Interesting article in Science

[chickened]

Ya all are forgetting the unknown risk factor which is hard if not impossible to measure and that is the stress factor in health terms as the levels vary from individual to individual and can only be guestimated in reality. Some studies have been done but that area is very cloudy even as admitted by most researchers,the one that believe there is a connection.

 

[Stacykins]

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Wrong. Scientists can measure blood levels of cortisol, which is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress. If a person has chronic high levels of it, not just the normal levels of function, they are clearly stressed.

 

[chickened]

Who was used as the benchmark for those levels? not really sure how one would define "normal" isn't that relative in scientific terms? Wouldn't that be like measuring blood loss to determine the size of a wound?
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Wrong. Scientists can measure blood levels of cortisol, which is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress. If a person has chronic high levels of it, not just the normal levels of function, they are clearly stressed.

 

[MamaRoo]

"stress" is a pretty broad term and not really definable. I don't know of any studies linking "stress" to cancer, although their have been studies done on cortisol levels and their relation to health (which is also a very broadly worded sentence, I realize). I'll have to look up the studies relating cortisol to "stress" to see how that word was defined.

 

[chickened]

Most researchers will not delve into that area because it is unmeasurable as of present and for fear(that word again) of being labeled a quack.
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[MamaRoo]

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I'm curious what your evidence for that statement is.

If you go to pubmed and search for "cortisol stress" there are more than 6000 articles. It seems as if it's continually studied.

 

[AquaEyes]

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I'm curious what your evidence for that statement is.

If you go to pubmed and search for "cortisol stress" there are more than 6000 articles. It seems as if it's continually studied.

For some, no evidence is required. "Knowing" is based on what is "felt" to be true.

 

[chickened]

My evidence would be that stress and its effects have no concrete form of measurement as stress effects each person differently and cannot be accurately measured, like alcohol in blood it can be measured in content ratios but not in effect as some people can funtion fine on say a 8 ounce consumption of booze and others are falling down drunk. This is from observation (see science definition I posted) not a feeling. For some logic dictates from fear of the unknown or future "maybes" to provide security from. If everything is logical there would be no need for dependance on a higher being to comfort you when you experience fear. It is a state of mind being taught in our universities these days not just in the science world either. Perfect love casts out all fear.

 

[MamaRoo]

I honestly have no idea what you're trying to say.

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True, "stress" can't be measured. What is your point?

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What are you saying? Really. I have no idea what you're trying to say. "logic dictates from fear"? What does this mean? Who depends on a higher being? Everyone? Some people that you are using for examples? How do you teach a "state of mind", and what state of mind do you mean? What is "perfect love"? If it's in conjunction with your higher being, then no one would experience fear, and no one would have your dependence on a higher being.

 

[AquaEyes]

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Stress levels can be measured. How an individual responds to stress will vary somewhat, but not because stress can't be measured. How a person responds to stress is a combination of the outward symptoms of stress and the actions of the individual to reduce level of stress. Additionally, how much of a particular stimulus will be necessary to induce stress will vary among individuals, as will the types of stimuli that induce stress.

The tool used to measure level of stress is measuring the amount of cortisol present at the time. Individuals experiencing stress on a regular basis will become more tolerant of stress over time (akin to tolerance in alcohol levels) and show a decrease in actions to reduce levels of stress, but will still show cortisol responses (akin to measured blood alcohol levels).

There are methods to measure effects of stress, such as testing ability at a cognitive level, physical coordination, physiological responses (heart-rate, perspiration, etc), and rater-response questions (i.e. "on a level of 1-10, please rate your stress level now...." and repeated at intervals during testing).

Similarly, with alcohol consumption, there are methods to measure effects of "drunkenness" that fall into the same categories. There is a correlation between amount of alcohol consumed and level of drunkenness, but toleration will affect the slope of the curve and its starting point. Nonetheless, there are measurement tools available for determining level of alcohol in the bloodstream and corresponding effects of the alcohol on the individual -- and the same applies to stress. The reason it may seem without a "concrete form of measurement" to you is because you are conflating two things that are correlated but act at different rate-slopes.

As for your last few sentences, there is no "need for dependence on a higher being to comfort you when you experience fear." Many people in this world experience their lives without it, and are doing just fine. I'd offer the converse statement to yours by saying that the "state of mind" putting people in the "dependence on a higher being to comfort you when you experience fear" is something being taught in our churches these days. But it is not the only way to live life.