0:00:00.435,0:00:04.613
I have a confession to make,

0:00:04.613,0:00:07.876
but first, I want you

0:00:07.876,0:00:11.469
to make a little confession to me.

0:00:11.469,0:00:14.557
In the past year, I want you to just raise your hand

0:00:14.557,0:00:17.971
if you've experienced relatively little stress.

0:00:17.971,0:00:20.604
Anyone?

0:00:20.604,0:00:23.133
How about a moderate amount of stress?

0:00:23.133,0:00:26.441
Who has experienced a lot of stress?

0:00:26.441,0:00:28.849
Yeah. Me too.

0:00:28.849,0:00:31.113
But that is not my confession.

0:00:31.113,0:00:34.803
My confession is this: I am a health psychologist,

0:00:34.803,0:00:39.392
and my mission is to help people be happier and healthier.

0:00:39.392,0:00:42.926
But I fear that something I've been teaching

0:00:42.926,0:00:47.254
for the last 10 years is doing more harm than good,

0:00:47.254,0:00:49.678
and it has to do with stress.

0:00:49.678,0:00:52.853
For years I've been telling people, stress makes you sick.

0:00:52.853,0:00:55.748
It increases the risk of everything from the common cold

0:00:55.748,0:00:57.890
to cardiovascular disease.

0:00:57.890,0:01:02.383
Basically, I've turned stress into the enemy.

0:01:02.383,0:01:05.095
But I have changed my mind about stress,

0:01:05.095,0:01:09.010
and today, I want to change yours.

0:01:09.010,0:01:11.390
Let me start with the study that made me rethink

0:01:11.390,0:01:13.825
my whole approach to stress.

0:01:13.825,0:01:17.244
This study tracked 30,000 adults in the United States

0:01:17.244,0:01:21.190
for eight years, and they started by asking people,

0:01:21.190,0:01:24.728
"How much stress have you experienced in the last year?"

0:01:24.728,0:01:28.012
They also asked, "Do you believe

0:01:28.012,0:01:32.165
that stress is harmful for your health?"

0:01:32.165,0:01:34.043
And then they used public death records

0:01:34.043,0:01:36.124
to find out who died.

0:01:36.124,0:01:37.101
(Laughter)

0:01:37.101,0:01:41.350
Okay. Some bad news first.

0:01:41.350,0:01:44.636
People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year

0:01:44.636,0:01:48.405
had a 43 percent increased risk of dying.

0:01:48.405,0:01:52.395
But that was only true for the people

0:01:52.395,0:01:56.931
who also believed that stress is harmful for your health.

0:01:56.931,0:01:58.537
(Laughter)

0:01:58.537,0:02:01.140
People who experienced a lot of stress

0:02:01.140,0:02:03.103
but did not view stress as harmful

0:02:03.103,0:02:04.805
were no more likely to die.

0:02:04.805,0:02:08.459
In fact, they had the lowest risk of dying

0:02:08.459,0:02:10.486
of anyone in the study, including people

0:02:10.486,0:02:12.896
who had relatively little stress.

0:02:12.896,0:02:15.182
Now the researchers estimated that over the eight years

0:02:15.182,0:02:16.776
they were tracking deaths,

0:02:16.776,0:02:20.334
182,000 Americans died prematurely,

0:02:20.334,0:02:22.879
not from stress, but from the belief

0:02:22.879,0:02:26.257
that stress is bad for you. (Laughter)

0:02:26.257,0:02:29.709
That is over 20,000 deaths a year.

0:02:29.709,0:02:32.759
Now, if that estimate is correct,

0:02:32.759,0:02:34.851
that would make believing stress is bad for you

0:02:34.851,0:02:37.297
the 15th largest cause of death

0:02:37.297,0:02:39.215
in the United States last year,

0:02:39.215,0:02:40.979
killing more people than skin cancer,

0:02:40.979,0:02:44.428
HIV/AIDS and homicide.

0:02:44.428,0:02:47.311
(Laughter)

0:02:47.311,0:02:50.136
You can see why this study freaked me out.

0:02:50.136,0:02:53.827
Here I've been spending so much energy telling people

0:02:53.827,0:02:56.797
stress is bad for your health.

0:02:56.797,0:02:58.786
So this study got me wondering:

0:02:58.786,0:03:01.287
Can changing how you think about stress

0:03:01.287,0:03:04.726
make you healthier? And here the science says yes.

0:03:04.726,0:03:06.808
When you change your mind about stress,

0:03:06.808,0:03:10.327
you can change your body's response to stress.

0:03:10.327,0:03:12.441
Now to explain how this works,

0:03:12.441,0:03:15.322
I want you all to pretend that you are participants

0:03:15.322,0:03:17.929
in a study designed to stress you out.

0:03:17.929,0:03:20.613
It's called the social stress test.

0:03:20.613,0:03:22.667
You come into the laboratory,

0:03:22.667,0:03:25.574
and you're told you have to give a five-minute

0:03:25.574,0:03:29.301
impromptu speech on your personal weaknesses

0:03:29.301,0:03:32.958
to a panel of expert evaluators sitting right in front of you,

0:03:32.958,0:03:34.519
and to make sure you feel the pressure,

0:03:34.519,0:03:37.811
there are bright lights and a camera in your face,

0:03:37.811,0:03:40.620
kind of like this.

0:03:40.620,0:03:43.380
And the evaluators have been trained

0:03:43.380,0:03:48.246
to give you discouraging, non-verbal feedback like this.

0:03:53.076,0:03:56.534
(Laughter)

0:03:56.534,0:03:59.356
Now that you're sufficiently demoralized,

0:03:59.356,0:04:02.156
time for part two: a math test.

0:04:02.156,0:04:04.257
And unbeknownst to you,

0:04:04.257,0:04:08.153
the experimenter has been trained to harass you during it.

0:04:08.153,0:04:10.826
Now we're going to all do this together.

0:04:10.826,0:04:12.220
It's going to be fun.

0:04:12.220,0:04:13.289
For me.

0:04:13.289,0:04:18.291
Okay. I want you all to count backwards

0:04:18.291,0:04:21.138
from 996 in increments of seven.

0:04:21.138,0:04:22.666
You're going to do this out loud

0:04:22.666,0:04:26.627
as fast as you can, starting with 996.

0:04:26.627,0:04:27.769
Go!

0:04:27.769,0:04:29.110
Audience: (Counting)

0:04:29.110,0:04:31.699
Go faster. Faster please.

0:04:31.699,0:04:33.968
You're going too slow.

0:04:33.968,0:04:36.114
Stop. Stop, stop, stop.

0:04:36.114,0:04:37.703
That guy made a mistake.

0:04:37.703,0:04:40.475
We are going to have to start all over again. (Laughter)

0:04:40.475,0:04:42.753
You're not very good at this, are you?

0:04:42.753,0:04:44.556
Okay, so you get the idea.

0:04:44.556,0:04:46.299
Now, if you were actually in this study,

0:04:46.299,0:04:48.244
you'd probably be a little stressed out.

0:04:48.244,0:04:49.825
Your heart might be pounding,

0:04:49.825,0:04:53.229
you might be breathing faster, maybe breaking out into a sweat.

0:04:53.229,0:04:56.209
And normally, we interpret these physical changes

0:04:56.209,0:04:57.825
as anxiety

0:04:57.825,0:05:00.841
or signs that we aren't coping very well with the pressure.

0:05:00.841,0:05:02.910
But what if you viewed them instead

0:05:02.910,0:05:05.362
as signs that your body was energized,

0:05:05.362,0:05:08.804
was preparing you to meet this challenge?

0:05:08.804,0:05:11.650
Now that is exactly what participants were told

0:05:11.650,0:05:14.311
in a study conducted at Harvard University.

0:05:14.311,0:05:17.417
Before they went through the social stress test,

0:05:17.417,0:05:20.378
they were taught to rethink their stress response as helpful.

0:05:20.378,0:05:24.167
That pounding heart is preparing you for action.

0:05:24.167,0:05:26.761
If you're breathing faster, it's no problem.

0:05:26.761,0:05:29.846
It's getting more oxygen to your brain.

0:05:29.846,0:05:32.543
And participants who learned to view the stress response

0:05:32.543,0:05:34.780
as helpful for their performance,

0:05:34.780,0:05:36.119
well, they were less stressed out,

0:05:36.119,0:05:38.287
less anxious, more confident,

0:05:38.287,0:05:40.380
but the most fascinating finding to me

0:05:40.380,0:05:43.763
was how their physical stress response changed.

0:05:43.763,0:05:45.655
Now, in a typical stress response,

0:05:45.655,0:05:47.623
your heart rate goes up,

0:05:47.623,0:05:51.944
and your blood vessels constrict like this.

0:05:51.960,0:05:54.950
And this is one of the reasons that chronic stress

0:05:54.950,0:05:57.809
is sometimes associated with cardiovascular disease.

0:05:57.809,0:06:01.415
It's not really healthy to be in this state all the time.

0:06:01.415,0:06:03.432
But in the study, when participants viewed

0:06:03.432,0:06:05.559
their stress response as helpful,

0:06:05.559,0:06:09.065
their blood vessels stayed relaxed like this.

0:06:09.065,0:06:10.372
Their heart was still pounding,

0:06:10.372,0:06:13.728
but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profile.

0:06:13.728,0:06:16.383
It actually looks a lot like what happens

0:06:16.383,0:06:21.092
in moments of joy and courage.

0:06:21.092,0:06:23.935
Over a lifetime of stressful experiences,

0:06:23.935,0:06:27.125
this one biological change

0:06:27.125,0:06:28.429
could be the difference

0:06:28.429,0:06:31.433
between a stress-induced heart attack at age 50

0:06:31.433,0:06:34.297
and living well into your 90s.

0:06:34.297,0:06:37.441
And this is really what the new science of stress reveals,

0:06:37.441,0:06:40.980
that how you think about stress matters.

0:06:40.980,0:06:44.110
So my goal as a health psychologist has changed.

0:06:44.110,0:06:46.272
I no longer want to get rid of your stress.

0:06:46.272,0:06:49.230
I want to make you better at stress.

0:06:49.230,0:06:51.935
And we just did a little intervention.

0:06:51.935,0:06:53.293
If you raised your hand and said

0:06:53.293,0:06:55.552
you'd had a lot of stress in the last year,

0:06:55.552,0:06:57.395
we could have saved your life,

0:06:57.395,0:06:58.926
because hopefully the next time

0:06:58.926,0:07:00.946
your heart is pounding from stress,

0:07:00.946,0:07:02.793
you're going to remember this talk

0:07:02.793,0:07:04.955
and you're going to think to yourself,

0:07:04.955,0:07:10.129
this is my body helping me rise to this challenge.

0:07:10.129,0:07:12.553
And when you view stress in that way,

0:07:12.553,0:07:14.525
your body believes you,

0:07:14.525,0:07:18.204
and your stress response becomes healthier.

0:07:18.204,0:07:22.380
Now I said I have over a decade of demonizing stress

0:07:22.380,0:07:24.354
to redeem myself from,

0:07:24.354,0:07:26.964
so we are going to do one more intervention.

0:07:26.964,0:07:28.946
I want to tell you about one of the most

0:07:28.946,0:07:31.987
under-appreciated aspects of the stress response,

0:07:31.987,0:07:34.001
and the idea is this:

0:07:34.001,0:07:37.266
Stress makes you social.

0:07:37.266,0:07:38.855
To understand this side of stress,

0:07:38.855,0:07:41.917
we need to talk about a hormone, oxytocin,

0:07:41.917,0:07:44.918
and I know oxytocin has already gotten

0:07:44.918,0:07:46.865
as much hype as a hormone can get.

0:07:46.865,0:07:50.204
It even has its own cute nickname, the cuddle hormone,

0:07:50.204,0:07:52.890
because it's released when you hug someone.

0:07:52.890,0:07:57.383
But this is a very small part of what oxytocin is involved in.

0:07:57.383,0:07:59.870
Oxytocin is a neuro-hormone.

0:07:59.870,0:08:03.444
It fine-tunes your brain's social instincts.

0:08:03.444,0:08:05.975
It primes you to do things

0:08:05.975,0:08:09.486
that strengthen close relationships.

0:08:09.486,0:08:12.342
Oxytocin makes you crave physical contact

0:08:12.342,0:08:14.334
with your friends and family.

0:08:14.334,0:08:15.920
It enhances your empathy.

0:08:15.920,0:08:18.628
It even makes you more willing to help and support

0:08:18.628,0:08:21.596
the people you care about.

0:08:21.596,0:08:23.291
Some people have even suggested

0:08:23.291,0:08:26.886
we should snort oxytocin

0:08:26.886,0:08:31.340
to become more compassionate and caring.

0:08:31.340,0:08:33.756
But here's what most people don't understand

0:08:33.756,0:08:36.164
about oxytocin.

0:08:36.164,0:08:39.130
It's a stress hormone.

0:08:39.130,0:08:42.248
Your pituitary gland pumps this stuff out

0:08:42.248,0:08:43.796
as part of the stress response.

0:08:43.796,0:08:46.047
It's as much a part of your stress response

0:08:46.047,0:08:50.155
as the adrenaline that makes your heart pound.

0:08:50.155,0:08:52.969
And when oxytocin is released in the stress response,

0:08:52.969,0:08:56.330
it is motivating you to seek support.

0:08:56.330,0:08:58.383
Your biological stress response

0:08:58.383,0:09:01.813
is nudging you to tell someone how you feel

0:09:01.813,0:09:04.306
instead of bottling it up.

0:09:04.306,0:09:07.410
Your stress response wants to make sure you notice

0:09:07.410,0:09:09.729
when someone else in your life is struggling

0:09:09.729,0:09:12.228
so that you can support each other.

0:09:12.228,0:09:16.019
When life is difficult, your stress response wants you

0:09:16.019,0:09:21.158
to be surrounded by people who care about you.

0:09:21.158,0:09:23.687
Okay, so how is knowing this side of stress

0:09:23.687,0:09:25.503
going to make you healthier?

0:09:25.503,0:09:28.271
Well, oxytocin doesn't only act on your brain.

0:09:28.271,0:09:30.772
It also acts on your body,

0:09:30.772,0:09:32.861
and one of its main roles in your body

0:09:32.861,0:09:35.581
is to protect your cardiovascular system

0:09:35.581,0:09:37.956
from the effects of stress.

0:09:37.956,0:09:40.524
It's a natural anti-inflammatory.

0:09:40.524,0:09:43.969
It also helps your blood vessels stay relaxed during stress.

0:09:43.969,0:09:47.366
But my favorite effect on the body is actually on the heart.

0:09:47.366,0:09:51.032
Your heart has receptors for this hormone,

0:09:51.032,0:09:54.806
and oxytocin helps heart cells regenerate

0:09:54.806,0:09:58.579
and heal from any stress-induced damage.

0:09:58.579,0:10:03.160
This stress hormone strengthens your heart,

0:10:03.160,0:10:06.857
and the cool thing is that all of these physical benefits

0:10:06.857,0:10:10.374
of oxytocin are enhanced by social contact

0:10:10.374,0:10:11.907
and social support,

0:10:11.907,0:10:14.826
so when you reach out to others under stress,

0:10:14.826,0:10:18.099
either to seek support or to help someone else,

0:10:18.099,0:10:20.107
you release more of this hormone,

0:10:20.107,0:10:22.369
your stress response becomes healthier,

0:10:22.369,0:10:25.467
and you actually recover faster from stress.

0:10:25.467,0:10:27.801
I find this amazing,

0:10:27.801,0:10:31.729
that your stress response has a built-in mechanism

0:10:31.729,0:10:34.446
for stress resilience,

0:10:34.446,0:10:38.808
and that mechanism is human connection.

0:10:38.808,0:10:42.490
I want to finish by telling you about one more study.

0:10:42.490,0:10:46.474
And listen up, because this study could also save a life.

0:10:46.474,0:10:49.930
This study tracked about 1,000 adults in the United States,

0:10:49.930,0:10:54.093
and they ranged in age from 34 to 93,

0:10:54.093,0:10:56.362
and they started the study by asking,

0:10:56.362,0:11:00.586
"How much stress have you experienced in the last year?"

0:11:00.586,0:11:04.162
They also asked, "How much time have you spent

0:11:04.162,0:11:07.379
helping out friends, neighbors,

0:11:07.379,0:11:10.133
people in your community?"

0:11:10.133,0:11:12.908
And then they used public records for the next five years

0:11:12.908,0:11:15.531
to find out who died.

0:11:15.531,0:11:18.212
Okay, so the bad news first:

0:11:18.212,0:11:21.171
For every major stressful life experience,

0:11:21.171,0:11:24.220
like financial difficulties or family crisis,

0:11:24.220,0:11:28.158
that increased the risk of dying by 30 percent.

0:11:28.158,0:11:32.445
But -- and I hope you are expecting a but by now --

0:11:32.445,0:11:34.876
but that wasn't true for everyone.

0:11:34.876,0:11:38.538
People who spent time caring for others

0:11:38.538,0:11:44.646
showed absolutely no stress-related increase in dying. Zero.

0:11:44.646,0:11:48.190
Caring created resilience.

0:11:48.190,0:11:49.716
And so we see once again

0:11:49.716,0:11:52.354
that the harmful effects of stress on your health

0:11:52.354,0:11:54.316
are not inevitable.

0:11:54.316,0:11:57.038
How you think and how you act

0:11:57.038,0:12:00.835
can transform your experience of stress.

0:12:00.835,0:12:03.359
When you choose to view your stress response

0:12:03.359,0:12:05.656
as helpful,

0:12:05.656,0:12:10.667
you create the biology of courage.

0:12:10.667,0:12:13.988
And when you choose to connect with others under stress,

0:12:13.988,0:12:17.381
you can create resilience.

0:12:17.381,0:12:20.056
Now I wouldn't necessarily ask

0:12:20.056,0:12:23.160
for more stressful experiences in my life,

0:12:23.160,0:12:25.465
but this science has given me

0:12:25.465,0:12:29.237
a whole new appreciation for stress.

0:12:29.237,0:12:33.671
Stress gives us access to our hearts.

0:12:33.671,0:12:37.580
The compassionate heart that finds joy and meaning

0:12:37.580,0:12:39.118
in connecting with others,

0:12:39.118,0:12:42.680
and yes, your pounding physical heart,

0:12:42.680,0:12:47.945
working so hard to give you strength and energy,

0:12:47.945,0:12:51.288
and when you choose to view stress in this way,

0:12:51.288,0:12:53.800
you're not just getting better at stress,

0:12:53.800,0:12:57.627
you're actually making a pretty profound statement.

0:12:57.627,0:13:00.680
You're saying that you can trust yourself

0:13:00.680,0:13:03.715
to handle life's challenges,

0:13:03.715,0:13:06.640
and you're remembering that

0:13:06.640,0:13:09.351
you don't have to face them alone.

0:13:09.351,0:13:10.733
Thank you.

0:13:10.733,0:13:20.014
(Applause)

0:13:20.014,0:13:22.912
Chris Anderson: This is kind of amazing, what you're telling us.

0:13:22.912,0:13:27.017
It seems amazing to me that a belief about stress

0:13:27.017,0:13:31.500
can make so much difference to someone's life expectancy.

0:13:31.500,0:13:33.726
How would that extend to advice,

0:13:33.726,0:13:35.811
like, if someone is making a lifestyle choice

0:13:35.811,0:13:39.772
between, say, a stressful job and a non-stressful job,

0:13:39.772,0:13:42.453
does it matter which way they go?

0:13:42.453,0:13:45.526
It's equally wise to go for the stressful job

0:13:45.526,0:13:48.027
so long as you believe that you can handle it, in some sense?

0:13:48.027,0:13:49.881
Kelly McGonigal: Yeah, and one thing we know for certain

0:13:49.881,0:13:52.611
is that chasing meaning is better for your health

0:13:52.611,0:13:54.215
than trying to avoid discomfort.

0:13:54.215,0:13:57.200
And so I would say that's really the best way to make decisions,

0:13:57.200,0:13:59.947
is go after what it is that creates meaning in your life

0:13:59.947,0:14:03.225
and then trust yourself to handle the stress that follows.

0:14:03.225,0:14:05.767
CA: Thank you so much, Kelly. It's pretty cool.[br]KM: Thank you.

0:14:05.767,0:14:09.767
(Applause)