1: You’ve got it all wrong.
You’ve been taught that stress is bad for you.
This belief is harmful, Kelly McGonigal argues in The Upside of Stress.
“The best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.”
The fight-or-flight survival instinct is part of your stress response. When something major happens, your sympathetic nervous system mobilizes your entire body.
Your liver dumps fat and sugar into your bloodstream for fuel. Your breathing deepens, allowing more oxygen to reach your heart. And your heart rate speeds up to deliver the oxygen, fat, and sugar to your muscles and brain.
In all these ways, your stress response gets you ready to face whatever challenges lie in front of you.
“This part of the stress response can give you extraordinary physical abilities,” Kelly writes.
“There are countless news reports of so-called hysterical strength attributed to stress, including the story of two teenage girls in Lebanon, Oregon, who raised a three-thousand-pound tractor off their father, who was trapped underneath.”
“I don’t know how I lifted it, it was just so heavy,” one of the girls explained. “But we just did it.”
This experience is more common than you might think. You don’t know how you will find the strength or courage to act. But when it matters most, your body gives you the energy and will to do what is necessary.
Stress doesn’t just energize your body. Adrenaline also wakes up your brain. Your pupils dilate to let in more light, and your hearing sharpens.
“Mind-wandering stops, and less important priorities drop away. Stress can create a state of concentrated attention,” notes Kelly.
“You also get a motivation boost from a chemical cocktail of endorphins, adrenaline, testosterone, and dopamine. This side of the stress response is one reason some people enjoy stress– it provides a bit of a rush.
“Together, these chemicals increase your sense of confidence and power. They make you more willing to pursue your goals,” Kelly writes. “If you get a thrill out of watching a close game or rushing to meet a deadline, you know this side of stress.”
2: “However, as many scientists have pointed out, fistfights and quick escapes are not ideal coping strategies for the situations humans deal with every day,” Kelly observes.
How does a fight-or-flight response help us deal with the threat of being fired? What happens if you flee your relationships, kids, or job every time things get difficult? You can’t “punch a past-due mortgage payment,” and it isn’t wise to disappear every time there’s a conflict at home or at work.
If the body’s response to stress is always fight-or-flight, then the stress response begins to look like “evolutionary baggage,” Kelly notes. “This is the mismatch theory of the stress response—it worked out for our ancestors, but not for us.”
Let’s be clear, she says, “A stress response that supported only two survival strategies—throw a punch or run like hell—would truly be a mismatch for modern life.”
3: Fortunately, that’s not the whole story.
The human stress response turns out to be much more complex and adaptive.
“Fleeing and fighting are not the only strategies your body supports. As with humans themselves, the stress response has evolved, adapting over time to better fit the world you live in now.”
Your body’s answer? The challenge response.
“Like a fight-or-flight response, a challenge response gives you energy and helps you perform under pressure,” Kelly notes. Your heart rate still goes up, your adrenaline spikes, your muscles and brain get more fuel, and your feel-good chemicals surge.
How does the challenge response differ from a fight-or-flight response?
You feel focused, but not fearful. You release a different ratio of stress hormones, including higher levels of DHEA, which help you recover and learn from stress.
“People who report being in a flow state—a highly enjoyable state of being completely absorbed in what you are doing—display clear signs of a challenge response,” says Kelly.
“Artists, athletes, surgeons, video-gamers, and musicians all show this kind of stress response when they’re engaged in their craft or skill.
“Contrary to what many people expect,” she notes, “top performers in these fields aren’t physiologically calm under pressure; rather, they have strong challenge responses.
“The stress response gives them access to their mental and physical resources, and the result is increased confidence, enhanced concentration, and peak performance,” Kelly writes.
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: What challenge are you facing today that could become an opportunity if you viewed your stress as preparation rather than a threat?
Action: Notice your body’s stress response the next time you’re under pressure, then remind yourself that it may be preparing you to perform—not warning you to retreat.
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