查看文章

In the Western world, cardiovascular disease, along with diabetes mellitus and its complications, are leading causes of death. A number of important risk factors have been associated with the virtual pandemic of these killers. These include smoking, sedentary lifestyle, high body mass index, hypertension, and so forth. Nonetheless, many individuals who develop cardiovascular and/or metabolic disease do not have these risk factors. Thus, it is clear that as yet unrecognized and underappreciated factors must be considered in the genesis of these disorders. In his monumental volume Stress, Hans Selye (1907-1982) observed that stress to the organism, in essentially any of its forms--dietary, environmental, disease, and others--could result in cellular, hormonal, and related damage, with the body mounting a response he termed the “General-Adaptation-Syndrome”(Selye, 1950). Writing years before the nuances of …