Ted Talk Stress
Sequoia Booth
ENG 100
Professor Legler
Short Paper #3
One of the videos we viewed in class was a Ted Talk by health psychologist Kelly
McGonigal. She talked about stress, particularly making the case that stress is not as detrimental as we have been taught to think it is. In fact, McGonigal claims that stress can actually be a friend to you and your health. Mcgonigal asks her audience to indicate the level stress they’ve felt over the past year. To not surprise the vast majority of the audience says they have suffered a good deal of stress.
“My fear is that something I’ve been teaching for the past ten years has been doing more harm than good...I’ve turned stress into the enemy. But I’ve changed my mind about stress, and today I want to change yours.” Mcgonigal talks about a study done in 2012 that made her rethink the approach towards stress. And it turns out that thinking that stress is bad for you is really the thing that is bad for you, not the stress itself. She asks what might happen if we change the way we think about stress. What if we thought about it as helpful? It turns out, treating common stress responses as a positive could be good for the heart. McGonigal also brings up oxytocin, a hormone that she describes as the “cuddle hormone.” This hormone is good, and has positive actions within your brain. Well, oxytocin is actually a stress hormone.
McGonigal talked about another study which found that spending time socializing and caring for others can also create stress related resilience. The study concluded that how you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the “biology of courage.” And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience. So changing the way that you react to stress can biologically change the way your body will react. McGonigal concludes the talk by stating, “When you choose to view
ENG 100
Professor Legler
Short Paper #3
One of the videos we viewed in class was a Ted Talk by health psychologist Kelly
McGonigal. She talked about stress, particularly making the case that stress is not as detrimental as we have been taught to think it is. In fact, McGonigal claims that stress can actually be a friend to you and your health. Mcgonigal asks her audience to indicate the level stress they’ve felt over the past year. To not surprise the vast majority of the audience says they have suffered a good deal of stress.
“My fear is that something I’ve been teaching for the past ten years has been doing more harm than good...I’ve turned stress into the enemy. But I’ve changed my mind about stress, and today I want to change yours.” Mcgonigal talks about a study done in 2012 that made her rethink the approach towards stress. And it turns out that thinking that stress is bad for you is really the thing that is bad for you, not the stress itself. She asks what might happen if we change the way we think about stress. What if we thought about it as helpful? It turns out, treating common stress responses as a positive could be good for the heart. McGonigal also brings up oxytocin, a hormone that she describes as the “cuddle hormone.” This hormone is good, and has positive actions within your brain. Well, oxytocin is actually a stress hormone.
McGonigal talked about another study which found that spending time socializing and caring for others can also create stress related resilience. The study concluded that how you think and how you act can transform your experience of stress. When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the “biology of courage.” And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience. So changing the way that you react to stress can biologically change the way your body will react. McGonigal concludes the talk by stating, “When you choose to view