Stress

Stress. It makes your heart pound, your breathing quicken and your forehead sweat. But while stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress may only be bad for you if you believe that to be the case. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others. - This is the caption for the Ted Talk given by psychologist Kelly McGonigal.

This ted talk was part of our monthly summer series ted talks and gave a new perspective on how to view stress. If you have 15 minutes, I highly recommend watching it.

Filled with anecdotes and statistics, Kelly goes into how stress can increase health problems, including death by up to 30% BUT this statistic doesn't follow with those who spend a lot of time helping others. She explains that part of the stress response, oxytocin, makes you more social and this in turn helps you so if you chose to look at the stress response as a way to help you get through, it can make life better for you.

Not to say stress is inherently good, or that all it takes to get through tough times is a positive outlook. But it is a piece of advice that causes pause for consideration. I'll be trying this out in my own life - what about you?

Check out the talk here: https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en