The Upside of Stress summary

In the late 1990s, the trauma center of a hospital in Akron, Ohio, carried out an experiment on survivors of traffic accidents and found that they were able to accurately predict who would develop post-traumatic stress disorder. How? They based their predictions on the urine samples they collected from the survivors right after the crash.

Forty-six of the 55 patients had higher levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline in their urine, and did not suffer from PTSD. The remaining nine patients, with lower levels of stress hormones, did develop the disorder. This experiment made for powerful evidence that stress could lead to a better long-term recovery, even in deeply traumatic events.

Sounds counterintuitive right? But just listen to this. In 2005 and 2006, researchers from the Gallup World Poll asked more than 125,000 people aged 15 and over if they had experienced a great deal of stress the day before.

On average, around a third of each country’s population said they experienced stress. The Philippines topped the poll with 67 percent of their population suffering from stress. The US wasn’t too far behind with a hefty 43 percent. Populations of other countries reported far less stress, with as low at 5 percent in the African nation Mauritania.

With hundreds of articles, radio talks and editorials on the topic, stress seems to be one of the greatest conundrums of this century. Nearly everyone we know finds stress a struggle.

But what about those people who just seem to breeze through life? We all know at least one of them. Every so often, we come across people who cope with stress far better than others. So what do they do differently? It’s all to do with how they think about stress.

Do you ever get so nervous that your palms begin to sweat like crazy? Or perhaps your heart feels like it’s pounding right out of your chest as your mouth gets drier than the Sahara. These are all very clear signs of your nerves, and usually you’ll berate yourself for letting your stress get the best of you! But is this the right way to go?

Not always. Embracing anxiety actually helps us perform better. It just depends on how you channel it. To demonstrate this, Harvard Business School professor Alison Wood Brooks told some students who were about to give a speech to say “I am calm” to themselves, while others were instructed to say “I am excited.”

Stress isn’t just something we have to deal with. It’s also something that can help us learn to care, cooperate and show compassion a little better. So why not embrace it!

Think back to the tend-and-befriend response we learned about earlier. This gives us a welcome opportunity to practice being social, brave and people-smart. How? First off, it fires up the social caregiving system by releasing oxytocin while inhibiting the fear centers of the brain. As a result, we feel more empathy, connection and trust toward one another.

Think of a time in your life that led to positive changes, a newfound purpose or significant personal growth. It’s not unlikely that these times followed periods that were very stressful. That’s the paradox of stress! Although it’s frustrating, the paradox of stress makes a lot of sense, too.

The idea that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger is far from new. It can be found in the teachings of religions and philosophies for centuries. In fact, 82 percent of respondents in one study, when asked how they cope with stress in their lives, cited previous stressful experiences as sources of strength. In other words: adversity helps us learn and grow.