MinuteRead
5 min
Loading…
The Upside Of Stress helps you change your mindset from one that avoids anxiety at all costs to a belief that embraces stress as a normal part of life, which helps you respond to it in better ways and actually be healthier.
The Upside Of Stress helps you change your mindset from one that avoids anxiety at all costs to a belief that embraces stress as a normal part of life, which helps you respond to it in better ways and actually be healthier.
The very first study quoted in the summary found that high levels of stress increased people’s chances of suffering a pre-mature death by 43%.
Ugh.
How is she going to argue herself out of that one?
By looking closer. The above statement only holds true for those “who perceived that stress affects their health” and have high levels of stress.
The participants whose attitude was that stress had no negative effect on their health, but still had high levels of stress, were the least likely to die early.
How can that be? The answer lies in your brain.
Just like you can have a growth mindset, or a fixed one, believing that stress is a natural and helpful part of life is much more powerful than your personal preferences or any facts you learn about.
This will lead you to come up with good ways to deal with stress, ask for help when you need it and see stressing events as challenges, instead of trying to avoid it at all costs.
Even better news: You can learn to adopt this mindset!
Here’s the stress paradox in a nutshell: Stress is always part of a happy life, which means a totally stress-free life cannot be a happy one.
The Gallup poll finds around 40% of Americans struggle with stress daily. Other countries in Africa have much lower daily stress levels, the summary quotes Mauritania at 5%.
However, people in the US have a much greater average income, longer life-expectancy and higher standards of living, while African countries often suffer from crime, violence, hunger, corruption and civil wars.
A study done by Roy Baumeister (a pioneer of willpower research) in 2013, shows that we often believe the most stressful events in our lives to also be the most meaningful.
The most successful people are often crazy busy and very hard to reach, because they love their career and give it their all – a big part of the meaningfulness of their work is derived from the fact that it’s stressful.
Similarly, having a baby is often quoted as the best thing that ever happened, but no one would say it’s a cakewalk.
Just by remembering that happiness and stress go together like yin and yang you can already improve your attitude towards both of them.
Continue reading in the MinuteRead app
Get the complete 5-minute summary of The Upside Of Stress
Get the complete summary in the appStress is only harmful to your health if you believe it is.
The stress paradox says that happiness and stress belong together.
You can channel your stress into energy that boosts your performance.
"The Upside Of Stress" is a strong fit if you want practical ideas around career, culture, happiness—especially themes like stress is only harmful to your health if you believe it is; the stress paradox says that happiness and stress belong together. The MinuteRead summary distills these concepts into a focused read, whether you're deciding whether to buy the book or applying its lessons at work.
Kelly McGonigal, PhD, is a research psychologist, lecturer at Stanford University, and an award-winning science writer. Her scientific research focuses on the mind-body connection, and how to cultivate resilience and compassion. She is the author of the international bestseller The Willpower Instinct, The Joy of Movement, The Upside of Stress, and Yoga for Pain Relief. Her work is published in thirty-one languages. Since 2000, she has taught dance, yoga, and group exercise in the San Francisco B…
View all summaries by Kelly McGonigal PhDContinue Reading
Access the complete 5-minute summary and thousands more nonfiction books in the MinuteRead app.
Continue reading the complete summary in the MinuteRead app.
