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BBC News San Francisco
 Baboons
feel the "rat race" too
The
stresses and strains that afflict humans are evident in
baboon societies - as are the long-term health effects.
The
findings of physiologist Robert Sapolsky may suggest ways
of limiting the impact of mankind's modern, stressful lifestyle.
And
cultivating friendships, he suggests, may be the way to
alleviate harmful long-term stresses. In many ways, the
life lived by baboons holds echoes of our own.
Their
societies, like Western ones, are rarely threatened by famine,
plague or predators - so they invent their own ways of generating
stress.
Professor
Sapolsky gave details of his work to the annual meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Fighting
males
His
study claims to be able to spot "Type A" baboons,
who cannot cope with stress, and suggests that there may
be ways to spot humans who fall into the same group.
Professor
Sapolsky said: "We're ecologically privileged enough
that we can invent social and physiological stress. Baboons
are similarly privileged. They ulcerate because of social
complexities."
Professor
Sapolsky, from Stanford University, studied the Serengeti
baboons. He anaesthetised them and then collected blood
samples to reveal levels of stress hormones, antibodies,
and cholesterol.
Those
with consistently high levels of stress hormones were showing
the physical signs: high levels of the "wrong"
sort of cholesterol, increased blood pressure and hardening
of the arteries.
Certain
situations were found to be more stressful for the baboons
in the study, most of whom were male. Baboons who sensed
a problem and started a fight were less stressed than those
who sat back and worried if a fight was about to start.
Damaged
brain
In a
stable hierarchy, stress levels were lower, while the introduction
of a new baboon sent stress hormones up.
And
males who spent most time grooming and being groomed by
females not in heat and playing with infants had the lowest
levels of stress hormones.
Other
studies carried out by Professor Sapolsky on rats suggest
that the brain cells which control stress levels can actually
be damaged if the individual is too stressed.
Continually
elevated levels of stress hormones appears to damage the
hippocampus, an area of the brain which also has a role
in learning and memory.
Moderate
stress, however, appeared to be good for the brain, he said.
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