baby don't worry about a thing :D

STRESS.....a word that more and more seems to become synonymous with school, work, relationships....with life in general....hard as it is to be a social creature in today's complex and fast -paced society, we all contribute to our own stress. but what exactly is stress ?

the stress response, also known as the "fight or flight" response is a biological reaction that animals (including humans) turn on when faced with dangers or threats. In humans, this response was likely developed millions of years ago, when early homo sapiens or their distant ancestors had to deal with harsh conditions and predators. however, as human beings evolved into the most "intelligent" beings on the planet, our natural dangers and threats started to diminish. naturally, one would expect that the stress response should have activated less frequently. but modern medicine suggests otherwise; more and more "lifestyle diseases" site stress as a major causal factor. so what's the deal ?

the answer is that human beings have turned the stress response into a psychological factor. in other words, rather than being activated by physical threats, the stress response in humans is most often a physiological manifestation of a psychological complex that is a product of our social structure. the human social structure is similar to that of apes; it is a like a pyramid or hierarchy of status. those at the top of the pyramid are a higher status; in the human world, status is measured by human-defined superficial criteria, such as wealth, popularity, and skin color, to name a few......and research has shown that the high status monkeys are less prone to hypertension, diabetes and other stress-related health complications; as such, they live longer than the bottom-dwelling monkeys....

whats my point? my point, amigos y amigas, is that there is no reason to be stressed so much.....like i said before, many of these social indicators are human determined and so are superficial....we pride ourselves too much on these parameters and forget that, all things considered, we have it pretty sweet....so instead of pining over the good grades you didnt get, or the new car you cant buy, or the girlfriend that just dumped you, sit  back and take a load off and enjoy all the good things that you have..health, strength, food, shelter, and all those good things.....we live in a society where it is becoming harder and harder to justr sit back and relax, but little do we know, our lack of relaxation and tendencies to worry about everything are causing life expectancies to drop all over the world.....we should all take the a hint from zebras....their stress response is activated only when chased by a blood-lusting lioness, but once they are away from impending danger, the kill switch is flipped, and they continue grazing merrily along.....so hakuna matata people, follow the code of the warthog and the meerkat...you just might live longer...........