In Depth

Stressed to Kill

Stress is a torture chamber that can't always be avoided. Tortured most are executives with high accountability but low authority. Sound like anyone you know?

By Christopher Koch

Page 3

Stress sends a constant flow of sugar into the bloodstream to feed fleeing muscles, but with our less active modern lives, the sugar doesn't get burned up. "Having high levels of sugar in the blood is like having rust in your gas tank," says Tyne. "It flows into every part of the engine." The body responds by releasing insulin to regulate the sugar, but over time the insulin reaction degrades and the excess sugar can cause diabetes and kidney and circulation problems.

The long-term effects of cortisol aren't much better. Our metabolism slows and fat cells, particularly those around the gut, open up to receive more fatthe body's most storable source of energy. In other words, stress makes us fat. (See "Our Apple-Shaped Leaders," Page 50.) Since cavemen used all that extra sugar by fighting or fleeing, the brain evolved to react to elevated cortisol levels by craving more food, according to leading stress expert Pamela Peeke. And not just a carrot and a rice cracker. Stress wants a burger with frieslots of fats and carbohydratesso that you'll have the energy stored to run next time. A trip to Mickey D's a survival response? Absolutely. Your body, after all, doesn't know the difference between a tiger on the prowl and a CFO's e-mail. Fight or flight has become "stew and chew," as Peeke calls it.

Indeed, researchers found that Americans surveyed after Sept. 11 said their initial reaction was to avoid food (stress hormones initially suppress appetite so that our caveman wouldn't get distracted while running from the tiger) followed by a tendency to overeat (the cortisol effect).

Not that stress makes it any easier to digest the food you crave. Since eating doesn't have much to do with getting away from the tiger, stress steers blood away from the digestive tract, leading to indigestion, ulcers and more. Similarly, survival is more important than attacking a cold bug, so resources are shifted away from the immune system, increasing the susceptibility to everything from the trivial (colds and allergies) to the tragiccancer, multiple sclerosis and lupus, to name a few.

But the most dramatic impact of stress is on the circulatory system. Stress runs the heart harder than a 16-year-old drives a car. The combination of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline keeps the heart running at a high idle. "Emergency room doctors use a shot of adrenaline to get a heart attack patient going again," says Tyne. "Imagine what that does to your heart when it's flowing constantly." But unlike a car, your heart doesn't begin to leak oil or emit the telltale odor of burning bushings as it runs down. It just stops.