There are many ways to deal with stress you may have heard about, such as meditation and exercise. However, no matter how you manage your stress, stress is a part of life. So how can you prevent the negative effects of long term stress?
In the Ted Talk: How To Make Stress Your Friend, Kelly McGonigal, a Health Psychologist, explains an interesting discovery about stress. I would recommend those interested watch the entire 14-minute Ted talk, but I will summarize the main points here.
There was a study that tracked 30,000 adults in the US over 8 years. Everyone in the study was asked how much stress they were undergoing as well as if they believed that stress was bad for them. The people in the study who believed stress was bad for them, and had reported experiencing a large amount of stress, had a 43% greater chance of dying.
However, people who had undergone a large amount of stress, but did not believe that stress was bad for them, had no increase in death at all.
Even more surprising, they had less chance of death than people who had reported experiencing little stress.
Why is this? McGonigal explains that when people believe that the stress response is helpful, their blood vessels remain relaxed and healthy, instead of constricting during the stress response (which can lead to cardiovascular disease over time). They had, through only changing their perspective, created a healthier stress response. This healthier stress response is very similar to how the body responds when people feel joy.
So in conclusion, simply believing that stress isn’t bad for you makes it so. The mind is powerful.
