My summer, while busy, turned out to be pretty blissful. I spent most of my time in Montreal, festival hopping and writing a lot for Tourism Montreal Buzz, with a few visits to the States and to my friends’ fabulous organic vegetable farm near Wakefield, Quebec. With so much going on, I still somehow didn’t feel much stress – maybe because of all the sun Montreal got this year and how much I managed to get out in it. But now it’s September. Back to regular programming, that general gearing up for action and anticipating more of it, making plans and possibly even following through with them. Stress seems to creep in with the north wind.
Thankfully I remembered the interview I’d done with Montreal-based psychiatrist, Universite de Montreal professor and director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress, Sonia Lupien. She talked to me about her new book Well Stressed: Manage
Stress Before It Turns Toxic, which looks into the science of stress, beyond the limitations of psychology and into the physiology behind how stress works in our bodies, specifically with regard to hormones. The book also addresses what the purpose of
stress is in our lives, when it is needed and when it isn’t, and how to alleviate it when necessary (not only does Dr. Lupien say deep breathing really works, but singing is even better!)
Our conversation aired on Free Radicals: Science, Culture and Connection on CKUT 90.3fm and ckut.ca on September 10, 2012 – listen to the podcast.
a poem about everything 