Editor’s Note: A podcast chasing life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the medicine behind the mysteries of life, big and small. You can listen to the episode here.
(CNN) – “Stress is bad for your health” is one of the messages we consistently hear.
And that’s true. Stress is harmful and can lead to many illnesses, especially when it is chronically unrelenting.
However, it turns out that certain types of stress can lead to opportunities for growth, according to one doctor and the author of the new book. “The stress paradox: Why stress is needed to live longer, healthier and happier” The right amount of it may actually be important to our well-being.
“Yes, too much stress hurts us, but in reality it’s not enough,” Dr. Sharon Belgist recently told CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his life chasing his podcast.
Belkuquist, assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta; Founder and Director of Emory Lifestyle Medicine and Wellness, I know one or two things about stress. As a child, she lived through the Iranian revolution, and ultimately her family was forced to flee.
“We were the last plane (Iranian leader Ruhora) Khomeini left before he came,” she recalled. “The airport was incredibly packed, and I remember the whole process of trying to get through security, the masses of the people there and how we got to the runway.
Her family fled to England, and eventually they settled in the United States. But neither the West nor the life was stress-free. “In the eighth grade, I couldn’t write paragraphs in English without a lot of struggle. It’s going to take me all night,” she said. However, she managed to prosper, graduating as a high school defense attorney and attending Yale University and Harvard Medical School as an undergraduate.
Bergquist’s childhood experience planted seeds for her interest in stress. “In the end, it sparked this obsession for me. Why are some people growing and thriving from these experiences? She said she was really interested in the question of whether all the stress is harmful or not.
A study by Bergquist shows that it depends on the type and amount of stress a person is exposed to.
“I work with a lot of experts (who), and I’m very motivated, but I’m also very passionate about what they do,” she said. She counts herself among them.
“I call it that good stress. I think it has a very different effect on our bodies than what people call ‘stress’,” she said. “I think now, at a comfortable level, I can say that (good) type of stress releases a biochemical profile that actually promotes health. For example, it releases dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin.”
Dopamine comes from the reward for doing something meaningful, she explained. Serotonin comes from the joy that comes from achievement, and oxytocin contributes to greater benefits.
She said “bad” stress is unpredictable, inevitable, not short or intermittent, but rather chronic. Our biochemical response to that type of stress is to release cortisol, which ultimately leads to harmful downstream effects on the body, such as hypertension.
The triple ecta of chemicals released when we cause good stress “reduces our cortisol levels. It literally builds resilience to stress,” she said.
Resilience is like a muscle. It is dynamic and needs to be challenged to be strong.
“What really matters is that our stress response is there to help us. They are there to help us adapt to our world,” she said.
“But what helps us activate these stress responses has been removed from the fabric of our lives,” she said. No more face environmental stressors like food shortages or extreme heat and cold exposure.
“The introduction of many of these comforts has removed the connection to the natural environment we live in,” she said. As a result, “We are essentially handicapped ourselves because we don’t allow our bodies to do what we can.”
What can you do to introduce good stress into your life? Bergquist has five tips.
“Try to get out of your comfort zone without being overwhelmed,” Belgiant said in an email.
“Good stress is a drug, and like with any drug, the dose determines the response,” she explained. “Growth from stress occurs when the stress is in formetic or Goldilock, zone.
In other words, push yourself to get on the water and swim. But don’t let yourself own.
“Are you challenging yourself in a way that matches your beliefs or are you at odds with them?” asked Bergquist.
“Your heart and mind know the difference,” she said. “Being patient in situations where you feel like you’re stuck or disconnected from your value can be a harmful form of stress.”
“Good stress isn’t just about actively reconfiguring stress in our lives,” she said. “But instead, we will act intentionally on meaningful, purpose-driven tasks as an antidote to chronic stressors that we control and inevitably.”
For example, she said it could involve accepting, creating, and learning rewarding skills, as well as accepting work opportunities that align with your values.
“To grow out of stress, you have to make time for rest and recovery,” Bergquist said.
“Under stress, your body will save energy and switch to an internal housekeeping mode,” she said. “When you recover, your brain and body will remodel and build new connections to prepare you for future challenges.”
According to Bergquist, recovery is just as important as good stress for profit. “Even good stress can accumulate in such a way that it doesn’t recover and is harmful.”
Lean on the connection between your mind and body
“Strengthening yourself physically can help you build mental resilience and vice versa,” Bergquist said. “This is an incredible process called mutual adaptation.
“When you experience physical or psychological stress, you repair and regenerate cells, which makes every part of your body healthier and stronger,” she explained.
For example, “You can build mental resilience by stressing yourself (in a good way) by eating plant-based foods that build stress resistance, exercising vigorously, exercising vigorously, and doing things like fasting intermittently through a time-limited diet,” she said. “There are many tools to manage stress and reduce its harm.”
Feeling stress is not a problem. It’s a function. “Our human history is overcoming stress and is becoming stronger because of it,” Bergquist said.
“Through repeated cycles of stress and recovery, we summon natural abilities, a gift inherited in our DNA,” she said. “Resilience is the muscle that we can all build, no matter where we are and what we face. It’s okay to be afraid, and we want to avoid challenges.
“Just trust me and do it. The outcome can change your life,” she said.
We hope these 5 tips will help you use stress for your benefit. Listen to the entire episode here. And join us next week as we discuss the domain of health that is often forgotten as we age: Mobility.
