Stress and health - William R. Lovallo

`An exemplary introduction to the concept of psychological stress, its physiological mechanisms, and its effects on health and disease.... Each chapter contains a summary and list of further reading. There is an interesting historical section as well as sound treatment of current research. His thesis is that we are "living beings whose behaviour is not separate from our physical makeup and whose health is not separate from our thoughts and emotions"' - Scientific and Medical Network Journal

This thought-provoking book examines the biological links between how we think and feel, and the potential changes in our health that result from stress.

The author examines: how the mind/body dichotomy developed historically, with resultant difficulties for research into how social processes and emotions improve or worsen health; the psychophysiological linkages between cognition, emotion, the brain and peripheral mechanisms by which the body is regulated; and how individual differences in physiology and evaluations of events can have physical and long-term consequences. The book also provides a general understanding of how central nervous system mechanisms connect thoughts and emotions to autonomic and endocrine processes.