WASHINGTON - When humans are in a stressful situation, their bodies react the same way every other animal's body reacts. There's an energy burst, faster blood flow and sharpened thinking.
In the short term, stress researcher Robert Sapolsky said, these effects are helpful, preparing the body to fight or flee. It's advantageous when, for example, a zebra is running from a lion.
Sapolsky, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, joined the 14th Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, and other scientists, philosophers and contemplative Tuesday at the 13th Mind and Life Dialogue.
Human stress is more likely to be chronic because of everything from deadline pressures to family worries. In this case, the helpful stress responses can produce harmful results, Sapolsky said.
In the long run, Sapolsky said the continual need for extra energy leads to fatigue and can cause diabetes. Increased cardiovascular activity can lead to heart disease, and heightened brain activity can lead to neuron death. In the end, stressed-out people have no energy, slow thinking, more fear and anxiety and fewer happy feelings.
Meditation, which brings about mental calm and focus, alleviates "adventitious" suffering, Sapolsky said, defining the term as "the ability to feel pain of what was, what will be, what could be and for someone else." In other words, worrying caused by outside factors.
A Herndon, Va., resident Leah Lozier, 22, is one of the thousands of college students across the country who has experienced long-term stress and its effects.
Lozier, who attended the conference, used to be hyper-organized. "On Monday, I knew what I would do on Friday, and if it didn't happen, it was stressful for me," she said. "I was trying to exert too much control over my life."
When Lozier began meditating before her senior year of college at Virginia Tech, she found she was more relaxed when it came to test and paper stresses.
"I seemed to have more hours in my day," said Lozier, now a research assistant at Georgetown University Medical Center. "It was nice to go back and handle the same stressors differently, in a more productive way."
Meditation is not relaxation, conference participants were quick to point out. Relaxation implies a state of inactivity and rest, usually represented by a person almost asleep on a couch with a remote control. Meditation, said the Dalai Lama, is a state of heightened awareness and attentiveness.
"Constant vigilance is required," he said.
Sapolsky said meditation seems to give practitioners a base-line absence of stress, allowing the stress response to be effective because the mind is clear and focused.
It is a discovery Kathryn Suerth made when she began meditating 32 years ago. Suerth owned a business with 400 part-time employees, resulting in high turnover and an even higher stress level.
"During chronic stress, the body turns against itself," she said. "I realized there was something a lot more important than having a corporation."
Suerth, 61, began meditating for a few minutes each day, soon realizing the benefits.
"The first thing I noticed was that I was not experiencing 24/7 stress," she said. "It was frightening and disconcerting because I felt like I was forgetting things."
Suerth wondered how much better she would feel if she meditated full time and gave up the business. She did - she teaches stress management and chi kung, a Chinese practice similar to tai chi, in New York.
My whole being shifted," she said. "Everything changed."
