Contrary to what we have always been led to believe stress in and of itself is not a sickness. On the contrary, stress is essential to human survival. However, if we allow stress to become chronic, we expose ourselves to potentially very grave consequences. Chronic stress response is linked to depression, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Unmanaged chronic stress can in fact kill us. In "For the Love of Stress "Dr. Sonia Lupien draws on two decades of clinical research in to the effects of stress on the brain and the body. No author is better equipped to translate the science of stress in to a practical guide to understanding and managing stress in our everyday lives. Contrary to common belief stress is not simply "time pressure" or "workload" - stress is the response to things like this, and is characterized by the response: the release of stress hormones. To define stress, Dr. Lupien characterizes four factors that underly any stressful situation: Novelty - something new and unfamiliar; Unpredictability - not knowing how something is going to unfold; Threat to your sense of self; and a poor Sense of self control. The acronym N.U.T.S. is an apt descriptor of how stress can make us feel. With one or more of these factors present, our body releases stress hormones that override all other hormones in our body. Left unchecked, this imbalance leads to a state of chronic stress response (a constantly heightened level of stress hormones) which in turn has the potential to lead to other chronic and debilitating illness. "For the Love of Stress" gives the reader the science behind stress and how it affects our bodies and our brains. Dr. Lupien offers a distillation of her groundbreaking work on stress and gender, (Why men make women's stress hormone levels rise; but women cause men's stress hormone levels to drop), stress in children (including a proven solution for helping children to cope with the stress associated with moving from elementary school in to high school), stress in the workplace (How power, hierarchy and gender contribute to stress levels). In her practical and accessible book Dr Lupien shows us that stress can and should be controlled, not avoided. She also shows readers how a routine blood test can identify if you are at risk from high levels of stress hormones.