Reading and carefully study of the fourth chapter of the book “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Robert M. Sapolsky provided a more detailed understanding of how stress affects the human digestive system. In more detail, this section considered the influence of negative emotions on the process of energy storage, the use of trace elements and substances that enter the body, and the entire metabolism. For me, the most impactful knowledge when reading this chapter was the information regarding the differences between juvenile and adult diabetes.
Diabetes is not a new and unknown area for me to study; however, I have never delved into the study of how it differs in people depending on age. The surprising thing for me was that juvenile diabetes is so called, not because it can only be in young people, but because this is how the initial stage of this disease is characterized. The author writes that the “immune system decides that cells in the pancreas are foreign invaders and attack them, and in recent decades, the rate at which adults are getting diagnosed with juvenile diabetes is climbing” (Sapolsky, 2004, p. 34). This condition of the body, arising from an autoimmune disease, can lead to many negative consequences. Among the most important, the author highlights visual impairment or blindness, clogged blood vessels, little strokes, and chronic pain (Sapolsky, 2004). All these consequences can worsen due to such an external factor as stress.
Therefore, with juvenile diabetes, a person is completely contraindicated from stress, especially chronic. This circumstance is because, in this case, there is an increase in blood glucose levels. In addition, the stress experienced may negatively affect the fact that the immune system will be more likely to attack the pancreas. Thus, the main question that I have on the basis of this information is, “Can stress reduction lead to a reverse process when the immune system stops attacking the pancreas and lead to a healthy state of the body?”
Reference
Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Stress, metabolism, and liquidating your assets. In Why zebras don’t get ulcers (pp. 30-38). St Martin’s Press.