People Are A Lot Less Resilient To Stress Than Originally Thought

haidut

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A very common critique to Peat's writings and views is the idea that stress does not really affect us on a deeper physiological level, and if does, most people are highly resilient to its effects. So, in effect, we are being taugth from very early age that stress does not matter for our health.
This study casts doubt on that idea and shows that people are a lot less resilient to major traumatic events in life, a lot fewer people successfully recover, and the ones that do recover take much longer to recover than originally thought. While this study did not look at biomarkers, I think the next logical step is to find out what changes epigenetically and metabolically in people under significant stress.

Natural resilience to major life stressors is not as common as thought

"...Most psychological studies have supported the idea of a person’s innate resilience to the struggles of life. Prior research reinforced the idea that humans by and large are naturally resilient to major events that result in qualitative shifts in their life circumstances. As a result, people stay on an even keel even through trying times.
But now, new research from Arizona State University finds that natural resilience may not be as common as once thought and that when confronted with a major life-altering event many people can struggle considerably and for longer periods of time
. The new research questions prior claims that resilience is the “usual” response to major life stressors by looking at longitudinal data in a more nuanced way and making less generalization about the human response to such dramatic events.
A paper detailing the research, “Resilience to major life stressors is not as common as thought,” is published in the current issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science.
We show that contrary to an extensive body of research, when individuals are confronted with major life stressors, such as spousal loss, divorce or unemployment, they are likely to show substantial declines in well-being and these declines can linger for several years,” said Frank Infurna, an ASU assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the new study.
Previous research largely claimed that individuals are typically resilient to major life stressors,” he said. “Whereas when we test these assumptions more thoroughly, we find that most individuals are deeply affected and it can take several years for them to recover and get back to previous levels of functioning.”
 

FredSonoma

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Maybe that is because most people are stuffing PUFA down their face LOL... I hope so at least
 

milk_lover

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so if, God forbids, one experiences a very stressful saddening event like losing a family member, what are the immediate measures that person can take to reduce stress acutely? I will be very sad at the moment, but I don't want my sadness/stress affect my quality of life afterwards because based on the study in this post, it might take years!!! to recover.
 
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Braveheart

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A very common critique to Peat's writings and views is the idea that stress does not really affect us on a deeper physiological level, and if does, most people are highly resilient to its effects. So, in effect, we are being taugth from very early age that stress does not matter for our health.
This study casts doubt on that idea and shows that people are a lot less resilient to major traumatic events in life, a lot fewer people successfully recover, and the ones that do recover take much longer to recover than originally thought. While this study did not look at biomarkers, I think the next logical step is to find out what changes epigenetically and metabolically in people under significant stress.

Natural resilience to major life stressors is not as common as thought

"...Most psychological studies have supported the idea of a person’s innate resilience to the struggles of life. Prior research reinforced the idea that humans by and large are naturally resilient to major events that result in qualitative shifts in their life circumstances. As a result, people stay on an even keel even through trying times.
But now, new research from Arizona State University finds that natural resilience may not be as common as once thought and that when confronted with a major life-altering event many people can struggle considerably and for longer periods of time
. The new research questions prior claims that resilience is the “usual” response to major life stressors by looking at longitudinal data in a more nuanced way and making less generalization about the human response to such dramatic events.
A paper detailing the research, “Resilience to major life stressors is not as common as thought,” is published in the current issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science.
We show that contrary to an extensive body of research, when individuals are confronted with major life stressors, such as spousal loss, divorce or unemployment, they are likely to show substantial declines in well-being and these declines can linger for several years,” said Frank Infurna, an ASU assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the new study.
Previous research largely claimed that individuals are typically resilient to major life stressors,” he said. “Whereas when we test these assumptions more thoroughly, we find that most individuals are deeply affected and it can take several years for them to recover and get back to previous levels of functioning.”


Somewhere I read that cancer usually shows up 2 years after a traumatic event...
 
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Waiting for Trump voters and LibPeatarians to bash this article :cool
 

Blossom

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so if, God forbids, one experiences a very stressful saddening event like losing a family member, what are the immediate measures that person can take to reduce stress acutely? I will be very sad at the moment, but I don't want my sadness/stress affect my quality of life afterwards because based on the study in this post, it might take years!!! to recover.
I feel like it took me several years to get over divorce when I was fairly young but I wasn't healthy at the time. I'm not sure if it's an urban myth or not but it seems fairly common to see one spouse/partner dying within a year or so of the other in older couples in long term relationships. I believe there is more than a few grains of truth in the OP article and the link @bzmazu posted. As far as I know the best we can do to combat the negative repercussions of the inevitable stresses in life is to keep a robust metabolism going. This seems to help mental/emotional/psychological outlook too in my experience. I'm sure the detrimental effects of pufa make it harder to cope. I handle things better just being mindful of keeping pufa low for 2.5+ years.
I've used things like taurine, theanine and even clonidine (not necessarily recommending medicine) short term to good effect in extremely stressful situations. I still feel like those situations set me back a bit but not nearly to the degree that a similar situation would have done before my Peat journey. We can't completely escape the hardships and challenges of life but we can become more resilient so we bounce back easier and don't fall into learned helplessness.
 
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Braveheart

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I feel like it took me several years to get over divorce when I was fairly young but I wasn't healthy at the time. I'm not sure if it's an urban myth or not but it seems fairly common to see one spouse/partner dying within a year or so of the other in older couples in long term relationships. I believe there is more than a few grains of truth in the OP article and the link @bzmazu posted. As far as I know the best we can do to combat the negative repercussions of the inevitable stresses in life is to keep a robust metabolism going. This seems to help mental/emotional/psychological outlook too in my experience. I'm sure the detrimental effects of pufa make it harder to cope. I handle things better just being mindful of keeping pufa low for 2.5+ years.
I've used things like taurine, theanine and even clonidine (not necessarily recommending medicine) short term to good effect in extremely stressful situations. I still feel like those situations set me back a bit but not nearly to the degree that a similar situation would have done before my Peat journey. We can't completely escape the hardships and challenges of life but we can become more resilient so we bounce back easier and don't fall into learned helplessness.


I agree with you Blossom and have always felt this...heartened to see Mercola breach this subject. Am trying to find additional reading on this but seems lost in tons of info.
 

tara

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Major stressful conditions arose in my area a small number of years ago, heart attack stats and neurological disease stats up since then.
People don't talk of broken hearts for nothing.
 
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Braveheart

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Major stressful conditions arose in my area a small number of years ago, heart attack stats and neurological disease stats up since then.
People don't talk of broken hearts for nothing.


Never had a sick day in my life...then 3 years ago a major emotional trauma brought on stroke...2 years later leukemia...But I'm strong believer in "mind over body"... so with positive mind and Dr. Ray as my nutritionist, (and a little help from Buddha) I'm as happy and grateful as I've ever been....as they say here in Belize "he's hard to dead"
 
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Braveheart

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this brings up the subject of taking care of our mind....we spend a lot of time and energy taking care of our bodies....shouldn't we do the same, or more, for our minds?! Seems like so much of this correct nutrition ala Peat is very helpful for our mind/brain, no?...
 

Nighteyes

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.shouldn't we do the same, or more, for our minds?! Seems like so much of this correct nutrition ala Peat is very helpful for our mind/brain, no?...

Yes - as I see it, those two are interconnected. By working on one you will work on the other. That is why Ray also is a big advocate of playful and joyful activities like walking in a stimulating environment. However, I think it is difficult to achieve much working only on the mind side of things. Our "mind"/mood/outlook is largely determined by neurotransmitters etc, and those are affected through diet, sunlight etc. I know a yogi who spends a lot of time working on the mind so to speak, but cares not much for nutrition and is definitely not getting enough protein to counteract serotonin. His mood and outlook certainly has only deteriorated in the last couple years.

My point is: they are connected and working on proper nutrition will allow you to stimulate your mind positively.
 
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Braveheart

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Yes - as I see it, those two are interconnected. By working on one you will work on the other. That is why Ray also is a big advocate of playful and joyful activities like walking in a stimulating environment. However, I think it is difficult to achieve much working only on the mind side of things. Our "mind"/mood/outlook is largely determined by neurotransmitters etc, and those are affected through diet, sunlight etc. I know a yogi who spends a lot of time working on the mind so to speak, but cares not much for nutrition and is definitely not getting enough protein to counteract serotonin. His mood and outlook certainly has only deteriorated in the last couple years.

My point is: they are connected and working on proper nutrition will allow you to stimulate your mind positively.


Agree...thank you for saying what I could not
 

Gl;itch.e

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From what I see on this forum, when the "diet" or supplements aren't working there is a fair amount of emotional or mental roadblocks and in some cases a ton of overthinking and analysing going on.
 

Drareg

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Your right ,the epigenetics should highlight a lot of this.

in Switzerland they have started treating terminally ill patients with LSD ,it had profound results , when they were done with the trip it had shifted their perspective in many cases,they were OK with it. Also psilocybin has helped for war veterans with PTSD.
I really want to know what LSD/psilocybin are doing epigentically, the fact that effects linger says something.

Your personal outlook is facinating relative to all this, many people in WW2 veterans on both sides and victims on both sides seemed to live well into old age, it may show the power of your beliefs on epigentics.
Some murdering psychopaths lived into their 80's. The ethical debates to come on this will be interesting.

Reminds again of David Bohm ,Meaning and information.
Life is playing you like a musical instrument, perhaps it's possible to tell life I don't like this tune,I'm playing something else, Ray Peat seems to have the tool box for this?
I got form Bohm , the word hormone means messenger, a hormone carries some meaning.
 
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Drareg

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Really good talk from Nessa Carey, one of the best out there at the moment articulating the complex epigenetics. She touches on stress response and the effects.
The mousse experiment she speaks of at the end is bizarre!

 
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