Do you believe that stress is bad and should be avoided? If so, health psychologist Kelly McGonigal is out to change your mind. In this book, she presents scientific evidence that stress can improve your performance, physical and psychological health. In this free version of The Upside of Stress summary, you’ll learn the biology of stress, and how you can use various strategies and interventions to thrive under pressure.
Introduction: The Upside of Stress
Like many others, Kelly McGonigal used to think that stress is toxic. However, after researching stress in detail, she realized stress is harmful only when you believe it is. In this book, she shares a wide range of empirical research, interviews with scientists and researchers, experiments and interventions to support her conclusions and recommendations.
For example, 30,000 adults in the U.S. were asked if they thought stress hurt their health. 80 years later, those with high stress levels were 43% more likely have died—only if they had believed that stress was bad for them. Those who experienced high stress but didn’t see it as harmful actually had the lowest risks of death. In short, stress alone doesn’t kill people; the danger comes from the combination of stress and the belief that it’s harmful.
Based on her research, Kelly McGonigal combined psychology, neuroscience, and biology to create the “New Science of Stress” course being taught at Stanford. This book is based on the insights and strategies from the course, presented in 2 parts:
1. How to change the way you think about stress; and
2. On-the-spot strategies to apply when you’re stressed.
We’ll now outline some of the key insights from the book. Do get our complete version of The Upside of Stress summary for more details, application tips and examples.
Part 1: Rethinking Stress
The first step to transforming stress is to change how you think about it. The word “stress” is used by people to describe everything from a minor frustration to a major trauma. McGonigal defines stress as “what arises when something you care about is at stake.”
The Power of Mindsets
Mindsets are your core beliefs about how the world works, e.g. “the world is a dangerous place”, “money can’t buy you happiness”, or “people can change”. Your mindset affects how you think, feel and act, which influence your outcomes, to further reinforce your mindset. Mindset interventions are similar to placebos, except the effect is longer-lasting. Even a short, one-time mindset intervention can catalyze changes to produce a snowball effect with far-reaching consequences.
In our full The Upside of Stress summary, we’ll cover:
- More research studies that illustrate how our beliefs can affect our outcomes in the real world (from weight-loss to aging and social belonging);
- The roles of stress hormones dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol, and what’s the “growth index”;
- How your thoughts/beliefs about stress affect your physical and biological realities; and
- Some background to understand how stress got it’s bad name.
Stress as a Natural Resource
Stress has long been associated with the primal “fight-or-flight response”. However, it’s not our only response to stress. Humans respond to stress in complex ways, depending on (i) the nature of the stress, (ii) your past experiences, and (iii) your interpretation of the situation.
Instead of thinking of stress as a “bad” thing, it’s time to realize that stress-related hormones and responses are Nature’s way to help us cope with difficult situations.
When you’re stressed, the body responds in several ways:
- It unlocks energy and heightens your senses/focus to help you cope with the situation. In extreme cases, it triggers the Fight-or-Flight Response. In moderate cases, it triggers the Challenge Response (which is the state we’re in when we’re in “flow”);
- It triggers your desire for social connection (the Tend-and-Befriend Response) so you can get the support you need; and
- It helps your brain/body to recover, learn and grow.
In fact, stress goes hand-in-hand with a meaningful life. People who’re busier tend to be happier, and people with a sense of purpose tend to live longer. So, stress isn’t a sign that something’s wrong with your life; it’s a sign that you’re meaningfully engaged in things you care about.
Do get our complete book summary for (i) a breakdown of the biochemical changes, symptoms, roles and effects associated with each of the stress responses above, and (ii) research studies to show the relationship between stress and happiness/well-being.
Using Interventions to Change your Stress Mindset
Your stress mindset (whether you belief stress is harmful or helpful) tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you think of stress as a resource and actively confront your challenges, you develop new skills and resources to improve your results, competence and confidence in a virtuous cycle. When you deny or avoid the stressful challenges, the reverse happens.
In the book, McGonigal shares a wide range of research studies to show how stress mindset interventions work with amazing short-term and long-term effects. Do get the highlights in our full version of the The Upside of Stress summary, including specific interventions and exercises to help you (i) rethink your stress response, (ii) reflect on the link between stress, values and meaning in life, and (iii) start to reshape your mindset in profound ways. These exercises can be applied individually or in groups.
Part 2: Transforming Stress
Even if you successfully transform how you think about stress, you’ll still encounter stress in your daily life. This is where the strategies in this section come in–to help you transform real-life stress into a useful resource for performance enhancement.
During times of stress, pause to consider what you need most, e.g. to survive, perform, connect, or learn. Your body will respond based on your expectations. In our full 15-page summary, we’ll dive into specific strategies/approaches you can use to:
(i) Transform threats to challenges: The key is to manage your perception and reaction so you trigger the Challenge Response for performance enhancement (instead of the Flight-or-Flight response), and convert anxiety to excitement.
(ii) Build resilience through social connections. Learn the steps and interventions you can use to activate your Tend-and-Befriend response (instead of retreating to selfish or aggressive behaviors). This triggers brain activities that make you more social, brave and smart, to cope with stress and challenges.
(iii) Growing from adversity. No one wishes for trauma, yet pain and suffering is inevitable in life. Find out how you can make the most of a bad situation, and use trauma to activate your strengths, values, and helpful responses to bring good outcomes.
Getting More from The Upside of Stress
Stress can be harmful or helpful, depending on how you choose to see it. It’s the most harmful if you (i) feel inadequate to handle it, (ii) isolate yourself from others and (iii) feel helpless or burdened by it. However, when you embrace it as a natural human resource, it can be a source of confidence, courage, connection, and meaning. If you’d like to transform stress from a handicap to a resource, do check out get The Upside of Stress book summary bundle. This includes an infographic, 15-page text summary, and a 27-minute audio summary.
The book comes with a wide range of empirical research, studies and interventions to elaborate on the concepts outlined in our summary. You can purchase the book here, or visit Kelly McGonigal’s website for more details.
About the Author of The Upside of Stress
The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It is written by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.–a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. She’s best known for her work in the area of “science help”, which combines insights from psychology, neuroscience, medicine, and biology to provide strategies that support health and well-being. She’s the former editor in chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, as well as the author of several books on health and wellness.
The Upside of Stress Quotes
“Sometimes, we make the choice to be generous first, and the uplift comes later.”
“We cannot always control the stress in our lives, but we can choose our relationship to it.”
“The best way to manage stress isn’t to reduce or avoid it, but rather to rethink and even embrace it.”
“Small shifts in mindset can trigger a cascade of changes so profound that they test the limits of what seems possible.”
“Happy lives are not stress-free, nor does a stress-free life guarantee happiness.”
Click here to download The Upside of Stress summary & infographic
