I get stressed easily. I worry a lot. And I stress and worry about how much I stress and worry. I’m better than I used to be, but I still need to remember to relax. (Sometimes I sit and watch the San Diego Zoo baby panda cam to calm myself. Watching a cute little baby panda sleep is so relaxing.) Feed’s special DNA issue has an informative, if somewhat disconcerting, essay about the Influence of Anxiety on our genes. Gene CYP17 on chromosome 10 makes an enzyme which enables the body to convert cholesterol into cortisol. “Cortisol and stress are virtually synonymous.” So when you’re stressed, a lot of cortisol is running around your veins. And through a complicated interplay of turning various genes on and off, cortisol suppresses your immune system by altering white blood cells. And, ultimately, it’s your brain, under stress, that sets off this chain of events. Monkeys lower in their social hierarchy get more heart attacks. So do British civil servants lower in their pecking order, according to another study. The less control someone has over their lives, the more stress they are under. “Cortisol levels rise in response not to the amount of work you do, but to the degree to which you are ordered about by other people.” And then your blood will “contain less and less of the cholesterol bound to high-density lipoprotein (HDL).” That translates to clogged arteries and raised heart attack risk. A low cholesterol diet makes little difference. What really got me was this sentence: “You can raise your cortisol levels just by thinking about stressful eventualities — even fictional ones.” If I don’t learn how to stop worrying about every little thing, I’m doomed. My health is my number one priority. Mental and physical. And, dualism be damned, the mental affects the physical in greater ways than traditional medicine has led us to believe. Maintain control over your life. It may be the best way to live a happy, healthy one.