Kelly McGonigal’s Ted talk on stress was extremely interesting and made me think about stress in a whole new way. McGonigal is a health psychologist that had be teaching about the negative impacts of stress for many years. Like her, I had always heard that longterm stress can be very harmful. I have always feared becoming permanently affected by the large amounts of prolonged stress I have experienced as a pre-med student. This fear of stress is precisely what McGonigal discussed. She explained that if we change the way we think about stress, we can change the way our body responds to stress. She based this theory on a study that tracked 30,000 adults for 9 years. The participants were asked how much stress they were experiencing and how harmful they believed this was. The results showed that there was a 43% increased chance of dying in only those who believed stress was harmful. The result of this study was astonishing to me. Can how we perceive stress really save our lives? This is a hefty claim and I think I would have to look into the study itself to make a decision on how valid the results really are or if they are due to chance. Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist so I would assume that she is a credible source and that she did look at the study in depth and its methods before making any claims from its results.
Some of these claims, however, do seem logical if we stop to think about it. From my own personal experience, I know that when I let stress and anxiety get to me, I eventually breakdown. However, if I take a moment to organize by thoughts and step back for a moment, I can deal with the stress by planning things out and taking them on set by step. Therefore, not letting stress get the best of me can really increase my performance. McGonigal also discussed the neurohormone oxytocin. She explained that it is released when we experience stress and it motivates us to seek support and comfort in others. This seems very true. When I am super stressed, I’ll usually talk, or more often vent, to my parents about everything that is going on. I would have never imagined that this behavior is actually promoted by a hormone. As McGonigal said, its like our body has a mechanism built within the stress mechanism that aims to protect us from any harmful effects.
I think the most important take-away from this is that the way we think about our situation determines how we will react to it. We can view each challenge in a more positive light by finding our innate qualities, including biological responses, that can be used as strengths. Having a more positive mindset in each situation can definitely help us have better control over it.
Estefany's PSY 101 Blog 
Hi again Estefany. After watching the TedTalk myself, I also agreed with the overall message, which was by viewing stress in a positive way, we have better control over it. I believe every individual has the ability to control their stress, which means if one becomes overwhelmed by stress, it is because they allowed themselves to. I found the social stress test done at Harvard to be the most interesting one she discussed because the results promoted the idea of this individual control over stress. I also completely agree with you about looking more into the first study due to the big claim it makes. I was surprised at how she made it seem as though this study alone was what motivated her to change the way she looked at stress. But like you said, with her being a health psychologist, it is likely she looked into the study, hopefully along with other supporting studies. You mentioned the prolonged stress associated with being a pre-med student. I think the main way pre-meds experience their stress is through pressure. Working towards the medical field requires high standards, and as a result, many pre-med students set their own internal standards with regards to grades, studying for the MCAT, and things like that. I guess you could say being a pre-med student serves as a chronic stressor. Overall, I think the important thing is how you handle the stress. Everyone has a unique personality, which means everyone differs at least a little in how they deal with stress. One important thing to remember is stress does affect the immune system (via the exhaustion stage of the general adaptation syndrome). So next time you feel stressed out, take some breaths, relax, and try not to let the little, unimportant stressors build up.
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Hi Estefany-
I chose to write about Kelly’s TED talk as well and found many of her points interesting. Much like you, I doubted the study that she presented because she failed to consider factors besides stress. Despite this, I do agree that your perspective on a situation can be very influential on its outcome. We discussed feeling “ducky” and mindful-based stress reduction in class this week and examined the role of the psyche in reducing stress. In a nutshell, these two theories propose that if you don’t let yourself be consumed by stress or you break a situation down into its fundamental parts, then you won’t be stressed out. The validity of these theories is still debatable. You also discussed the prolonged stress many pre-meds experience. I believe that many pre-meds, and college students in general, experience the HPA side of the stress response. This is the body’s prolonged response to a stressful situation, and can often lead to poor health e.g. decreased immune functioning. Overall, I would hypothesize that several factors go into reducing stress; changing your perspective can be powerful, but alone it cannot completely negate the negative effects of prolonged stress. Managing stress is an inconvenience that many have to face, but it does serve a purpose at the end of the day.
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