MATT PETERSON is a
senior English and news
editorial major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
As I was stressing over what I
would vent about for my Dead
Week column, 1 came to the illumi
nating realization that the only idea
worthy of my ire, as of late, has
been stress.
If I am alone in taking college
far too seriously, please let me
know, but considering the return of
that pervasive deer-in-the-head
lights look, which has come to
define my previous three Dead
Weeks, it would seem my worries
are far from peculiar.
Stress pervades my every wak
ing moment, and unfortunately, this
week there are far too many of
these moments.
I've found that exhaustion
delivers a peculiar sort of aware
ness, somewhat akin to an athlete
hitting his or her “wall.”
After about 30 hours of con
sciousness, I can actually feel my
eyeballs drying out in their sockets.
Forty waking hours bring the
interesting sensation of talking
without a keen understanding of
where the words are emanating
from.
Two full days of cognizance is
when true exhaustion sets in. The
colloquialism "bone tired” couldn't
be more appropriate.
I don't understand the physiolo
gy of the matter, but considering
that by this stage, my muscles have
long since atropmea. i can only
guess my skeletal system to be the
final source of exhaustion.
At this point, I have traditional
ly hit my intellectual "wall,” and a
dubious degree of inspiration is
thus achieved.
What can possibly inspire the
perseverance demanded under the
pressure of such an ordeal? I used
to believe in the indomitability of
the human spirit, but after three
years of college, if my spirit isn't
broken, it’s certainly not
indomitable.
At one point. I'd even accepted
caffeine as the nectar of the gods,
and thus partook of far more
Mountain Dew than should be
legal. I held Vivarin's comforting
slogan - “Safe as two cups of cof
fee” - dear, not questioning for a
moment the relative safety of two
cups of coffee.
Truth be told, caffeine is addic
tive in any form, and the only
things “the shakes” have inspired
in my own work are typos.
Thus 1 can only guess that
stress is the impetus of the inspira
tion which exhaustion provokes.
Unfortunately, this “creative”
process is very unhealthy and
essentially a vicious circle: Stress
induces exhaustion which in turn
inspires desperation which leads to
more debilitating stress which fos
ters further exhaustion which final
ly leads to a reasonable degree of
inspiration.
A few days later, when aware
ness inevitably returns, that “rea
sonable” satisfaction isn’t what it
was under the burden of exhaus
tion, and renewed stress is the
unfortunate result.
If you haven’t heard all of the
above before, you've certainly
experienced it for yourself. So in
an attempt to make the next few
minutes worthwhile, I’ll try to do
more than ease your mind.
I’ll attempt to broaden it.
Scientists have long been in
agreement concerning the intrinsic
connection between body and
mind. Only recently, however, has
the scientific world documented
the debilitating physiological
effects of stress on the body.
New research capabilities show
Stressed for success
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mat stress provokes me secretion oi
harmful hormones within the brain.
While these hormones are some
times essential in relieving the situ
ation, and thereby the stress, they
also hamper other cerebral activity,
actually killing off some cells and
destroying certain pathways in the
brain.
According to an article recently
published in the Philadelphia
Inquirer, “the consequences range
from the trivial - like the abnormal
eating pattern ... called the ‘mid
night munchies’ - to such crippling
disabilities as ulcers, colitis, anxi
ety, irrational fear and major
depression.”
Chronic stress often causes the
subject to become “hyper-vigilant,”
thus “creating neurotic or paranoid
people who ‘look for threats every
where, even when they're not
real.'”
The CKH (corticotropin-releas
ing hormone) responsible for these
often crippling effects was actually
essential to the evolution of a sig
nificant portion of the animal king
dom. with similar chemicals
appearing in the physiology of sev
eral diverse species from snails to
sheep.
According to the article, such
hormones apparently nurture the
fight-or-flight instinct by causing
“adrenaline to surge and the heart
to beat faster, pumping more blood
and nutrients to muscles needed for
escape or defense.”
Unfortunately, the fight-or
flight mentality is rarely conducive
to writing a 10-page essay or
studying for a final exam.
Although, in extreme circum
stances, I would recommend flight
over fight. Physically abusing one’s
professor, while unquestionably
cathartic, will inevitably have
adverse effects on one’s grade -
even professorial impartiality has
its limits.
While most experts agree that a
certain level of stress is relatively
normal and essentially healthy, >> ’
chronic stress, the sort which col
lege life often prescribes, can lead
to “lifelong disability.”
On the heels of this new scien
tific understanding of stress comes
pharmaceutical hope; several com
panies have begun the rapid devel
opment of drugs designed to com
bat stress hormones.
In the meantime, however, I
hope I’ve given everyone some
thing else to worry about.
i;i it
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