How to make the stress response work for you (Stress-Can-Be-Enhancing Mindset)

All of us are familiar with the stress response: deeper breathing, racing heart, and sometimes even acute feelings of anxiety. Here’s the surprising bit: Whether this response harms us or helps us depends on how we think about it.

What to do

Whenever you’re feeling stressed, remember that the stress response is helpful — and not harmful — for your performance and well-being.

Why it works

There are two mindsets regarding the (physiological) stress response. If you believe the stress response harms your performance and well-being, that’s called a stress-is-debilitating mindset. Conversely, if you believe stress can help with these outcomes, that’s a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset.

As groundbreaking research by Prof. Alia Crum (pictured above) and her colleagues shows, our stress mindset changes the physiology of our stress response. When stressed, people with a stress-is-debilitating mindset experience a strong and prolonged increase in levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol. Conversely, people with a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset experience a moderate cortisol increase — and a quicker return to baseline cortisol levels.

Instead of thinking of cortisol as a stress hormone, it’s better to consider it a waking-up hormone. We all get a significant surge in cortisol at least once over our 24-hour cycle, and getting light right helps us time that surge in the morning. As part of the stress response, cortisol also helps us when we need a boost in alertness later in the day. This acute stress is the “good” stress that improves our performance and well-being. Yet, if cortisol levels are elevated continuously throughout the day and into the evening, acute stress turns into chronic stress, which is the “bad” sort.

How to do it

The easiest way to adopt a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset is by writing a letter to yourself. To facilitate remembering and learning, pretend you’re writing the letter to someone else. Then, in your own words, describe the stress-can-be-enhancing mindset and how it can improve your performance and well-being. Specifically, include the following details.

When we face a challenge, we inevitably experience the stress response. This response indicates that your system is getting ready to overcome that challenge. Amongst other things, it provides your brain and body with more oxygenated blood and raises your levels of alertness. According to one study, this doubles (!) focus and cognitive performance. 

As a result, the stress response isn’t a problem, but energizes your ability to solve important problems. It is helpful for reaching your goals, not harmful. This even applies to feelings of anxiety, which signal that you’ve chosen meaningful and ambitious goals. By adopting the stress-can-be-enhancing mindset, you can change the physiology of your stress response — so that you experience more moderate increases in cortisol and quicker returns to baseline cortisol levels.

If you have a stress-is-debilitating mindset, I urge you to adopt a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset by writing this letter to yourself today. While it takes just a few minutes, it will change how you relate to the stress response forever.

And if you can think of one person who could benefit from adopting a stress-can-be-enhancing mindset, please share this post with them.

Until next week,
Christian

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