To beat stress, be like a begonia

Flora may have lessons for fauna in handling the many stressors of today's life

There may be a lesson for us in the Begonias rex — a lovely name for a plant, don’t you think? (Photo by おにぎり on Unsplash)

Let’s not start out here with an argument over whether plants have feelings, although it’s a notion that’s relevant to the topic of this column. But plant neurobiology, as advocates call it, is quite controversial, not to mention beyond my scientific expertise.

Then again, millions of people who say the Covid-19 vaccination isn’t necessary, or that it’s dangerous, don’t know a damn thing about immunology, obviously, yet their expertise-free opinion is affecting the lives of all the rest of us these days, adding to the stress we face on so many fronts. Which is, in fact, what we’re discussing here: stress.

We’re all pretty stressed out these days, between a resurgent pandemic and the effects of climate change and toxic political polarization and a sloppy end to a war that the United States couldn’t win and — well, there are plenty more stressors, so many that it’s awk…