Stress Is Actually Enhancing Your Life

Recently I listened to a podcast by Andrew Huberman about how stress can actually be an enhancing factor in your life. He talks about how while the common perceptions about stress are not *not* true, there is a side of stress in our daily lives that can be and is beneficial. Here’s the general idea:

If you’re someone who is anxious and worry about the negative effects of stress, there is actually an easy way for you to start making stress work for you (instead of letting it completely destroy your life…dramatic but doesn’t it feel that way?)

In a 2013 study held by psychologists Dr. Alia J. Crum and Peter Salovey, they demonstrated that just by learning about the mindset that stress can be enhancing, you begin to actually alter the effects that stress has on your motivation, performance, and body.

By adopting the stress-is-enhancing mindset, you’re actually able to

• respond better to stress,
• have more adaptive physiological responses,
• lower your cortisol levels,
• and feel more open to feedback towards improving.

Beyond that, Crum and Salovey also tested the theory that achieving this mindset can be relatively easy. In one particular test, subjects were shown a 3-minute video. The subjects were divided into 3 groups (stress-is-enhancing, stress-is-debilitating, and the control group) and each group was shown a short video that educates them on the corresponding mindsets. They found that the stress-is-enhancing group did indeed adopt the mindset quickly and that all of them reported that their physiological symptoms and work performance improved.

How do I develop this magical ‘Stress-Is-Enhancing’ mindset?!

Well, as proven by Crum and Salovey’s studies, to achieve this mindset, all you have to do is learn about it. You don’t have to watch the same 3-minute video shown to their test groups (it’s not some brainwashing thing, don’t worry.) You just have to consume content that explains and teaches you about the stress-is-enhancing mindset and the awareness of the mindset alone will start altering your brain.

Reading this article was a great start! You’re already well on your way to shifting how stress affects you both mentally and physically. If you’d like to learn more about the mindset, you can check out the resources below.

Andrew Huberman’s podcast episode: ‘How to Enhance Performance & Learning By Applying a Growth Mindset’.

The Wellbeing Lab podcast episode with Dr. Alia Crum herself.

Read the original study literature of the research testing done by Dr. Alia Crum and Peter Salovey.

Or, try this hands-on reframing exercise:

1. Think about a recent stressful experience
2. Pay attention to your bodily senses
   • Were your senses heightened? Was your heart pounding or were you getting sweaty during the stressful experience?
   • Reminder: heightened senses actually mean that you care about what’s going on, so it can give you the energy, motivation, and focus to rise to the challenge.
3. Notice if you felt like isolating yourself or if you felt like connecting with others
   1. Did you have an urge to be around others? Were you extra sensitive to others’ emotions?
   2. Reminder: Sometimes stress can actually be a prosocial reaction, causing you to want to connect rather than isolate.
4. Ask yourself what you learned from the experience
   1. Did you feel mentally energized after the stressful situation? Did you feel full of emotions?
   2. Did you replay the event in your mind and try to analyze how you could do better next time?
   3. Reminder: These are some of the great follow-up actions that stress can trigger, meaning it’s actually subconsciously teaching you to learn and grow from the situation.