Stress and Your Body

Course Overview

Discover how stress is negatively affecting your health and learn new strategies to minimize its impact in this course taught by a MacArthur “Genius.”

This 24-lecture course by Professor Sapolsky explores:

• The biological stress response system

• How chronic stress damages major organ systems

• Psychological factors that modulate stress

• Science-based stress management techniques

Video Lectures

01: Why Don’t Zebras Get Ulcers? Why Do We? (31 min)

Introduction to stress physiology and evolutionary perspectives

02: The Nuts and Bolts of the Stress-Response (31 min)

Nervous system and hormonal mechanisms of stress

03: Stress and Your Heart (31 min)

Cardiovascular effects of chronic stress

04: Stress, Metabolism, and Liquidating Your Assets (31 min)

Metabolic system impacts and diabetes risk

05: Stress, Overeating, and Your Digestive Tract (31 min)

Gastrointestinal effects including ulcers and IBS

06: Stress and Growth – Echoes from the Womb (31 min)

Prenatal stress and early childhood development

07: Stress, Growth, and Child Development (31 min)

Stress dwarfism and growth hormone disruption

08: Stress and Female Reproduction (30 min)

Effects on fertility, ovulation, and pregnancy

09: Stress and Male Reproduction (32 min)

Erectile dysfunction and sexual performance

10: Stress and Your Immune System (31 min)

Autoimmune diseases and infection vulnerability

11: Stress and Cancer (31 min)

Examining controversial links between stress and cancer

12: Stress and Pain (29 min)

Bidirectional relationship between stress and pain perception

13: Stress, Learning, and Memory (29 min)

How stress affects hippocampal function

14: Stress, Judgment, and Impulse Control (31 min)

Frontal cortex impacts and behavioral regulation

15: Stress, Sleep, and Lack of Sleep (31 min)

Sleep disruption and its consequences

16: Stress and Aging (31 min)

Accelerated aging from lifetime stress

17: Understanding Psychological Stress (30 min)

Key psychological factors that modulate stress

18: Psychological Modulators of Stress (30 min)

Control and interpretation of stressors

19: Stress and the Biology of Depression (31 min)

Neurochemical links between stress and depression

20: Stress and the Psychology of Depression (30 min)

Integrating biological and psychological models

21: Anxiety, Hostility, Repression, and Reward (31 min)

Personality and behavioral effects of chronic stress

22: Stress, Health, and Low Social Status (30 min)

Socioeconomic factors in stress vulnerability

23: Stress Management – Clues to Success? (30 min)

Predictors of resilience and successful aging

24: Stress Management – Approaches and Cautions (32 min)

Effective strategies for coping with stress