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General Session
Friday, 4:30-5:30 pm
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
Robert Sapolsky, PhD
For more than 25 years, Dr. Sapolsky has divided his time between field work with baboons and highly technical neurological research in the laboratory. As a result, he can effortlessly move from a discussion of pecking orders in primate societies (human and baboon) to an explanation of how neurotransmitters work during stress — and get laughs doing it. The problem for people, as Dr. Sapolsky explains in his book Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, is that our body’s stress response evolved to help us get out of short-term physical emergencies — if a lion is chasing you, you run. But such reactions, he points out, compromise long-term physical health in favor of immediate self-preservation.
Unfortunately, when confronted with purely psychological stressors, such as troubleshooting the fax machine, modern humans turn on the same stress response. “If you turn it on for too long,” notes Dr. Sapolsky, “you get sick.” He regards this sobering news with characteristic good humor, finding hope in “our own capacity to prevent some of these problems … in the small steps with which we live our everyday lives.”
Sponsored by the Texas Medical Liability Trust
Join us immediately after the General Session for the TMLT Welcome Reception & Book-Signing with Dr. Sapolsky.
Last Published: 6/19/2009
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