Exploring the Mind | The Stress Response in Humans and Animals: Friend or Foe?
Schedule
Mon Nov 10 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm
UTC-05:00Location
Ann Arbor District Library | Ann Arbor, MI
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Stress is often portrayed as the enemy of modern life—linked to heart disease, depression, and premature aging. But this story overlooks a crucial fact: the stress response originally evolved because it was adaptive. In this talk, Professor Jacinta C. Beehner traces the biology of acute stress, showing how the body mobilizes energy to face immediate threats and why this is essential for survival. She then turns to chronic stress, highlighting the well-known costs of an overactive stress system in human health. Finally, she argues that we have underestimated the benefits of stress, drawing on her research with wild capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica. During one of the most severe El Niño droughts on record, individuals with a stronger stress response were more likely to survive. By reframing stress as both friend and foe, Professor Beehner shows how evolutionary and ecological perspectives can reshape our understanding of human and animal health.Details: https://aadl.org/node/641054
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Where is it happening?
Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S 5th Ave,Ann Arbor, Michigan, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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