Thoughts on the Upside of Stress

I got this book from jordangonen, and am very glad to have read it.

Stress isn’t as bad as we think

Author Kelly McGonigal makes the argument throughout the book that stress can actually be good for you. With the way that we view stress, culturally, it’s a stretch of an argument to make at first, but once she breaks down the science and provides various examples, it makes lots of sense.

McGonigal defines stress as what one might expect — “what happens in your brain and your body when something you care about is at stake.”

You could watch her Ted Talk for more comprehensive info, but to dive into it briefly, when we’re ‘stressed’ there are chemicals and reactions taking place in the brain. Those send, among other hormones, cortisol throughout our body.

These hormones allow us to focus less on some of our biological functions like digestion, and more on the task, or situation, at hand. It allows for greater performance and less distraction.

If you think about the last time you were extremely zoned in on an activity, maybe even forgetting that you were hungry, one of the reasons is the release of cortisol and other ‘stress’ hormones. In that sense, firing off these hormones is good.

The reason so many people have a negative view of stress is because of the ways that it makes them feel — anxious, scared, overwhelmed, etc.

McGonigal presents a few points in the book that got me to look past the negative view:

• The fact that we care about something to the point of being worried or anxious about it is a positive sign — if the stakes were low, we wouldn’t care or get ‘stressed’
• It’s actually good to have these things in our life that give us stress. There are several studies showing that people who are more stressed find more meaning in life. They have more things happening that they care about. Imagine a life with zero stress — for a select few, or for brief periods of time, it would maybe be nice, but over the long run, it would mean having nothing going on to help you find meaning, something pretty close to inherent to the human condition
• If we are able to embrace and recognize that these feelings of stress are normal, healthy (studies even show people who have more stress live longer), and useful, then the experience itself can be way less negative. Instead of letting the anxiety or frustration of the situation take the forefront, one can recognize it, and, instead, focus on the extra energy and brain power that our bodies are giving us in those times. It’s like — yes I’m anxious about this thing but there’s a reason I’m doing it and that makes me excited, might as well ride the energy.
• In times of stress, we often shoot off more oxytocin — which is the hormone that makes us want to connect with other people. For one, oxytocin is proven to be good for your heart. Secondly, wanting to connect and collaborate with others makes sense from an evolutionary perspective in times of ‘stress’ and can actually enhance output.

McGonigal isn’t saying that stress is 100% amazing all of the time, but in this book she provides many reasons, examples, and signs that being stressed is not the monstrosity we believe it to be.

She even provides methods and examples of using this outlook to make going through extremely negative events like death of a loved one, trauma, or illness easier.

Mindset interventions

The book also talks a lot about mindset interventions — the idea that how we view something has a dramatic impact on the way we act.

One solid example is standardized test taking. It’s something that stresses out many people for its high stakes nature. Essentially, when people were primed before taking a big test (I think it was the GMAT mentioned in the book) that it was okay to be nervous for the test and to lean into that nervousness and use it as extra energy, they performed statistically better than a group that was told being stressed before an exam is bad and a group told nothing.

People that have a positive view of old aging even live longer than those with a negative view. And it’s not the view itself that necessarily makes all the difference, but the ways that having a certain view will change the actions that one takes.

A mindset given to college students that it was normal and okay to struggle and feel isolated at times even had a positive impact on their entire college experience.

Final notes

Overall, I’d highly recommend this book. I touched on a few of the takeaways, but there were more that might resonate with you as a reader. It flipped my view of stress and anxiety on its head, made me more keen to connect with others in times of struggle, and showed how impactful the mindset we hvae can be.

Thoughts on this review/the book in general? Comment or send me a note :)

Full reading list here