Can changing how you think about stress / make you healthier? // And here / the science says / yes. // When you change your mind about stress, / you can change your body’s response to stress. // Now / to explain how this works, / I want you all to pretend / that you are participants in a study / designed to stress you out. // It’s called the social stress test. // You come into the laboratory, / and you’re told / you have to give a five-minute impromptu speech / on your personal weaknesses / to a panel of expert evaluators sitting right in front of you, / and to make sure you feel the pressure, / there are bright lights / and a camera in your face, / kind of like this. // And the evaluators / have been trained to give you discouraging, / non-verbal feedback like this. // Now that you’re sufficiently demoralized, / time for part two: / a math test. // And unbeknownst to you, / the experimenter has been trained to harass you during it. // Now / we’re going to all do this together. // It’s going to be fun. // For me. // Okay. // I want you all / to count backwards / from 996 in increments of seven. // You’re going to do this out loud / as fast as you can, / starting with 996. // Go! // Go faster. // Faster please. // You’re going too slow. // Stop. // Stop, stop, stop. // That guy made a mistake. // We are going to have to start all over again. // You’re not very good at this, / are you? // Okay, / so / you get the idea. // Now, / if you were actually in this study, / you’d probably be a little stressed out. // Your heart might be pounding, / you might be breathing faster, / maybe breaking out into a sweat. // And normally, / we interpret these physical changes as anxiety / or signs that / we aren’t coping very well with the pressure. // But / what if you viewed them instead as signs / that your body was energized, / was preparing you to meet this challenge? // Now / that is exactly what participants were told in a study / conducted at Harvard University. // Before they went through the social stress test, / they were taught to rethink their stress response / as helpful. // That pounding heart / is preparing you for action. // If you’re breathing faster, / it’s no problem. // It’s getting more oxygen to your brain. // And participants / who learned to view the stress response as helpful for their performance, / well, / they were less stressed out, / less anxious, / more confident, / but the most fascinating finding to me was / how their physical stress response changed. // Now, / in a typical stress response, / your heart rate goes up, / and your blood vessels constrict like this. // And / this is one of the reasons / that chronic stress / is sometimes associated with cardiovascular disease. // It’s not really healthy to be in this state all the time. // But in the study, / when participants viewed their stress response as helpful, / their blood vessels stayed relaxed like this. // Their heart was still pounding, / but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profile. // It actually looks a lot / like what happens in moments of joy and courage. //