The Hour Between Dog and Wolf

by John Coates

  53 reduce distractions from irrelevant information Andrew, R. (1991) in The Development and Integration of Behaviour. Essays in Honour of Robert Hinde, ed. Bateson, P. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 171–190.

  54 maintain search persistence Andrew, R., Rogers, L. (1972) Testosterone, search behaviour and persistence. Nature 237, 343–346.

  55 speed of reactions Salminen, E., Portin, R., Koskinen, A., Helenius, H., Nurmi, M. (2004) Associations between serum testosterone fall and cognitive function in prostate cancer patients. Clinical Cancer Research 10, 7575–7582.

  56 amount of risk they took in making it Coates, J.M., Page, L. (2009) A note on trader Sharpe ratios. PloS One 4: e8036.

  57 venture into the open more Beletsky, L., Gori, D., Freeman, S., Wingfield, J. (1995) Testosterone and polygyny in birds. Current Ornithology 12, 141. Marler, C.A., Moore, M.C. (1988) Evolutionary costs of aggression revealed by testosterone manipulations in free-living male lizards. Behavior Ecology Sociobiology 23, 21–26.

  58 reduced survival Wingfield, J.C., Lynn, S., Soma, K. (2001) Avoiding the ‘costs’ of testosterone: ecological bases of hormone behavior interactions. Brain Behavior Evolution 57, 239–251. Dufty, A.M. (1989) Testosterone and survival: a cost of aggressiveness? Hormones and Behavior 23, 185–193.

  59 diminished need for sleep Pope, H., Katz, D. (1988) Affective and psychotic symptoms associated with anabolic steroid use. American Journal of Psychiatry 145, 487–490. Pope, H., Kouri, E., Hudson, J. (2000) Effects of supraphysiologic doses of testosterone on mood and aggression in normal men: a randomized controlled trial. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 133–140.

  60 can live up to 30 per cent longer Hamilton, J.B. (1948) The role of testicular secretions as indicated by the effects of castration in man and by studies of pathological conditions and the short lifespan associated with maleness. Recent Progress in Hormone Research 3, 257. Hamilton, J.B. (1965) Relationship of castration, spaying and sex to survival and duration of life in domestic cats. Journal of Gerontology 20, 96. D. Drori, Y. Folman (1976) Environmental effects on longevity in the male rat: Exercise, mating, castration and restricted feeding. Experimental Gerontology 11, 25–32.

  61 start to stack the odds against them For a review of our research see Coates, J., Gurnell, M., Sarnyai, Z. (2010) From molecule to market: steroid hormones and financial risk-taking. Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society B 365, 331–343.

  CHAPTER 7: STRESS RESPONSE ON WALL STREET

  1 causing bank runs and stock crashes Charles P. Kindleberger (2000) Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises 4th ed. London: Wiley.

  2 and then fall until the spring Svartberg, J., Jorde, R., Sundsfjord, J., Bønaa, K.H., Barrett-Connor, E. (2003) Seasonal variation of testosterone and waist to hip ratio in men: the Tromsø study. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 88, 3099–3104. Stanton, S.J., Mullette-Gillman, O.A., Huettel, S.A. (2011) Seasonal variation of salivary testosterone in men, normally cycling women, and women using hormonal contraceptives. Physiology and Behavior 104, 804–808. Smolensky, R., Hallek, M., Smith, M., Steinberger, K. (1988) Annual variation in semen characteristics and plasma hormone levels in men undergoing vasectomy. Fertility and Sterility 49, 309–315.

  3 ‘irritable male syndrome’ … moody, withdrawn and depressed Lincoln, G. (2001) The irritable male syndrome. Reproduction, Fertility and Development 13, 567–576.

  4 tendency to outperform on sunny days Saunders, E. (1993) Stock Prices and Wall Street Weather. American Economic Review 83, 1337–1345. Hirshleifer, D., Shumway, T. (2003) Good Day Sunshine: Stock Returns and the Weather. Journal of Finance 58, 1009–1032.

  5 Seasonal Affective Disorder Kamstra, M.J., Kramer, L.A., Levi, M.D. (2003) Winter Blues: A SAD Stock Market Cycle. American Economic Review 93, 324–343.

  6 testosterone levels, for these increase with sunshine Bernstein, I.S., Rose, R.M., Gordon, T.P. (1974) Behavioral and Environmental Events Influencing Primate Testosterone Levels. Journal of Human Evolution 3, 517–525. Wehr, E., Pilz, S., Boehm, B., März, W., Obermayer-Pietsch, B. (2010) Association of Vitamin D Status with Serum Androgen Levels in Men. Clinical Endocrinology 73, 243–248.

  7 the fast, low road Joe LeDoux (1996) The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. New York: Touchstone. Ch. 6.

  8 slowing down both heart rate and breathing Porges, S.W., Doussard-Roosevelt, J.A., Portales, A.L., Greenspan, S.I. (1996) Infant regulation of the vagal ‘brake’ predicts child behavior problems: A psychobiological model of social behavior. Developmental Psychobiology 29, 697–712.

  9 low blood sugar, and so on Selye, H. (1936) A syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents. Nature 138, 32. Selye more or less discovered the stress response. He tells his story in Selye, H. (1976) The Stress of Life. New York: McGraw-Hill.

  10 expectation of harm than to harm itself Mason, J. (1975) A historical view of the stress field. Part I. Journal of Human Stress 1, 6–12. Mason, J. (1975) A historical view of the stress field. Part II. Journal of Human Stress 1, 22–36. See as well Arthur, A. (1987) Stress as a state of anticipatory vigilance. Perceptual and Motor Skills 64, 75–85.

  11 nothing in the environment presented an overt threat Hennessey, J., Levine, S. (1979) Stress, arousal, and the pituitary-adrenal system: a psychoendocrine hypothesis. Progress in Psychobiology. Physiological Psychology 8, 133–178. V. Lemaire, C. Aurousseau, M. Le Moal, D.N. Abrous (1999) Behavioural trait of reactivity to novelty is related to hippocampal neurogenesis. European Journal of Neuroscience 11, 4006–4014.

  12 just to be ready Erikson, K., Drevets, W., Schulkin, J. (2003) Glucocorticoid regulation of diverse cognitive functions in normal and pathological emotional states. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 27, 233–246. This is a brilliant review.

  13 Uncertainty … provoked more stress than the shock itself Hennessey, J., Levine, S. (1979) Stress, arousal, and the pituitary-adrenal system: a psychoendocrine hypothesis. Progress in Psychobiolology. Physiological Psychology 8, 133–178. Levine, S., Coe, C., Wiener, S. (1989) Psychoneuroendocrinology of stress – a psychobiological perspective. In Psychoendocrinology, eds Brush, F.R., Levine, S. New York: Academic Press. pp.341–377.

  14 It was in the suburbs … higher incidence of gastric ulcers Stewart, D.N., Winser, D. (1942) Incidence of Perforated Peptic Ulcer: Effect of Heavy Air Raids, Lancet 1, 259.

  15 Uncontrollability … influence on stress levels Breier, A., Albus, M., Pickar, D., Zahn, T.P., Wolkowitz, O.M., Paul, S.M. (1987) Controllable and uncontrollable stress in humans: alterations in mood and neuroendocrine and psychophysiological function. American Journal of Psychiatry 144, 1419–1425. Swenson, R., Vogel, W. (1983) Plasma catecholamine and corticosterone as well as brain catecholamine changes during coping in rats exposed to stressful footshock. Pharmacology Biochemistry Behavior 18, 689–693.

  16 than the one with access to the bar lever Weiss, J. (1971) Effects of coping behavior with and without a feedback signal on stress pathology in rats. Journal of Comparative Physiology and Psychology 77, 1–30. This is a three-part article.

  17 physiological foundation of the derivatives market All the traders in our study had as one of their main trading instruments the German bond future. The implied volatility of German bond futures options showed a very high correlation of r2=0.86 (p=0.001) against the traders’ cortisol levels. Coates, J., Herbert, J. (2008) Endogenous steroids and financial risk-taking on a London trading floor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, 6167–6172.

  18 Our scanning becomes hurried and indiscriminate, almost panicky Aston-Jones, G., Rajkowski, J., Cohen, J. (1999) Role of Locus Coeruleus in Attention and Behavioral Flexibility. Biological Psychiatry 46, 1309–1320. Berridge, C.W., Waterhouse, B.D. (2003) The locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system: modulation of behavioral state and state dependent cognitive processes. Brain Research Reviews 42, 33–84. Keinan, G. (1987) Decision-making under stress: Scanning of alternatives und
er controllable and uncontrollable threats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52, 639–644.

  19 neighbouring brain region called the hippocampus Lupien, S.J., Maheu, F., Tu, M., Fiocco, A., Schramek, T.E. (2007) The effects of stress and stress hormones on human cognition: Implications for the field of brain and cognition. Brain and Cognition 65, 209–237. Roozendaal, B. (2002) Stress and memory: opposing effects of glucocorticoids on memory consolidation and memory retrieval. Neurobiology Learning Memory 78, 578–595.

  20 flashbulb memories Brown, R., Kulik, J. (1977) Flashbulb memories. Cognition 5, 73–99. McGaugh, J.L. (2004) The amygdala modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 1–28. There is some evidence that flashbulb memories may not be the photographic records we imagine, but may record how we felt during a shocking experience rather than the details. For a study of flashbulb memories of 9/11 see Tali Sharot, Elizabeth A. Martorella, Mauricio R. Delgado, Elizabeth A. Phelps (2007) How personal experience modulates the neural circuitry of memories of 11 September. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, 389–394.

  21 beta-blockers … may lower the risk of later panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder Cahill, L., Prins, B., Weber, M., McGaugh, J.L. (1994) Beta-adrenergic activation and memory for emotional events. Nature 371, 702–704.

  22 recall the events that were stored under its influence Erickson, K., Drevets, W., Schulkin, J. (2003) Glucocorticoid regulation of diverse cognitive functions in normal and pathological emotional states. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 27, 233–246.

  23 the amygdala and the hippocampus … are especially affected de Kloet, E.R., Vreugdenhil, E., Oitzl, M.S., Joels, M. (1998) Brain corticosteroid receptor balance in health and disease. Endocrine Reviews 19, 269–301.

  24 can kill neurons in the hippocampus Woolley, C.S., Gould, E., McEwen, B.S. (1990) Exposure to excess glucocorticoids alters dendritic morphology of adult hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Brain Research 531, 225–231. Starkman, M.N., Gebarski, S.S., Berent, S., Schteingart, D.E. (1992) Hippocampal formation volume, memory dysfunction, and cortisol levels in patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Biological Psychiatry 32, 756–765.

  25 reducing its volume by up to 15 per cent Sapolsky, R.M. (2000) Glucocorticoids and hippocampal atrophy in neuropsychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 925–935.

  26 blunt the impact of stress on our brains Bruce McEwen (2002) The End of Stress as We Know It. Washington: Joseph Henry Press. pp.119–124.

  27 arborisation (growth of branches) Sapolsky, R.M. (2003) Stress and Plasticity in the Limbic System. Neurochemical Research 28, 1735–1742.

  28 stored reactions, largely emotional and impulsive ones Discussed in Joe LeDoux (1996) The Emotional Brain. New York: Touchstone. Also Corodimas, K.P., LeDoux, J.E., Gold, P.W., Schulkin, J. (1994) Corticosterone potentiation of conditioned fear in rats. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 746, 392–339. Liston, C., McEwen, B., Casey, B. (2009) Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, 912–917. Arnsten, A.F. (2009) Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 410–422. Ohira, H. et al. (2011) Chronic stress modulates neural and cardiovascular responses during reversal learning. Neuroscience 193, 193–200.

  29 who did find patterns in the noise Whitson, J., Galinsky, A. (2008) Lacking Control Increases Illusory Pattern Perception. Science 322, 115–117.

  30 CRH in the brain instils anxiety Korte, S. (2001) Corticosteroids in relation to fear, anxiety and psychopathology. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 25, 117–142.

  31 ‘anticipatory angst’ … leading to timid behaviour Schulkin, J., McEwen, B.S., Gold, P.W. (1994) Allostasis, amygdala, and anticipatory angst. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 18, 385–396.

  32 danger everywhere, even where it does not exist McEwen, B. (1998) Stress, adaptation, and disease: allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 840, 33–44. Schulkin, J., McEwen, B., Gold, P.W. (1994) Allostasis, amygdala, and anticipatory angst. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 18, 385–396. Lupien, S.J., Maheu, F., Tu, M., Fiocco, A., Schramek, T.E. (2007) The effects of stress and stress hormones on human cognition: Implications for the field of brain and cognition. Brain and Cognition 65, 209–237.

  33 irrationally risk-averse For a review of literature on anxiety, stress and risk-aversion, see Kamstra, M.J., Kramer, L.A., Levi, M.D. (2003) Winter Blues: A SAD Stock Market Cycle. American Economic Review 93, 324–343.

  34 learned helplessness Kademian, S., Bignante, A., Lardone, P., McEwen, B., Volosin, M. (2005) Biphasic effects of adrenal steroids on learned helplessness behavior induced by inescapable shock. Neuropsychopharmacology 30, 58–66.

  35 if the door was left open Seligman, M., Maier, S. (1967) Failure to escape traumatic shock. Journal of Experimental Psychology 74, 1–9. Maier, S., Seligman, M. (1976) Learned helplessness: theory and evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology 105, 3–46.

  36 impaired immune system and increased illness Segerstrom, S. (2005) Optimism and immunity: do positive thoughts always lead to positive effects? Brain Behavior Immunity 19, 195–200.

  37 people become more susceptible to gastric ulcers Chronic stress and its medical consequences are brilliantly and exhaustively reviewed in Robert Sapolsky (2004) Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers 3rd ed. New York: Henry Holt.

  38 other recurrent viruses, like herpes Segerstrom, S., Miller, G. (2004) Psychological stress and the human immune system: a meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological Bulletin 130, 601–630.

  39 more susceptible to drug addiction Piazza, P.V., Le Moal, M. (1998) The role of stress in drug self-administration. Trends in Pharmacological Science 19, 67–74. Sarnyai, Z., Shaham, Y., Heinrichs, S.C. (2001) The role of corticotropin-releasing factor in drug addiction. Pharmacology Review 53, 209–243.

  40 signs of chronically elevated stress hormones Robert A. Karasek, Tores Theorell (1992) Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity and the Reconstruction of Working Life. New York: Basic Books. See as well Kivimäki, M. et al. (2002) Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees. British Medical Journal 2, 857–860. Vaananen, A. et al. (2008) Lack of predictability at work and risk of acute myocardial infarction: an 18-year prospective study of industrial employees. American Journal of Public Health 98, 2264–2271. Kawakami, N., Haratani, T. (1999) Epidemiology of job stress and health in Japan: review of current evidence and future direction. Industrial Health 37, 174–186.

  41 increased incidence of stroke Marmot, M.G., Rose, G., Shipley, M., Hamilton, P.J. (1978) Employment grade and coronary heart disease in British civil servants. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 32, 244–249. Ferrie, J.E., Shipley, M.J., Marmot, M.G., Stansfeld, S., Smith, G.D. (1995) Health effects of anticipation of job change and non-employment: Longitudinal data from the Whitehall II study. British Medical Journal 311, 1264–1269. Kuper, H., Marmot, M. (2003) Job strain, job demands, decision latitude, and risk of coronary heart disease within the Whitehall II study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 57, 147–153. Chandola, T. et al. (2008) Work stress and coronary heart disease: what are the mechanisms? European Heart Journal 29, 640–648.

  42 wreak on the health of workers See for instance Cohen, S., Schwartz, J.E., Epel, E., Kirschbaum, C., Sidney, S., Seeman, T. (2006) Socioeconomic status, race, and diurnal cortisol decline in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Psychosomatic Medicine 68, 41–50. Ariel, K., Ziol-Guest, K., Hawkley, L., Cacioppo, J. (2010) Job Insecurity and Change Over Time in Health Among Older Men and Women. Journal of Gerontology B 65B, 81–90. Steptoe, A. et al. (2003) Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Job Control on Plasma Fibrinogen Responses to Acute Mental Stress. Psychosomatic Medicine 65, 137–144.
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br />   43 suicide all increasing during recessions Gerdthama, U., Johannesson, M. (2005) Business cycles and mortality: results from Swedish microdata. Social Science and Medicine 60, 205–218.

  44 risen 47 per cent from a year earlier Thomas Penny, Bankers Use Secret Clinics, Nurses to Beat Breakdowns. Bloomberg 11 July 2008.

  45 advent of the credit crisis and the subsequent recession Economic downturn poses threat to mental health: WHO. CBC 10 October 2008. See as well Elizabeth Bernstein, Angst is Rising, but Many Must Forgo Therapy. Wall Street Journal 7 October 2008.

  46 a spike in the rate of heart attacks in London Smolina, K., Wright, F.L., Rayner, M., Goldacre, M.J. (2012) Determinants of the decline in mortality from acute myocardial infarction in England between 2002 and 2010: linked national database study. British Medical Journal 344:d8059.

  47 fear and a tendency to see danger everywhere McEwen, B. (1998) Stress, adaptation, and disease: allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 840, 33–44.

  CHAPTER 8: TOUGHNESS

  1 stress response that can be fatally dysfunctional in modern society Robert Sapolsky (2004) Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers 3rd ed. New York: Henry Holt. See as well Chrousos, G. (2009) Stress and disorders of the stress system. Nature Reviews Endocrinology 5, 374–381.

  2 proportionally less conscious influence over them Joe LeDoux (1996) The Emotional Brain. The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. New York: Touchstone.