Everyone gets stressed, it’s become a part of our lives. Whether it’s from personal matters or global matters, it’s always there. Most people see stress as negative but what if changing your views on stress, changed your interactions with it? Stress gets a bad reputation and you will see why stress can actually be useful.
Changing Your Views on Stress
Stress got its reputation because of how we see it, so if we change our views, our interaction with stress will be different. University of Wisconsin-Madison did a study where they followed a group of people for nine years to see how stress affects their health.
The results were surprising, stress did not guarantee early death or bad health. Those who had a lot of stress but didn’t believe it impacted their health were fine, while others who did believe it was taking a toll on their health increased the risk of premature death by 43 percent.
Another study was done by Harvard involved a collection of people split into three groups. The task for them was to give a talk and then take a test.
The first group got to play video games before the talk, the second was told to ignore the stress they were feeling, and the third group was given advice on how to look and handle stress.
They were told that stress makes the body stronger to prepare for the tough challenge ahead. The quickening of your breathing means more oxygen goes to brain, allowing them to think clearer. The heart pounding you feel means that your body is getting ready to face that challenge.
The group that was taught how to rethink their interactions with stress did much better than the other two groups. They smiled more and had more-positive body language.
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