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Stress: Developing the right mindset: By Amanda K. Williams, DO
February 16, 2015
"The
greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over
another." - William James. Stress is
inevitable, but emerging research is showing that how one thinks about stress
is what makes the difference. For years,
stress has been made the enemy because of its association with increasing the
risk of everything from the common cold to heart attacks. In all actuality, how you perceive stress
is just as imperative as the amount of stress you are experiencing. Research shows that individuals who both
reported a lot of stress along with the perception that stress affected their
health had a 43 percent increased risk of premature death (Keller et al.,
2012). When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body's response to stress. While chronic stress is not good for your health, some stress may even benefit your health. Studies show that people who adopt a "stress helps" mindset are more likely to seek out feedback and thus grow as a result of experiencing stress; they also display more adaptive cortisol profiles under acute stress (Crum, Salovey, & Achor, 2013). The
bottom line is that although we cannot change life’s circumstances, we can change
the way we think about it and, in turn, improve our health. We at Madison Health Primary Care would love
to help change the way you think about stress.
We are accepting new patients to help navigate the process to a
healthier you. "...life is 10% what happens to me and
90% of how I react to it." - Charles Swindoll. References Crum, A.J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S.
(2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress
response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 104(4), 716-733. Keller, A., et al. (2012). Does
the perception that stress affects health matter? The association with health
and mortality. Health Psychology 31(5), 677-684. |
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