Coping with stress — Amazing research that will challenge what you think

Everyday we’re bombarded by stress; sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. But there’s something you should know that will change your approach to it entirely…

I spent the last decade going through cycles of moderate to heavy stress. It was a constant companion, or perhaps more accurately, a stalker! I didn’t want it, and yet it was always there!

I’ll be honest, and say that I coped with it relatively poorly. I tried to deal with it, I truly did, but I sucked at it!

I tried venting, pouring it out in an attempt to get it off my chest; I then tried bottling it up, and refusing to acknowledge it. Neither was particularly useful, and my relationships suffered both at work and at home.

I tried throwing myself into sports, venting it physically. Whilst entertaining and healthy, it unfortunately didn’t help much with my stress levels (though I heartily recommend doing it for the other benefits mentioned).

However, I then came across a TED talk that made me approach my stress in a completely different way…

You can watch the talk here, and I thoroughly recommend it. It’s presented by Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford University psychologist, and she discusses studies related to stress, health, and our perception of stress; unsurprisingly there’s a correlation, but it’s unlikely to be the one you think it is!

The question at the centre of the argument is…

“Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health?”

The findings were pretty amazing! What they discovered was that on its own, stress isn’t harmful. It only becomes harmful if we believe it to be. If on the other hand you believe stress to be healthy, it is!

Who saw that coming?!

One study looked at a 30,000 adults over a period of 8 years, ultimately concluding that people with high levels of stress had a 43% increased chance of death, but only if they perceived stress to be harmful. Amazingly, people that believed stress to be healthy had the lowest risk of death out of everyone in the study, even if they experienced high amounts of stress; they even had lower risk than those who experienced low amounts of stress but perceived stress as harmful.

Another study put people in deliberately stressful situations, but introduced them to the scenario in different ways. Some were told nothing, whereas others were told to interpret their stress response (sweating, increased heart rate, etc.) as the body energising itself and getting ready to meet the challenge. In light of the previous study, it should come as no surprise that those who were prepared to view their stress as a performance aid coped better in the stressful situations.

However, the truly amazing difference was biological. They found that whilst everyone experienced a stress response, those that viewed stress as harmful had their blood vessels constrict whereas those that viewed stress as beneficial kept their blood vessels relaxed. What this means is that whilst all participants experienced an increase in heart rate, only those that perceived stress as harmful experienced an increase in blood pressure (believed to be a key factor in heart problems).

The talk concludes by discussing oxytocin, a hormone which makes us more sociable, caring, and generally ‘better people’, as well as providing a range of health benefits. It’s a little surprising then, that it’s actually a stress hormone, released as part of our stress response.

Or is it?

Think about it; it turns out that from a biological perspective our stress response is not supposed to be harmful. It’s supposed to help us deal with challenging situations; situations where perhaps having others aid us would be beneficial. This is what oxytocin does; it makes us more sociable when stressed, so that we can get help and be more willing to provide it to others. Interestingly, when we are sociable, more oxytocin is released providing further health benefits to us.

A final study is discussed, which monitored stress levels, health, and social interaction. Again the results showed that if you care for others, are sociable and empathetic, you live a healthier life.

The conclusion; be sociable when stressed, it’s healthy.

The ultimate conclusion; stop viewing stress as an insidious stalker that’s out to get you!

What now?

I’d like you to fundamentally change how you view stress. Stop viewing it as an enemy that must be avoided at all costs and start viewing it as a challenge.

The power of your mind is incredible (the placebo effect still impresses me whenever I think of it) and as demonstrated by the studies mentioned above your perception of stress will determine whether you live a long healthy life, or a potentially short and insufferable one.

This can take some getting used to, especially when your blood is pumping and you’ve got a million things going on, but give it a go and really work at it, for your own benefit.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Have you given this a go? Did you find it easy/hard? Do you think it sounds too crazy to be true? Let me know!

Originally published at wordsbydavid.com on October 25, 2015.

About the Author: David Whitaker is a freelance writer, who spent years in the corporate rat race before deciding that life is too short to not spend it doing what you love! He now spends his time writing about life and trying to enjoy it as much as possible.

If you like what he writes, please like, share, or comment!

David’s personal blog is at wordsbydavid.com and you can follow him on twitter at @wordsbydavid or at https://au.linkedin.com/in/whitakerd