabretooth tigers, they had stressful lives!"

Certainly modern life has any number of advantages over those days, but such yahoos are full of shit. People responded to their fight or flight reflexes. Stress is what happens when you suppress it, and smile and nod and grit your teeth and go back to your cubicle.

[...]Why do some people seem more vulnerable to life's pressures than others? Personality and health habits play a role. And severe stress in early life appears to cast a long shadow.

So if you have kids, please do what you can to give them a safe environment.