Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress, Stress Related Diseases, and Coping

Hans Selye is described as “one of the godfathers of stress physiology” (7), and references to him and his contributions to the field appear throughout the text. Selye (1907-1982) was born in Hungary and pursued a career in medical sciences. He pursued his Doctor of Medicine and his PhD in Organic Chemistry in the Czech Republic. He later earned a Rockefeller Research Fellowship with Johns Hopkins University, which he accepted. He disliked the location and was transferred to McGill University, where he completed his fellowship and later taught as an assistant professor of Biochemistry. Selye established his career as a medical researcher, and he founded multiple institutions, including the International Institute of Stress, the Hans Selye Foundation, and the Canadian Institute of Stress.

Sapolsky discusses Selye’s process of discovering that stress can cause peptic ulcers. When Selye was working as an assistant professor, he had been conducting experiments on rats but was a poor handler of the animals. When the rats developed peptic ulcers, Selye investigated multiple potential causes of the ulcers until concluding that his poor handling skills caused the rats intense stress which, in turn, caused the ulcers. Selye’s initial conclusion was inaccurate, as he posited that prolonged stress depletes the stress-response that causes illness. Rather than the stress-response running out, the prolonged stress-response becomes damaging to the body.

Selye also contributed to the discovery of the impacts of glucocorticoids and the immunosuppressing effects of chronic stress. Sapolsky also mentions that Selye entered a professional argument with John Mason, who had proposed the idea that all stress is psychological. Selye disagreed with this hypothesis because physiological effects of stress are seen in unconscious subjects.