“Studies show: more and more people suffer from stress”

“Stress levels reach all-time high”

“How to reduce stress at work”

You’ve all read those headlines. But are they true? They all have the same message: Stress is bad for your health. You need to reduce it. So, we associate stress with health risks. What if I tell you that this picture of stress is flawed? This has been shown by modern research. In a randomized controlled study with almost 30,000 adults, people were asked 2 questions:

1. How much stress did you experience last year?

2. Do you believe that stress is bad for your health?

They waited a couple of years and analyzed the death rate of the participants. It turned out people with high-stress levels had a 43% higher death rate. Duh, right? But here’s the catch: Those were ONLY people who believed that stress is harmful. The people who didn’t perceive stress as bad DID NOT have a higher death rate.

It gets even crazier: Those people had an even lower death rate than people who just had a little stress and who believed that stress is bad for them. Insane, right? This means that it’s not stress that is bad for you. It’s how you perceive it.

Let’s back this up with biology

In another study, people had to do tasks while they were — unknowingly — put into stressful situations.

(Side note: the test is called Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) because it was created at the University of Trier. This is of massive importance because I grew up there and … Ok fine, it’s not important at all but I had to tell you.)

To measure stress hormone levels, saliva samples were taken from the participants before and after the stress test. 2 stress hormones were measured:

• Cortisol

• DHEA (I just give you the abbreviation cause nobody — a.k.a. probably just me — can pronounce this, anyway)

None of them are inherently good or bad. The ratio is important. I don’t want to get too technical, so here’s what you need to know: A low level of DHEA in relation to Cortisol is bad. Symptoms include a weakened immune system and a higher risk for depression & cardiovascular diseases. A high level of DHEA in relation to Cortisol is good. Symptoms include low risk for anxiety & depression, higher resilience, and enhanced post-traumatic growth.

Now, back to the study: Participants were divided into 2 groups — A & B. Each group was shown a short video:

• Group A: a video where stress was praised as an opportunity for growth (mindset intervention).

• Group B: a video that gives the message that stress is harmful to your health and performance.

Are you ready for the mind-blowing results? After the experiment, participants of both groups had higher cortisol levels. But only group A also had higher levels of DHEA.

The outcome: Group A showed better performance, lower anxiety, and higher confidence because they were conditioned to not see stress as something bad but rather as a challenge to learn and grow. This mindset intervention has been successfully used for:

• US marine soldiers to help them cope with PTSD.

• Bankers during the 2008 financial crisis: Many people lost their livelihoods — which caused a lot of fear and stress.

• CEOs: They have to make important decisions every day and are responsible for many people.

• Nurses: There’s a huge shortage of nurses — which means more patients per nurse.

• Students: exams, debt, responsibilities. Many students are thrown in at the deep end because they haven’t been responsible for themselves before college.

• Me: There were 3 baklavas left for 4 friends and me. I’m sure you’ll all agree that this is — by far — the most stressful situation here (spoiler alert: I didn’t get a baklava but I’m okay🥲).

People felt better even months after the study. Many of them didn’t even remember the mindset intervention video afterward.

Use stress as fuel

The pure belief of whether stress is good or bad for you determines whether stress is good or bad for you. Is your mind blown? Mine was when I first heard about this. And TBH, it also completely shifted my perception of stress. The sheer knowledge of this fact alone — without even doing anything — made me more resilient. My mindset shifted from: “I’m so stressed. I need to do something about it” to: “I’m so stressed. Great! I’m learning”.

I started to appreciate it. It made me less anxious. It helped me to stay on top of things. To deal with deadlines and conflicts. I’d much rather feel stressed than bored. Whenever I’m stressed about a task, I focus on what good will come from it. I think of it like a video game: It’s a side quest that helps me level up and upgrade my armor before taking on the final boss. So, the next time you feel stressed channel your inner Barney Stinson, smile into the non-existent camera, and say: “Challenge accepted!” 😏

Or do something less cringe, that’s up to you.

Let’s tell the whole story

In our society, stress still carries a bad connotation. However: I’m 100% convinced that we should appreciate its positive aspects. Let’s be more conscious about how we talk about stress. All those studies that show how bad stress is. None of them are wrong. But they don’t show the whole truth. They only show one part of the story. The other part is way too underrepresented. Let’s change that.

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or if you want to read the studies yourself, feel free to reach out on Instagram @husseinnaji_ or email — my door (aka inbox) is always open. Just reply to this mail☺️

Much love,

Your kiwi-with-the-skin-on-eating friend

Hussein

PS: If you want to see more content, check out my other channels:

• Threads

• Medium

• Bluesky

• LinkedIn