Redefining Stress

Introduction

Stress is something we all have to deal with. However, I feel that success requires that we embrace the stress instead of running from it. I hope by the end you will have a vastly different view of stress than you had before.

We need to change the definition of stress so we can talk about "good stress"

In the physical world stress does not have any negative connotations. It is just "physical force of pressure". Imagine a truck driving over a bridge. The stress is not bad it is just the force of the truck on the bridge.

Yet when talking about human stress we immediately assume it is negative. If someone says they are "stressed" we know that is a bad thing.

As we will see later, how we think about stress is very important so starting off with a definition that already assumes that stress is bad will make changing our thinking more difficult.

I define stress as: Physical, mental or emotional pressure or tension exerted on a human.

I realize it is very hard to change a definition of a word, but in this case I think it is a battle worth fighting. If we are going to change our relationship with stress we have to start with how we define it.

How we think about stress matters.

Does public speaking "stress" you out? How about doing a polar plunge? Swimming with sharks? Going on a first date?

Stop and think about it, how we attribute stress as bad or good is personal. Things that are stressful to one person may not be to another person. Some things that are stressful for one person may even be enjoyable for another. Which means, like it or not, that we are deciding what things are stressful.

In fact, how you think about stress is the only factor that causes stress to have a negative impact on your health. I have two strong evidences for this.

First is a talk by Kelly McGonigal. In this talk she walks through studies that show that people who see stress as a positive part of their growth have no adverse outcomes from the stress.

Don't believe me? Check it out!

Perhaps even more compelling evidence is the Hanoi Hilton. During the Vietnam war hundreds of American Soldiers were captured as POWs and put into a camp in Hanoi which they nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. Some were in as long as 7 years. They endured torture, starvation, brain wash attempts and isolation. Yet when they were released they had 15% less PTSD than the average and many went on to become great leaders. They not only survived being POWs but attribute that event to their success.

It was so surprising to the military that it became a case study for how to endure stress. As you may have guessed, it was how they thought about the stress that mattered.

Check out the book on Amazon.

The stress isn't the issue. Its how you think about it that is. This is easier said than done though. Especially if you have had really traumatic stressful events happen to you.

The most important part of stress is the recovery.

As we have discussed stress isn't bad for you but how do you make it good for you? Recovery is the key.

Let's start with a definition. I define recovery as:

A return to a slightly more than normal state of health, mind, or strength.

The key here is "slightly more". This is a difference between biological systems and physical systems. A bridge does not improve when you drive a truck over it. But if you stress your body you can recover to an improved state.

We intuitively know this. Its why people know they should go to the gym. But there is actually a word for this process. It is called hormesis.

Hormesis is commonly defined as a beneficial or stimulatory effect caused by exposure to low doses of an agent known to be toxic at higher doses.

Hormesis is the technical term, but I call it the stress/recovery cycle. It is the foundation for all human growth, whether physical, mental or emotional. And if you know about the stress/recovery cycle you can optimize it to get the best results.

Each stressor has its own recovery mechanism but here are some examples

Strength Training -> Sleep, Protein

Mental Stress -> Sleep, Meditation

Sauna -> Cool down, Hydration

Emotional Stress -> Purpose, Time, Relationships

Don’t get so focused on the stress that you forget to recover. That will lead to the stress turning into bad stress instead of leveraging hormesis to turn it into good stress.

We need to add good stress into our lives and focus on better recovery for the stress we already have

Let's face it most modern people have too little physical stress and too little mental and emotional recovery. This is a recipe for disaster. Physical health and mental health are connected. So since stress and recovery are both responsible for growth we see people who think they are growing but lack key elements in all areas of growth.

Adding physical stress isnt just about "working out" there are quite a few areas of physical stress that we have become aware of. For example we move from our 70 deg house to our 70 deg car to our 70 deg office and then back again. It is rare that our body hits the extremes of hot or cold unless you work outside. Yet research shows that there are a lot of benefits to the body when placed under this kind of stress. Adding a variety of stressors keeps your body adapting in different ways than just lifting weights.

Likewise if the amount of stress at your job is causing issues for you it may not be that you need to reduce the stress, you may need to increase your recovery. Having a mission and meditation are two good ways to increase your recovery. If you know the stress fits into your goal or if you have a mission in life that is bigger than the stress it allows you to contextualize it and see it as part of a larger process.

Meditation is to the mental state what sleep and diet is to the physical state (Sleep also helps with mental recovery!). Often times we build up all of these things to process but never process them. Naval Ravakant has a good explanation of meditation that is approachable. Don’t over think it.

Once you have rethought stress the answer isn't just "remove stress". You have a lot more ways to harness stress and use it as the ultimate leverage for improvement.