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The Stress Effect

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Twenty Years of Life
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Abstract

To get to the Primate Center at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, 9 miles from the school’s main campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, you exit a rural road and drive down a long, curving driveway with pastures on the right, backed by stands of tall deciduous trees. A dozen or so buildings then come into view, clustered in the center of the 200-acre satellite campus. It’s the site of decades of research into the physiological toll of living in a hierarchical world. The scientists here are studying monkeys, with those lower on the social ladder enduring more stress and paying the price in impaired health. We humans share that vulnerability with our primate cousins, although for us, status is largely determined by income.

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Notes

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© 2018 Suzanne Bohan

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Bohan, S. (2018). The Stress Effect. In: Twenty Years of Life. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-803-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-803-9_2

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