Hey Claire , you've been really quiet these last few days . Is something wrong ?
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user
I've been really stressed . It's the end of the year and I've got so much stuff to do ! I feel like I'm drowning in work .
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assistant
Well , stress is a real thing . It's not an imaginary condition .
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user
It's seriously affecting my life ! I can't sleep , I don't have much of an appetite and my husband says I've been kind of short tempered . Other people seem to handle stress okay ... why am I so weak ?
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assistant
You're not weak ... you're stressed out ! Stress has been a part of the human condition for millions of years . Back when we still lived in the trees we had to watch out for predators ... and as you might imagine , that was pretty stressful .
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user
Yeah , but I don't see any tigers or leopards roaming around our office . My stress is just about silly paperwork !
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assistant
But you're actually having the same reaction as our tree-dwelling ancestors ! It's called the flight or fight response . Each time you feel like something's threatening you , your body decides whether to run away or fight ... it causes all sorts of chemical reactions in the body .
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user
So a deadline will cause that same reaction ?
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assistant
It could . Modern humans actually have more flight or fight responses than our ancestors did . They just had a couple of close calls every day , but today , we have dozens or even hundreds !
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user
So the life of a cave woman was less stressful than my life ?
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assistant