Stress ("Under Pressure") is a fascinating and detailed piece. (And one I had to reread to make sense of the notes here... ended up with moving it into a separate post for now) Also a short interview last year at boingboing
I think it is one of the least understood effects of the "modern" lifestyle in general, and perhaps the digital connectedness in particular. Setting boundaries, accepting lack of control, and most of inability to do, see, read or understand everything. Even everything for a small subset of things.
When I started studying computer science, there was more or less a handful of programming languages, slightly related and you could have a grasp of their different roles and constructs. Then the web exploded, bringing new languages and variations. And now it seems like just within little Javascript, there are so many different MVC type models or toolsets, that understanding them all means leaving out a lot of other areas.
But back to the article. Four interesting points to touch on:
- meditate and training when you want it - better for stress to do it based on desire, than a rigidly fixed schedule adding pressure instead of relieving it
- the reward is chemical - dopamine, you get a "kick" from it. This gives a boost, thereby both making it more attractive to do it again, and enabling you to have the energy to go one more lap
- The other way is to zone out ... and that can be done (for me at least) really laid back with a great latte. Meditating without the ceremony or strict formality. Making latte focuses the mind on the minutiae of the task at hand, the grind, the stomp, the brew, the froth. Freeing up mental energy
- A good book or fun game can get much of the same effect; giving pure focus- stripping away the "normal" world for a dedicated session of deep engagement. Sometimes with a direct mental benefit in terms of ideas read, and sometimes just for rebooting the system
Want to dive deeply into the research and findings? Google can give you a hand:
How do glucocorticoids influence stress responses? … - Sapolsky - Cited by 2354 (PDF)
