Stress: Portrait of a Killer

2008, Science  -   88 Comments
Ratings: 8.08/10 from 163 users.

Stress: Portrait of a KillerProlonged, sustained, excessive stress and your similar response to it, not only causes deterioration of your brain, but it also compromises your immune system; your ability to fight off diseases.



At the present time, 1 in 4 of us will die in a state of dementia or with Alzheimer's. If you want to increase your odds against that happening, then watch this video, pay attention to it, re-watch it several times and invest in a scientifically proven brain fitness program.

More great documentaries

88 Comments / User Reviews

  1. S

    lol i have to watch this documentary for my bio class. :(

    1. I

      I was originally stressed about watching this and having to write a 3 page paper for a bio class of mine but i actually enjoyed the documentary, and i now will implement new things into my life based off what i just saw.

  2. Herb Spencer

    This is brilliant and has huge implications for the Dysfunctional human societies we have created. Thank goodness, there are people like Sapolsky to make insightful observations.

  3. hank

    I thought with an 8.5 rating this would be an interesting doc....Not so.


    nice but very long

  5. FaZe Rain

    This is a very good documentary, but it is super long and took me three days to watch. Can you make a version for dummies like me.

  6. Virginia Olsen

    WOW, is all I can say. Extremely enlightening.

  7. Freddie

    This Documentary was very informative on stress and it's physical damages to human and animal anatomy.

  8. Guy

    I think this is sort of BS. I know at my work things would get more stressful the higher up you go, maybe it's not true in government :P Also - look at the physical differences between a high ranking and low ranking gorilla! One is in much better shape and it has a lot to do with geneology and exercise. I don't think it's fair to say the gorillas have an equal amount of exercise when some are half the size. I agree there is very likely correlation - but the first half of this doc hasn't mentioned fitness.

    1. girl

      I agree with the video, in that, you would probably be the type to die off. You are defensive towards the research, most likely because your of the dominant group

  9. awful_truth

    A good documentary. I don't think that it is any great surprise that chronic stress deteriorates one's health. Perhaps the greatest risk is how we deal with stress. Ultimately, exercise is the greatest cure, which restores the body back to equilibrium. The choices we make, regardless of our position in life, will determine how stressful life will be. (who we choose to associate with, what we do for work, how many offspring do we intend to raise) Balance, moderation, and variety will always rule the day!

  10. myown0127

    how can I watch these videos ?they are not working

  11. gibber17

    I guess the secret to a better world is to kill off the alpha males in society. haha

    1. Brandon Bryant

      Great!! Then you can deal with the terrorist!! We alphas can take a break.. lol

    2. A.Sol

      Terrorists ARE Alpha types.

    3. Nicky Rose


  12. tim ruhani

    Great informative Documentary.
    There is too many of those ugly agressive primates living amongst us. However GOD works in mysterious ways, and you never know when he'll take them out.


    1. survivor2011


  13. devlinwaugh

    100%,in fact i would go as far to say these guys nailed it.I have watched a 1000 docus i have read more books but never has any information been so accurate about a human condition.well done this is a gem in a heap of coal.

  14. Jason Hornbuckle

    I like how the implication here is to kill of the alpha males. lol. well, they don't say that but it crossed my mind. One thing they don't mention though, is whether the alpha males provide anything of value to the group in exchange, like protection against predators. ( not that this would justify their jerk behavior, but it would be relavent to the whole picture.)

    1. Blanche DuPaws

      Protection? Ha Ha, like Tony Soprano protects the shop owners in his neighbourhood?

    2. wraithgod

      I lean towards the notion that our immense ability to alter our environment has changed the stakes so much that many personality types and traits are no longer necessary at all. But we've advanced so quickly that we haven't either 1) Had the outdated alpha males crash society and lose progress through their aggression, either starting the cycle anew or killing each other off and having the only surviving people be peace-minded or 2) Paid attention to research like that referred to in the video and used that power of alteration to save us from such a fate.

  15. Commentor916

    Wow. This explains so much! I never would have thought.

    There is one thing I am a bit confused about, however: For the majority of the video, it was said that the Alpha males suffered less stress, and therefore were less susceptible to disease. However towards the end of the video, when it was mentioned that the troop lost the Alpha males to TB and the females and lower-ranking baboons survived, doesn't that contradict what was said in the first place? Since the Alphas weren't exposed to as much stress, wouldn't that make them more immune to disease?

    Also, some more and better tips on how to reduce stress in our everyday lives would have been helpful. Gain more control - I can't really gain much more control if I don't have it in the first place.

    But other than that, very good documentary. Informative, interesting, and an eye-opener.

    All this time I thought diet was the main contributor to heart disease, high cholesterol, and stomach issues. This would also explain what causes acne, too - it has been found that how you view yourself and how much stress you experience regularly can contribute to acne flare ups, not only in teenagers much adults who suffer from acne as well.

    They should consider researching how stress levels effect susceptibility to cancer and neurological problems, such as epilepsy.

    1. Jesse Johnson

      The alpha males were the ones who hogged all the meat. They are the ones who eat first. Therefore, they died and the other baboons survived.

  16. Tanya Roberson

    Someone commented, "What's the point? We can't kill all the Alpha males."
    Of course we can't, but since we are humans and smarter than baboons- we can create systems of management that keep the alphas from becoming bullies and develop hierarchies with managers that work toward stress free work environments.

  17. Robert Elliot

    "...for every subordinate living a life of baboon uncertainty, there is an alpha, strutting his stuff, glorying in power over someone else".

    COMPLETELY WRONG! For every alpha there are tens, hundreds or thousands of subordinates. Obviously it's NOT a one-to-one correspondence as the above statement implies. That's the NATURE OF HIERARCHIES - it's a tree-like structure with only a few nodes at the top. The obvious point to be drawn from this stress data is that hierarchies are inherently damaging and poisonous to the human spirit. But they don't make that obvious point because the documentary as a whole is pro-hierarchy. Why? Because all the money to make such documentaries comes from the top our human hierarchies. Instead the scientist at the end suggests finding a hierarchy that YOU can dominate, even if it's only the company softball team. What utter nonsense. Don't dominate anyone nor allow yourself to be dominated! Duh. But of course society would need to be restructured in non-hierarchical forms to make that possible for most or all.

  18. His Forever

    Wow. Good documentary.

    Ok, Az and Razor and Epic: I figured out why Christians often live 10 years longer than the non-religious-----seriously. Apart from the actual possibility of God truly ANSWERING prayer, when you pray and say, "God, life is utter crap and I can't take this any longer! I'm giving it all to You!" (yes yes a direct quote), then when you actually BELIEVE that . . . your tellimeres on the ends of your chromosomes actually start to grooooooow all night long as you soundly and peacefully sleep!

    That and the fact that I moved back to the Philippines where I feel more "alpha" much of the time really works! :-P

  19. stephenkuemmel

    If you were stressed,wouldn't this make you more stressed?

    1. His Forever

      Thank you!!! Yes, I felt myself grinding my teeth just reading the summary. Not really much we can do to avoid stress in everyday life nowadays, I think.

    2. Guest

      "Take no thought for the morrow...Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
      I always rather liked that one.

    3. His Forever

      Ooooooooo! Yes, that's very appropriate. I hadn't heard that one for a while. Well said.

  20. Mom

    This definitely sounds like an ad seminar or sales gimmick. You have a mixture of truth with error.

  21. Kahina

    FYI, you can watch a lot of Robert Sapolsky's lectures on Stanford's channel on YouTube.


    death to the jocks

  23. cezy

    good documentary, but the final suggestion makes no sense! The baboons thrived because the aggressive alpha males died non because they miraculously managed to get empowered. So, should we get rid of all the superambitious, high-achievers, power-hungry, egotistic, narcissistic idiots out there? mmmm...
    Or maybe, instead of trying to get control over our lives, which is in itself an illusion, we can just stop taking our existence so seriously and enjoy the ride!

  24. James Osborne Bowery

    wow! proof from a graduate of "rockefeller" University that truly socialism is the best example of the "better life" This is possibly the most transparent and ridiculous propagandah piece I have ever seen! 5 minutes of research will lead you to understand where the curly haired man (with the two androgynous offfspring named Benjamin and I forget) funding comes from Institutions and families which have long sort to degrade self determination and sovereignty in America. Norman Dodd testifies to this with eloquence. "Yeah stress kills! Accept your place in a system!" Wankers!

    1. sknb

      I never got such a vibe from this piece.

      He is not saying that self determination is bad.
      I wake up with a self determination to make other people's lives better and filled with more knowledge. Self determination is not only about money and physical objects.

      The reality is that self determination and self reliance is often not enough to survive in America. I have taught English to hundreds of immigrants over the years (and am the daughter of one) and can testify first hand that working three jobs (plus learning English!) is sometimes not enough. There is a myth that everyone can succeed if they only try hard enough. This is not true. The financial system is designed to keep wealth with the wealthiest, similar to the Baboon tribe.

      And seriously, you are going to insult the scientist's children?


    2. Jordan Stevens

      I live now in a socialist country and life is much better here than when I lived in the Crazy States of America. Americans, like I WAS, are simply brainwashed to reject socialism and to believe war and stress and striving and competition are good. Who says they are good? God, Christ? No way, they are socialists too. Big time!

  25. roxtar7771

    ... finally proof that if we just get rid of the A-Type, Alpha, Over-Dominant, Loud Mouthed Control Freaks... we'll all live in peace. Seriously though, great documentary. Great insight. Still find it hard to consider that evolution will manage to sort out our social conflicts. The tribe of baboons have every chance of entering their original state again. Who is to say that two decades before they were studied, they weren't just as relaxed as they are today. Then one day, one of the males decided to become a complete jerk and ruin it for everybody.

  26. Joann

    im stressed now lol

  27. Guest

    This doc. changed my life. I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. Well photographed, well paced, easy to understand. Anyone who "Just doesn't get it", well, just doesn't get it!!!Recommend A++++++++++++

  28. angelasurette

    This is where all the good documentaries are... all the stuff they won't show you on TV. You won't see this stuff on CNN

  29. debk2000

    I'm 17 minutes throughgh and I can't believe this scientist doesn't see the correlation between Income (rank in the civil service) and what you can afford to buy to eat? The Baboons all eat natual organic food. Bad/processed food causes ulcers!

    A Baboon or human's body would respond to a foreign fluid being injected, even if you pass out.

    I hate this documentary. What about the stress they have caused with the Baboons, they will be missing the poor monkeys being tested on.

    People in poor area's eat bad food and live a poorer lifestyle.

    Fat put on by poor quality food is bad fat! Fat is used to store some vitamins.

    If youe brain is not getting the vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly, you will have a weaken immune system as your body is stressed.

    And they are only testing some hormones of what they know; There are still more to be discovered.

    He is too removed from society.

    There are just too many factors that inflence stress, physical stress is not even mentioned or investgated.

    Alzheimer’s is probably related to Food, something in processed food. Just see when processed food was introduced.

    And it doesn't even demonstate how the body responds to stress overtime, or explain different stages of stress.

    Rubbish and totally misleading. More misguiding information, when the problem is the bad quality food, while the world keeps getting fatter thinking industrial farming is good!

    1. Jean-Sebastien B. Miousse

      Another angry vegan. This documentary is excellent and good science. Robert Sapolski is the best neurobiologist I know so I would shut the hell up with your vegetarian and food alarmist and look at the data they observed which was not food. Yes they could had tried studies with food but the fact is bad food is bad for you good food is good for you, you don't need a documentary to understand that. If you want to watch a documentary about food and its effect on health go in another section you'll find a shoe to your foot.

    2. Jean-Sebastien B. Miousse

      And by the way, Robert Sapolsky wrote Junk Food Monkeys (Headline Book Publishing, 1997) ISBN 978-0747276760 so you really don't have to complain that a certain point havent been made in the documentary, he wrote a book about it. This documentary was more based on his work for Stress, the Aging Brain, and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death (MIT Press, 1992) ISBN 0-262-19320-5
      Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (1994, Holt/Owl 3rd Rep. Ed. 2004) ISBN 0-8050-7369-8 and had given birth to the book Monkeyluv : And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals (Scribner, 2005) ISBN 0-7432-6015-5

    3. roxtar7771 would be easier to debate the overall quality of this documentary with someone that actually bothered to watch more than 1/3 of it before writing a poorly worded and mostly baseless commentary. If you had actually watched the remaining 2/3 of it, you may have understood that poor/improper diet, social economic factors and neural degradation resulting in neural associated disease were all discussed as well. This documentary is about the effects of stress on the body and brain, not the many causes of stress. Exactly how much information would you expect a documentary to fit into 17 minutes?

    4. Dr_XX

      You should keep watching before you comment. It makes you look not-so-bright. Also... you might want to investigate some psychology or neuroscience regarding absolute thinking. It's not a question of whether bad health is due to stress OR poor food/toxins. Health is not that simple; it's multifactorial. Reduce stress, though, and you can tolerate more toxins. Get overwhelmed with toxins, and you're less able to handle stress. Try being more holistic with your approach to health. The body is not black-and-white, and it's not cut up into little separate non-communicating segments or systems, despite what allopathic doctors (of which I am one) seem to think (this is where I differ from the norm).

    5. sknb

      I agree that food is a MAJOR part of our psychology. More than many people are willing to admit.

      The fact that Omega - 3's make people less violent should be shouted from the rooftops of every city.

      Regarding Alzheimers: they recently found that learning languages can delay the onset of the disease by five years for every language learned.

      Even though, I do not think this was "rubbish and misleading". I found it useful and insightful.

  30. PaulGloor

    Hah, so all we gotta do is kill all our alpha males :P
    I liked this doc, Looking back on my own health I can corroborate. As a kid till 8 years of age i had a double lot, a 50ft sandbox and my grandmas house down the road, no stress, healthy as an ox. Till roughly age 20, I had very little stress, still healthy as an ox, didn't even have cavities. Now, almost 15 years later, I am burdened by work stress, paying off bills that never seem to go away and fear for my safety in a city of over 1 million people and I feel my health is in decline.

  31. Carlos Alberto García

    very good documentary it is true less stress is way better :)

  32. Heather Wade

    I make a concious descision to not stress on things. As soon as something stressful happens, I deal with it, no matter how big or small, but the most important thing is it is our choice to stress, or 'freak out' (as I was so happy to do so often in the past). It is not a requirement of any situation (even a gun in your face), it's just a conditioned response, an expected response. I'm not saying it's easy at first, but it can be learned. It's our choice.

    1. Peter Ehrlich

      What happens if you get two or more stressful events that cannot be dealt with at the same time? Like you have to get on the bus and leave your pet behind for example. Perhaps choosing not to stress is a reaction borne out of a denial of one's failure? Like choosing not to love.

    2. Heather Wade

      Perhaps you are right; however, I choose not to stress for my health, it has nothing to do with the probability of failure. In my equations, failure is a possible outcome from a specific set of variables, nothing more.

      Or to put it in more human terms: the 'stress' response greatly reduces the 'thinking' capacity, which I would like to avoid at all costs.

      Two or more stressful events simultaneously essentially creates one event. The only result being that the solution to said event may take additional time & energy. Or, it takes a bigger effort to bite through a thicker sandwich.

      In any case, stressing over 1 or 1,000 events almost never increases the probability of success.

  33. esmuziq & frames

    nice docu !!!

  34. yttkaaa

    Stoped watching after i heard rockerfeller

  35. Mojo5060

    Man, this documentary is stressful.. lol

  36. David T

    What is Stress??
    Is doing you job leads to Stress! or Fat Obese people are stressed out!
    The documentary was good, but what they suggest was ridiculous!

    They also suggest that if all Alphas in the Society dies, there will be no stress in that community! What!

    1. StillRV

      Funny thing when the Betas start prescribing the elimination of the Alphas. Of course once all the Alphas are gone the Betas become the Alphas by default. Sounds like a grand plan. So when we continue down that path all the way to where we have a bunch of Zeds offing themselves in a pool of self loathing I assume the goal is achieved.

    2. roxtar7771

      Exactly. There's nothing to suggest that the tribe of baboons didn't experience the same die-off just shortly before he began to study them. There would have been a period of time where the social atmosphere was more relaxed but, eventually the alphas would come out of the woodwork. We are naturally wired to seek a position of power and dominance in society. It is natures way of ensuring that our populations stay in balance and that our most dominant genes survive. The Alpha/Beta structure is imperative in our survival - You can't have only Alpha or, only Beta... they would both end in chaos.

    3. msafwan86_nnss

      They did NOT suggest all Alpha to die. That is just baboon's talk (only baboon did that). -What they suggest is: to have a more tolerant work structure (more appreciation over subordinate's work, less bashing when less).

  37. StillRV

    The point of life is not longevity, but what you do with the time you have. People have become so obsessed with living longer and longer. If only we could all direct that energy toward living better. I would sooner die at 45 having experienced life in all of its good and bad. Than live to 120 as a lobotomized unfeeling cow.

    1. Aspirator

      Quality of life almost always = Quantity

    2. StillRV

      How so? 70 years old = 10 years of incontinence and sleeping 12 hours of the day. 110 years old = 50 years of incontinence and sleeping 12 hours a day. tell a 50 year old quadriplegic person that they are better off than a 30 year old with full function because they have lived longer. Just to see what they tell ya.

    3. Aspirator

      I'm new here and I can't seem to reply to your reply of my reply to you, StillRV.

      So I quote you.

      Well, Quantity does not neccessarily equal Quality, but Quality does usually lead to Quantity.

      Why do you assume that bowel control is lost at 60? That completely depends on the person and the life they had, there's people at 80 and 90 as healthy as some would be at 50.

      You just assume that nothing can be done to be healthier than what you're describing at that certain age.
      A person such as you described is not better of than the healthy 30 year old, I never said such a person would be.

      It's normal for quality of life to start decreasing at some point, BUT it's up to you to make that decrease as small as possible, thus through Quality, Quantity can be achieved.

      And in the end the Quality/Quantity ratio of a healthy 80 year old person that has led a healthy life, can still run three times a week and regularly excercises and eats healthily, versus a Q/Q ratio of a 45 year old who does not actively partake in improving his own quality of life health-wise, is much higher than that of the 45 year old.

      Thus I conclude that the 80 year old has lead a richer life since he was able to live almost twice as long while also being able to interact and actively engage himself in the happenings throughout his/her life and not just sit on a chair unable to do anything but observe life pass him by, something you assume is impossible to escape once you're past the age of 60-70.

      Experience-wise, age is of almost no importance when passing a certain number of years. A 40 year old could have travelled the world while a 80 year old stayed in the village he was born in and never left the countryside.

      When I used the term 'Quality' in this post, I was referring to how healthy the individual is and not to the Quality/Quantity of his experiences, because the effect, if any, of a person's experiences on the length(Quantity) of his life is debatable.

      Please excuse spelling mistakes.

    4. StillRV

      I just used that as an example. It is not of course universal. There are much deeper things as well. Compare your birthday or some holiday to say Mondays. Simply due to its infrequency the holiday bears more significance and joy than the average day. apply this to everything. If you eat your favorite meal every day it becomes less pleasurable less memorable. Such is life. Say we could live 200 years life would be so long that even a relationship of 20 years would be but a forgettable snippet in time. That to me would equal the loss of all that is great in life.
      I believe Cizo, that you are speaking more to physicality and physiology where my thoughts are more toward mentality and intrinsic value of the moment.
      P.S. I am not a spelling nazi ever. Your posts have been a pleasure to read thank you. May you live as long as it take for you to have your fill.

    5. Heather Wade

      Me too.

    6. Peter Ehrlich

      There is no point of life. Humans are the only animals I've seen that have a point. The purpose of life is death.

    7. StillRV

      Peter, While I can understand what you are saying, I do not agree. That is a state of mind. A negative one at that. I am not saying there is a grand plan or some ultimate design. Just that each moment each action has effect in unknowable ways. Like chaos theory, if a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane a half a world away, what do you suppose your actions do? For every smile you bring to another or any injustice you cause the ripples of that act carry outward and that is the point. Every action, interaction, thought, and conversation is the point. You need no monumental purpose just the mundane. If you brought joy to your family alone you had an indelible effect and therefore a purpose.
      Also animals do have a point just not one we as humans tend to value. Do you think that all animals could go extinct and who cares? I doubt it. So every meal they eat every struggle to survive they overcome and every offspring they give birth to is a point.

    8. roxtar7771

      You should google anti-depressants.

    9. msafwan86_nnss

      If you have stressfull life: you'll have sad life and die faster, but if you have no stress: you are happy and auto-magically live longer! You can have both! -simply live stress-less and you live happy and longer (brain became more active, heart became healthy, gene became stronger).

  38. Matt Kukowski

    The point... Get rid of the Alpha's or make them more compassionate.

  39. Yavanna

    Excellent doc . Highly recommended. 9/10.

  40. ryan

    very interesting subject, although not enough information on what we can do as stressed-out people to prevent further manifestations of stressors. any suggestions??

  41. stevenbhow

    Almost had to laugh early on when the Hippy looking research said, "Stress kills your brain cells." My first thought was. " Yes, and so does weed, but it also reduces stress."

  42. Sieben Stern

    stress only benefits the alphas in a society - they get more of the resources as the lower members die early and they are more likely to reproduce. when we let the rat race get out of control we are the ones that suffer, instead of getting ahead.

  43. SillyWillyOneNut

    The narrator suggests a world without stress ? What a novel idea, but this would would be counter-evolutionary. Stress is a major influence on biological evolution, and without stress we would eventually become extinct.

    1. MomOnEarth

      He means prolonged, intense and artificial stress..... nothing wrong with it if you need it, like being chased by cannibals.... ; )

    2. SillyWillyOneNut

      I was once chased by starving half crazed female cannibals, the result of that stress was quite counter-evolutionary, for they left me with only one nut !

    3. Achems_Razor

      True, humans need stress to survive, but there is good stress, called "Eustress"

    4. SillyWillyOneNut

      What ? Like the stress you feel just before the orgasm ?

    5. Achems_Razor



  44. Draw Vinette

    This program illustrates quite well how stress can lead to a shorter life. The other day I received a pamphlet from the Heart Association of Canada. In the pamphlet it explained how heart disease and cardiac arrest is the biggest killer of women in modern times. 60% of women will die from cardiac arrest this pamphlet explained. 30% from various cancers and 10% other causes. I found this information very interesting. Who has not met a woman who is stressed out about something. So the results of this program are very accurate. Stress does lead to a shorter life.

    1. Imightberiding

      Are you suggesting that I may be directly responsible for both of my ex-wives inevitable untimely demise? They both in their own fabulous ways had the market on stress cornered. I may have even improved myself at stressing out women as I grew older in that my second wife was even more stressed out than my first. MuHaHaHaHa! In the end, I suspect they will both out live me. If not out of spite. ;-)

  45. Nick Arrizza

    Stress occurs when your Life Force Energy is drained from your mind/body by negative or (life depleting) emotionally traumatic experiences. What is interesting is that the effects of those experiences become stored in the mind/body as negative memories and continue to have a prolonged effect on mental, physical, and emotional health for the rest of one's life. If you take a look at one of those negative memories you'll immediately "see" (that is; experience) the energy draining effects it (they) continue to have.

    It is now possible to completely reverse this process by permanently erasing/deleting any/all negative memories with a new coaching modality called the Mind Resonance Process (MRP). Each time a negative memory is erased the Life Force Energy that it was siphoning out of one's body returns and reintegrates itself. This is equivalent to reversing the negative effects of any negative (stressful) memory, restoring health and some believe even reversing the aging process.

    Nick Arrizza M.D.

    1. Marion Bruns

      But aren't some negative memories needed to prevent a future blunder? We learn from all our memories. The trick is, to me anyways, remembering what happened without the emotional connection. Just a thought.

    2. Irishkev

      Hey Dr Nick, where do we get this M.R.P.? (Just kidding)

  46. Subject6teen

    Very good documentary!
    Currently i'm working in group projects a lot. Some people don't understand how much stress affects. I do understand but now i understand even more so. Thank you so much!

  47. Achems_Razor

    Interesting doc. the bacteria that causes stomach/duodenum ulcers is called "Helicobactor Pylori", can be cured with mega doses of antibiotics. And yes, stress plays a part.