SOS STRESS! Is there a solution?

September 18, 2010, at 7 p.m.

Comment

You visited this expo? You can't wait to see it? We want to hear you!

Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard was born in France in 1946. Son of French philosopher Jean-François Revel and painter Yahne Le Toumelin, herself a Buddhist nun, he studied cellular genetics at the Institut Pasteur under the direction of François Jacob, Nobel prize laureate in medicine. After completing his PhD in 1972, he devoted himself to the study and practice of Buddhism. Since then he has been taught by some of the great Tibetan masters. He has lived in India and Bhutan and now resides in Nepal. Matthieu Ricard has served as the French interpreter for the Dalai Lama since 1989 and has written many books, including the well-known Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill. A member of the Committee of the Mind and Life Institute, an organization devoted to research and to bringing together scientists, philosophers and Buddhist scholars, he has been engaged in research on the effects of spiritual training and meditation on the brain, at Princeton and Berkeley universities in the United States, in Zurich and Hong Kong. Matthieu donates all proceeds from his work and much of his time to thirty humanitarian projects in Asia: www.karuna-shechen.org.

Pierrich Plusquellec

A biologist by training, Pierrich Plusquellec holds a PhD from Université Paris XIII in ethology, i.e. the study of behaviours and their evolution. In 2001, he joined the Research Group on Psychosocial Maladjustment at Hôpital Sainte-Justine, specializing in social behavioural development among young children. He began working at the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec in 2004, and shifted his research focus to a particularly vulnerable population, the Inuit of Nunavik. There he studied the role of pollutants on children’s behavioural development, in particular. Lastly, since 2008, he has been working at the Centre for Studies on Human Stress (CESH) at Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, concentrating on the influence of pollutants on the stress system, as well as on the link between stress and social dominance. In 2009 he was appointed Associate Director of the CESH.

Dr Francois Lesperance

A Full Professor with the Department of Psychiatry and Deputy Vice-Dean of Clinical Research with the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal, Dr. François Lespérance is also Associate Scientific Director of Clinical Research at the CHUM Research Centre. He was Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the CHUM from 2004 to 2010.
Dr. Lespérance is recognized worldwide for his research on depression in heart patients, which he began as a researcher and consulting-liaison psychiatrist at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI). Over the course of his career he has been awarded more than $25 million in peer-reviewed grants from research organizations, published over 74 scientific articles and written five book chapters. His articles have transformed research in medical psychiatry and cardiovascular health psychology. Dr. Lespérance received the Martial-Bourassa award from the MHI in 1999, and the annual research award from the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine in 2007, in recognition of his exceptional contribution to research in the field of psychiatric care for cardiac patients. He also received the Leadership and Outreach Award from the CHUM Foundation in 2008.

Synopsis

In French only

With Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, Pierrich Plusquellec, Co-Director of the Centre for Studies on Human Stress, and Dr. François Lespérance, psychiatrist and Associate Scientific Director of Clinical Research at the CHUM Research Centre. Moderator: Ariel Fenster

For thousands of years now, our bodies’ stress system has contributed to our survival as a species. In the short term, stress can save our lives. But over the long term, it can gradually kill us. What’s the difference between “good” and “bad” stress? Do men, women and children all experience stress in the same way? How does stress affect our health? How can we manage stress? After all, unexpected situations, other people and society are unavoidable parts of everyday life. Can we help our brains cope with them more effectively?

An original trio of speakers who will examine the mechanics of stress and present some possible solutions to take home with you. Come tame the tiger inside you and talk with our guests!

Did you know...

The World Health Organization estimates that by 2020 stress-related disorders such as heart disease and depression will be the two main causes of disability worldwide. (Source: Tania Élaine Schramek, Centre for Studies on Human Stress).
In North America, from 75% to 90% of all visits to family doctors are for stress-related symptoms.
According to a study by the Institut de la statistique du Québec, in 2005, nearly 37% of all Quebeckers said they were fairly or extremely stressed at work.
It was a Canadian, Hans Selye, who was the first to name and study stress, in the 1930s! He borrowed the term from physics, and showed that stress can have an impact on health. His "discovery" has had a tremendous impact ever since.
How can stress be quantified? By detecting and measuring the presence of certain hormones in the blood, urine or saliva.