{"id":80021,"date":"2023-10-05T08:10:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T13:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=80021"},"modified":"2024-04-06T04:02:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T04:02:06","slug":"the-surprising-truth-about-stress","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/the-surprising-truth-about-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising Truth About Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"blog-entry__subtitle--full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-80022 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"956\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280-1024x765.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280-768x574.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.stress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/stress-391657_1280-600x448.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/>How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"blog_entry__key-points\">\n<h3 class=\"blog_entry__key-points-title\">KEY POINTS<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"blog_entry__key-points-item-list\">\n<li class=\"blog_entry__key-points-item\">Research tells us that a quarter of all employees view their jobs as the number-one stressor in their lives.<\/li>\n<li class=\"blog_entry__key-points-item\">There have been some fascinating studies which show how important your mindset is when it comes to stress.<\/li>\n<li class=\"blog_entry__key-points-item\">The idea is to change your mindset from a &#8220;stress is harmful&#8221; mindset to a &#8220;stress is enhancing&#8221; mindset.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field-name-body\">\n<p>The last few years have seen a significant increase in the number of employees experiencing high levels of\u00a0<a class=\"basics-link\" title=\"Psychology Today looks at stress\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/stress\" hreflang=\"en-US\">stress<\/a>\u00a0and being at risk of burnout. We know that this is an issue across all industries and genders; however, research also shows that the impact on women is particularly severe. The latest\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/global\/en\/pages\/about-deloitte\/articles\/women-at-work-global-outlook.html\">Women at Work report<\/a>\u00a0has found that 53 percent of women have experienced increased stress levels in the last 12 months and 46 percent of women feel\u00a0<a class=\"basics-link\" title=\"Psychology Today looks at burned out\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/burnout\" hreflang=\"en-US\">burned out<\/a>\u00a0in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Research tells us that a quarter of all employees view their jobs as the number-one stressor in their lives. Think about your own life and work for a moment. If you wrote down the top 10 things that stress you on an everyday basis and how you felt about that, what would your list look like? What would be at the top of your list? Would it be your job, your family, or something else that\u2019s going on in your life right now?<\/p>\n<p>We know that the prevalent thought around stress is how damaging it is for us and for our health. But what if that wasn\u2019t true? What if stress was something that could work in your favor?<\/p>\n<p>Because the truth is, as health psychologist\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend\">Kelly McGonigal found in her research<\/a>, the harmful effects of stress on your health are not inevitable. How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body\u2019s response to stress.<\/p>\n<p>There have been some fascinating studies that show how important your mindset is when it comes to stress. One such study tracked 30,000 adults for 8 years and asked them, \u201cHow much stress have you experienced in the last year?\u201d and \u201cDo you believe that stress is harmful for your health?\u201d The study then used public death records to find out who amongst these adults died and what they found was quite remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43 percent increased risk of dying, but that was\u00a0<em>only true<\/em>\u00a0for the people who also believed that stress was harmful for their health. People who experienced a lot of stress but<em>\u00a0did not<\/em>\u00a0view stress as harmful were no more likely to die. In fact, they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including people who had relatively little stress. The researchers estimated that over the 8 years they were tracking deaths, 182,000 people died prematurely, not from stress, but from\u00a0<em>the belief<\/em>\u00a0that stress was bad for them.<\/p>\n<p>Normally, we interpret physical changes during the stress response as\u00a0<a class=\"basics-link\" title=\"Psychology Today looks at anxiety\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/anxiety\" hreflang=\"en-US\">anxiety<\/a>\u00a0or signs that we aren&#8217;t coping very well with the pressure. But if you view these instead as signs that your body is preparing you to meet a challenge, you can completely change the health outcomes.<\/p>\n<h2>Two different mindsets about stress<\/h2>\n<p>The idea is to change your mindset from a &#8220;stress is harmful&#8221; mindset to a &#8220;stress is enhancing&#8221; mindset.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mindset 1: Stress Is Harmful<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Experiencing stress depletes my health and vitality.<\/li>\n<li>Experiencing stress debilitates my performance and\u00a0<a class=\"basics-link\" title=\"Psychology Today looks at productivity\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/productivity\" hreflang=\"en-US\">productivity<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Experiencing stress inhibits my learning and growth.<\/li>\n<li>The effects of stress are negative and should be avoided.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Mindset 2: Stress Is Enhancing<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Experiencing stress enhances my performance and productivity.<\/li>\n<li>Experiencing stress improves my health and vitality.<\/li>\n<li>Experiencing stress facilitates my learning and growth.<\/li>\n<li>The effects of stress are positive and should be utilized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Take a moment and reflect on this. The way most people are raised\u2014and society in general behaves\u2014would arguably put most of us in mindset number one, with the view that stress is harmful.<\/p>\n<p>But when you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage. And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create\u00a0<a class=\"basics-link\" title=\"Psychology Today looks at resilience\" href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/basics\/resilience\" hreflang=\"en-US\">resilience<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Here are some tips for how you can reframe stress for success and change your stress mindset:<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Acknowledge stress when you experience it.<\/li>\n<li>Welcome the stress by recognizing that it\u2019s a response to something you care about.<\/li>\n<li>Try to make use of the energy that stress gives you, instead of wasting that energy trying to manage your stress.<\/li>\n<li>What strengths can you draw upon to respond in the way you want?<\/li>\n<li>How can you connect with and care for others to increase your stress resilience?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you want more tools and strategies for how you can manage your stress in a healthier way, check out our articles on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/real-women\/202112\/how-deal-being-overwhelmed\">how to deal with overwhelm<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/real-women\/202112\/how-set-effective-boundaries\">how to set effective boundaries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>To find out more stress management information go to<a href=\"http:\/\/STRESS.ORG\"> STRESS.ORG<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/geralt-9301\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=391657%22%3EGerd%20Altmann%3C\/a%3E%20from%20%3Ca%20href=%22https:\/\/pixabay.com\/\/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=391657%22%3EPixabay%3C\/a%3E\">Image by Geralt<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/real-women\/202303\/the-surprising-truth-about-stress\">Original post Psychology Today\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/contributors\/megan-dalla-camina\">Megan Dalla-Camina <\/a><\/strong>is the founder and CEO of Women Rising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. 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