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The Daily OrangeScientist to discuss physical effects of college stress levels
By Alex Kish
Posted: 4/2/08, 11:32 PM EST Section: News
Some college students are tired but can't sleep. They have no appetite. And although they've been falling behind in school, they haven't been able to get out of bed to make it to their 9:30 a.m. class. These students, like many other Americans, are probably suffering from the pitfalls and annoyance of chronic stress.
Yet there's one man who may actually be able to help students overcome their burnout.
Bruce McEwen, celebrated scientist and forerunner on the research of the brain's reaction to stress, will speak tonight at 7 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium about stress and its effects on the body's physical and mental health.
McEwen's lecture, titled "Stress and Health: State of the Science," is part of Syracuse University's Center of Health and Behavior's (CHB) annual lecture series. For the past five years, the group has hosted prestigious scientists to present up-to-date research relevant to anyone in the Syracuse community. CHB also looks for excellent public speakers to present at the lecture, said Michael Carey, director of CHB.
"(McEwen's) a world-class scientist," Carey said. "Literally just a stellar person in the field and is simultaneously a great educator."
Carey also said McEwen's lecture topic will intrigue any audience member.
"Stress is relevant to every human being," he said. "It's of universal relevance and importance because it's a natural outcome of being alive."
McEwen began researching the brain's reaction to stress in the late 1960s after he received his doctorate from Rockefeller University in 1964.
After working briefly in Sweden to become a neuroscientist at a time when the field was still was "very primitive," McEwen returned to Rockefeller to research under the supervision of Neil Miller. Miller, a pioneer in behavioral medicine, helped McEwen develop an interest in the impact of stress in the brain, McEwen said.
McEwen and his research team discovered in 1968 that stress hormones, called glucocorticoids, bind to receptors in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that regulates learning and memory retention. Before his discovery, researchers believed stress typically reacted in the brain's hypothalamus, which deals with hormone regulation, McEwen said.
Yet there's one man who may actually be able to help students overcome their burnout.
Bruce McEwen, celebrated scientist and forerunner on the research of the brain's reaction to stress, will speak tonight at 7 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium about stress and its effects on the body's physical and mental health.
McEwen's lecture, titled "Stress and Health: State of the Science," is part of Syracuse University's Center of Health and Behavior's (CHB) annual lecture series. For the past five years, the group has hosted prestigious scientists to present up-to-date research relevant to anyone in the Syracuse community. CHB also looks for excellent public speakers to present at the lecture, said Michael Carey, director of CHB.
"(McEwen's) a world-class scientist," Carey said. "Literally just a stellar person in the field and is simultaneously a great educator."
Carey also said McEwen's lecture topic will intrigue any audience member.
"Stress is relevant to every human being," he said. "It's of universal relevance and importance because it's a natural outcome of being alive."
McEwen began researching the brain's reaction to stress in the late 1960s after he received his doctorate from Rockefeller University in 1964.
After working briefly in Sweden to become a neuroscientist at a time when the field was still was "very primitive," McEwen returned to Rockefeller to research under the supervision of Neil Miller. Miller, a pioneer in behavioral medicine, helped McEwen develop an interest in the impact of stress in the brain, McEwen said.
McEwen and his research team discovered in 1968 that stress hormones, called glucocorticoids, bind to receptors in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that regulates learning and memory retention. Before his discovery, researchers believed stress typically reacted in the brain's hypothalamus, which deals with hormone regulation, McEwen said.
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