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How to Turn Stress into an Advantage
Video

How to Turn Stress into an Advantage

99U, 2015

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Well Structured

Recommendation

Most people despise stress, which, according to conventional wisdom, damages your physical and mental well-being. Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal shatters this popular myth. She presents research proving that your outlook on stress determines whether it has a positive or negative influence on you. getAbstract challenges everyone who is suffering the downside of stress to watch McGonigal’s “mind-set intervention.” Her fascinating insights and superb delivery will entice you to reconsider your perception of stress and perhaps even to embrace it.

Summary

Conventional wisdom says stress is detrimental to health, yet many studies refute this claim. One analysis found a positive correlation between citizens’ stress levels and nations’ measures of well-being, such as GDP, life expectancy and happiness. Another study discovered the “stress paradox”; that is, the more stressed you feel on a given day, the more likely you are to be sad, anxious or angry, but also to experience happiness, love and laughter. In fact, stress is an indicator of purpose and engagement, as those who experience meaningful lives tend to worry more. Your perception of stress determines your reaction to it: If you see stress in a ...

About the Speaker

Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal is a lecturer at Stanford. She wrote The Upside of Stress.


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