The Upside of Stress

This week’s article summary is The Upside of Stress.

If you’re like me a goal in life is to avoid stress: we dream of lying on the sunny, private beach with no cares in the world and a refreshing drink within arm’s length.

The gist of the article is that stress is not only an inevitable part of life and that it’s not the stress that adversely affects us but how we view it: do you see stress as a negative or as a positive?

In the classroom we can help our students look at stress—like an upcoming test—as an opportunity. Being nervous means you care. The physical signs of stress are your body preparing you for it.

Obviously too much stress too often isn’t good (think of Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs), yet a positive attitude toward it and the ability to recognize and develop strategies to deal with it leads to greater happiness and confidence.

Remember the old slogan “Milk does a body good?” Maybe we should borrow it: “Stress, It Does a Body Good!”

Joe

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Imagine you are about to make the most important presentation of your professional career to the largest and most influential audience you have ever been in front of. Ten minutes before you go up, your body begins a familiar dance of nervousness. Your palms are sweaty. Your heart rate is rising. Your stomach feels slightly queasy.

We've all been in similar situations before, and if we're honest, most "attempts" to eliminate or even reduce stress in the moment are frankly futile.

Perhaps we should cultivate a mindset to embrace stress.

Health psychologist and author Kelly McGonigal shares some fascinating research in her book The Upside of Stress and her TED talk on How to Make Stress Your Friend.

In a landmark study, 30,000 adults in the United States were asked how much stress they had experienced in the past year and whether they believed stress is harmful to their health. These adults were then followed for eight years. As we probably could have guessed, high levels of stress increased the risk of dying by 43 percent. However, what was shocking was that increased risk only applied to people who believed that stress was harming their health. People who reported high levels of stress but did not view it as harmful had the lowest risk of death of anyone in the study, even lower than those who reported very little stress. It wasn't stress that was killing people, but the combination of stress and the belief that it is harmful.

If any of us thinks back to the most meaningful moments in our life, undoubtedly they are moments that were pregnant with stress. We do not stress about things we do not care about. We stress about things that matter to us.. Our body's signals of stress (increased heart rate, sweaty palms, etc.) is the body's way of preparing you to engage in something important. A life without stress is a life without meaning.

Not all stress is equal, though, and clearly some forms of stress are completely undesirable.

McGonigal suggests three steps in changing your mindset and embracing (rather than trying to avoid) stress:

• Notice stress and how it affects your body.
• Recognize stress as a response to something you care about.
• Don't try and manage stress but think about what you can do right now that reflects your goals and values and write about them and share it with someone.  

McGonigal says that if we allow it, stress will awaken human strengths of courage, connection, and growth.  

We know that in stressful circumstances, we are motivated to act bravely and overcome our fears.  

If children are nervous and stressed before a big test, that's good. Their body is getting ready for peak performance. They will perform higher and better if they embrace that energy than if they were in a completely relaxed state like say just after a nap.  

Perhaps we can build a mindset to embrace these positive elements of stress—increased courage, connection, and growth potential to leverage these stresses not as deficits but as potential powerful assets. Stress has an upside. We must build the mindset to embrace it.