A series on thriving in high-stress environments when being short on time

Stress has a terrible reputation. When we hear the term, most of us think of exhaustion or burnout.

As it turns out, these terms are consequences of only one form of stress – the one that scientists call chronic stress.

Chronic stress not only feels terrible, but it's also bad for us, both physically and mentally. Research shows that chronic stress leads to high blood pressure, ravages our immune system and increases the risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And it can indeed result in mental exhaustion and eventually burnout, which is a growing problem. 

According to a Gallup study among U.S. employees, a whopping 70% of millennials reported experiencing some level of burnout at work in 2018. And in 2019, it was included in the International Classification of Diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO). Chronic stress, in short, is the kind of stress that can break us. 

Conversely and somewhat surprisingly, acute stress is the kind of stress that can make us. In our body, it improves wound healing and immune function. In our brain, it speeds up cognitive processing and primes our system for faster, better, and sharper cognition. Acute stress, for example, leads to a doubling in focus performance, according to one study.

The WHO defines burnout as "a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed". That definition points to the key to dealing with stress: Not letting acute stress turn into chronic stress — by managing it well. That’s why frequently disrupting stress throughout the day is crucial. 

Being able to do that begins at night: Since it builds the foundation of our mental health and performance, sufficient deep sleep each night is vital to prevent stress from turning chronic. So if you haven't already, check out my essential tips for getting 90 minutes of deep sleep each night.

During the day, non-sleep deep rest techniques, such as the variant used by Google’s CEO, are great for disrupting stress. However, many entrepreneurs and other ambitious professionals operating in high-stress environments often don't have the 10+ minutes these techniques take.

Against this background, I'll start a series next week on thriving in high-stress environments when short on time. All techniques in this series are based on the latest science, are highly effective, and take less than a minute. 

In essence, they will enable you to deliver a double whammy to chronic stress. First, you'll learn to decrease stress in real-time. And second, you'll learn to increase what scientists call your "stress threshold". So stay tuned!

And until then, I have a favor to ask:

Please share this post with one person who might benefit from learning how to thrive in high-stress environments when being short on time.

Until next week,
Christian