Stress: Portrait of Killer - Movie Review Example

Stress: Portrait of Killer The film, “Stress: Portrait Of Killer” is a research documentary on the effects of stress and the dangers it causes to human beings by drawing reference to a number of case studies. The reference case is that of a group of baboons in the Masaai Mara game reserve in Kenya, Eastern Africa. The scientist, Dr. Robert used this group of primates to study about human stressors for close to three decades. The movie has four major case studies that explain certain causes and effects of stress. The studies are carried out mostly on human being beings, although their reaction and the outcome results is a reflection is expected in human beings. In the baboon case, Dr. Robert sought to understand the effects of nature and social groupings on stress. According to their nature, baboons only spend three hours looking for food and improve their calories, and spend the rest nine hours of the day stressing others and making each other’s lives miserable. Due to their socially generated stress, baboons created a good experiment for Robert’s study. He looked at the cellular level of their body by taking blood samples and measuring the level of hormones central to stress response. Adrenaline and Glucocorticoid are the two back bone hormones responsible for stress. Robert used the blood samples from baboons to measure the effects of stress conditions on these two hormones. In the experiment, he made two discoveries in relation to stress that the rank of a baboon in the society determined the amount of stress the baboon is likely to face in its life. If a baboon was a dominate type in the group, the likelihood of that particular baboon being stressed was lower compared to one at a lower rank. From his study on the hormones, Robert found out that a stressed baboon had higher levels of stress hormones in its body than a less stressed baboon. Professor Sir Michael Marmot conducted a similar research, but instead of primates, he used human beings. His study involved workers at the Whitehall I Great Britain. For 40 years, Michael had tried to understand the link between rank and stress in a job setting. He found out that employees at the lower ranks were more likely to be stressed and were more susceptible to stress related diseases than those at higher levels. He attributed this to job satisfaction and pressure coming from people at the higher job ranks. Another study carried out on macaque monkey revealed that stress could lead to negative cardiovascular response and increased blood pressure. The study focused on arteries of two monkeys, a stressed and a non-stressed monkey. The nature of macaque has similar social behaviours as the baboons. The study revealed that the dominant monkey in the group had arteries with clean walls, while those of a subordinate monkey’s were corrosive. The research attributes this to increased blood pressure which could lead to heart attacks. In a separate experiment involving laboratory rats, Dr. Robert demonstrated that stress could kill brain cells. The study involved subjecting a rat to chronic stress while the other was not subjected to any form of stress. They wanted to demonstrate the path that stress follows up to the brain. The study revealed that the cells of a normal rat had extensive branches, while those of a stressed rat were dramatically small. The cause of the shrieked brain cells was as a result of stress which is responsible for memory loss. While chronic stress can either change the brain circuits so that we forget certain things about our lives, acute stress makes people stupid, making them forget lose their mind for a moment when they are much stressed. Dr. Elizabeth Blacboom, made her contribution to the study of stress on its effects on a person’s telomeres and their maintenance. There is a direct link between telomeres and the amount of stress that a person is going through and the number of years that person has been stressed. She demonstrated this by the use of a group of women who had a given birth to children with disabilities. She was able to reveal that stress caused breakage of the telomeres at the end. She deduces that every year a woman takes care of a physically challenged child; she grows older with an equivalence of six years. To cure the broken telomeres, a person is advised to get involved with other people and take pills developed for the same purpose. According to the studies, stress is a killer. The various cases and studies from the film indicate the gravity of effects of stress. The study using of baboons was meant to create a better society that promotes human flourishing. Certain lessons are learnt from these studies. The tendency of people to bite back when stressed in a bad day is a big contributor to our stress. The social groupings that we organize ourselves into have very significant effects on the level of stress that we are faced with. The art of giving according to Robert is more important to human beings than the art of receiving, and we should try to adapt it. All these lessons were learnt from study of baboons. We are able to understand the dangers of ambitious and dominating lives, without giving particular attention to the importance of neighbourhood. The film ends with Dr. Robert posing a question to us as humans, whether we are ready to learn from baboons. 2. Dr. Roberts used to visit the baboons annually to conduct his studies, taking a break from the university. After doing his experiments, he came back to the country, but went back to Kenya to see the progress of his group. What he found of his once adored and treasured group of baboons pained him a lot. He grieved on learning that a tragedy had befallen them. They had come across an abandoned tourists’ camp, with foodstuffs and made a feast on the food left behind. The food had been infected with tuberculosis, lethal bacteria to the primates’ family. Close to half of the baboons died due to the baboons died after consuming the food. Most of the dead animals were mostly the dominant ones in the group, with the ability to fight and harass the others. Almost all the male baboons died, with those that remained being the subordinate animals that constantly faced the oppression of the aggressive ones. Almost all the female animals remain unaffected. The ability of the animal to fight for the food determined its chances for survival. During the incident, only the dominant ones that had the ability to fight for the food were able to eat, and hence died. The miserable weak males were left together with most of the females. The remaining animals either left the group to join other groups, while the remaining ones became more caring or close to each other after the infection wiped out the aggressive ones. The group became more socially close and calm. 3. The film outlines various interventions that people could undertake in order to reduce stress. The recommendations are mostly related to our social lives instead of medical. According to the film, ulcers are caused by a bacterium, which is present in all people. When a person is stressed, the body starts closing all essential systems including immune systems and thus, making it impossible for the walls of the stomach to be repaired. People are recommended to avoid thinking too much to minimize the likelihood of the multiplication of the bacteria. The ambitions and determination of people is a contributor of stress, with social groupings having remarkable effects with stress. People need to avoid social groupings where certain characters are a source of stress. Dr. Robert recommends that it is unwise for a person to bite back because of a day. Instead, staying calm would minimize the likelihood of a person being stressed. The art of giving is yet another recommendation by the film. Greed is a big contributor to stress as witnessed by the troupe’s tragedy, and could lead to fatal consequences. Change of human social systems is another way of solving the issue of stress, by avoiding the groupings that are likely to demean somebody. Personally, I would suggest that people at the work place understand the importance of being cool and job satisfaction. Most people who are stressed in the workplace are those at the lower ranks due to stress from their bosses. By bosses being calmer and understanding the pressures at the lower levels of the hierarchy, they would greatly help reduce the stress they go through. The society ought to learn more about the art of giving and caring, with its benefits being more than those of receiving. Schools should avoid the social groupings that are brought about by people’s living together, and their social standards. More concern should be on the students who believe to be socially superior to the others, and are likely to demean the others. 4. Facts from the film appears quite ridiculous to me. The fact that baboons could be stressed and their reaction to the stress are attributed to humans’ sounds quite funny. It is true that all animals are stressed in their own way, but comparing an animals’ stressor to that of a human being does not appear logic. The reaction of the stress by the animal is most likely to be different to that of a human being. I do agree that the recommendations that the researchers came up with apply perfectly to human beings, and that if followed are likely to reduce stress considerably to human beings. However, these to me appear to be logical data that can be deduced by means of common sense, leaving the question whether they were tested. After watching the film over and over, I am left to wonder whether there is a single social group that does not spark stress in one way or another. The story of the baboons brings a belief that all social groupings will harbour a stressor. The film does not specify what form of groupings that are safe and which are not. It is then quick to judge that in order to be safe from social stress; a person should stay alone, further contradicting the recommendation that people need to get involved with other people in order to avoid stress. Does this really offers a solution or creates confusion as to where to strike a balance between being social and lonely? The contribution of stress to memory loss scares me more than any revelation from the film. Could stress in a way lead to madness? Or could it make a person stupid enough to forget everything including his name? The more I think about the dangers that are as a result of stress, the more I feel it would be better to avoid stress under all costs. Everybody hates being fat and can do anything to remain slim. Stress is bad for a person who loves a slender figure. Regardless of the unanswered questions that the film left me with, it greatly educated me in stress management. Read More