Can you talk about sleep therapy for people that have pain in their body? I am currently in that type of therapy and have pain on my pelvic do to endometriosis. I stress and focus on the pain as well as stressing about not sleeping or getting up on time. Which will result me not sleeping at all, but not sure if its my minds fault or the pain? I have not heard someone talk about that topic. I learned in the therapy that association with the bed being something negative can play a part which I have never thought of.
You can't avoid either, of there are better and worse ways to deal with them, denying suffer won't earease the suffer either, suffering is the result of pain one does not exist without the other, the idea is move past it and stay in suffering forever
Dr. Ana?!?!? AH!!! Im so proud of you!! I’ve been watching you since 2021 when i decided to pursue a major in psychology. You inspire me to keep going. Congratulations!🥳🎉
I have been realizing the “Eliminate all stress from your life or it’ll kill you!” School of thought, gives the same vibe as having an surgery to temporarily fix something that would completely go away with a simple lifestyle change.
It's as Ana said earlier in this video. I think it kinda all depends on the mentality you have over stress. Just like with the example of the housekeepers and the milkshake tasters. If you view stress and stressful periods in your life as a challenge and feel like it makes you stronger, it tends to have a positive effect on you. Whereas if you've always been told that stress is bad for your health and believe it, it will have a bad effect on you.
@@kaneSbreh That is basically eustress vs distress also tied to fight or flight response, but the truth is for the most part we have no say on whether it’ll be one or the other. The brain have a built in system for it that correlates the stress with the outcome, so something that is manageable and have equal energy to reward will be eustress, and events that are overwhelming and requires high energy to low reward (or even punishment) will be distress. You could use self deception + conditioning to make distress into eustress, but it’s not a surefire method that works for everyone. Also people still need distress to survive longer, a lot of daredevils that “lost” their distress got to their early end this way. But i believe there is no right or wrong to live so do whatever seems fit for your life and enjoy the umwelt :)
In the past 3 years I've; lost both of my parents to cancer, experienced unemployment, gained 100lbs from stress, went through the quarantine, went through a C-section and severe postpartum depression, and my husband was working 2 jobs so I felt like a single mother. I have blatantly told people that I'm shocked I'm still alive. You are so much stronger than you believe.
If two people have an identical mindset about stress but one of them is exposed to fifty times more stress than the other I'm guessing the one with more stress will end up with worse medical outcomes. I think your mindset is important but I don't think it's so potent that it can negate the effects of stress on your health if you're overexposed.
Yea ... I think that's good way to think about it. Also, I feel chronic stress for long term is quite dangerous even with good mindset. Yea mindset might minimise its effects but still it will be dangerous.
Agree with this 100%. The message is important, but different people probably would need to hear this phrased with different levels of assertiveness depending in their baseline for anxiety and/or if they’re prone to “moral inflexibility”. Could easily see this presenting the same difficulty as the movement for body positivity (which frequently makes overweight people feel worse, not better). “Oh, now not only do I have to worry about my individual stressors, but I should also be worried about my feelings toward my own stress? o jeez o crumbs.”
This is probably true, but also what can you do? If a fair amount of stress is outside of your control, then there is no point worrying about how your additional stress is killing you. Especially if you are just stuck. A better mindset still gives you a better quality of life in the moment. Death is inevitable and we aren't all going to be 100 when it finally comes for us. That doesn't mean we should accelerate the process but we also can't really control when or how we will die.
I’ve worked 70 hours a week at a startup that could go under at any moment for 2 years now. I’ve come to develop a mindset that basically reads as “no matter what level of stress or hardship I encounter, I have to get through it or the business will fail”. Sounds intense, but I can say with full confidence that I’ve basically taught myself to embrace stress because it forces me to improve, and therefore forces the business to improve. This video really resonates with me! Great job as always Ana 🤘🏻
wow that's a lot, unless you own this startup? I'm working at a startup too, it's just that I think I wouldn't see any benefits for my growth if I worked 70hrs/week instead of 40 + 30 on side projects, let's say. what's your view on this?
@@kshyr811 It’s a great point! For me personally, I have grown more than I could have ever imagined having dedicated the majority of my time to one thing that I have a ton of passion for. I have continually pushed myself to take on more and more responsibility, which makes every day feel incredibly fulfilling. Over the years I’ve developed amazing relationships with extraordinarily productive and capable people, and it pushes me to be a better person. I have tried more of a balanced lifestyle in the past, but it just hasn’t had the same effects on my personal growth, maturity, attitude, and overall life experience than what I expected. I made the conscious decision to go against the advice of many friends and mentors in doing this, but… to each their own I suppose!
@@abyssairishlenlayug6747 That’s great! Awesome to know there are others out there with a similar experience. If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear about it!
So interesting! I noticed that also a feeling of purpose completely changes if I perceive something as stressful in a negative or positive sense - when I worked a job I didn't like / didn't see purpose in, the daily stresses affected me much more negatively than now, where I am actually loving my work and feeling a sense of purpose. As a self employed musician, my stress levels nowadays are significantly higher than previously, but it feels overall positive and exciting because I am living much more in alignment with my purpose, if that makes sense!
Funnily enough, whenever I was stressed, I automatically tend to seek out more social interactions. At times it was just enough to be surrounded by close people and other times I would talk about what's stressing me. While my stress didn't vanish completely it was reduced to levels where I didn't feel anxious anymore and could focus on my tasks.
Stress unfortunately cannot be avoided but how you respond to it matters kind of like a catch twenty two situation worry is one thing but letting it get to you just makes things worse all about self control in the end
Congratulations on becoming a Dr! It’s been a while and I don’t get to watch RUclips much nowadays. I feel like I stress myself out worrying about how much I worry 😂
Wonderful question!!!! Makes me wonder if people who work out... and or people who do those cold pludges tend to deal with stress better because they choose their stress
@@sarahshanahan2222They do, they have better control and awareness of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors and can therefore make better decisions. They have better self control
I think there was a study on lab mites that were forced to run in a spinning wheel or chose to, their body responded different, even though it was the same amount of effort.
Absolutely love this. Recently read a book by Dr. Wendy Suzuki called "Good Anxiety" with a similar message. I recently left a year long co-founder startup relationship that I felt almost completely powerless in as I did not have the skills in being assertive at the time to know better and to either change things or leave. I am slowly coming back to myself and trying to do things that I feel afraid of by changing my whole mindset and attitude and so far it has worked. A technique I developed for myself was to notice a negative thought, consider it, then consider the thought and mindset I would like to have i stead of that thought, and then when the negative thoughts come in, just let them roll in and roll out on their own time while choosing to place my thought on the mindset I deemed as better. It's all attitude in the end. Thanks for this beautiful reminder and the constant wisdom and inspiration, Anna.
This video really came at the perfect time for me. I’ve been struggling this past week with a lot of anxiety & burnout and then feel anxiety about feeling anxiety because of the messages I receive about stress. Honestly it’s hilarious to look up resources on how to deal with anxiety. Half of what I see is vilifying it, making it out to seem like it’s life or death if you don’t find good coping strategies soon. Actually oddly enough the coping mechanisms for me never helped me. And I remember a watched a video from therapy in a nutshell here on RUclips that absolutely changed my POV. She said that essentially if you respond to anxiety by immediately trying to do deep breath exercises, leaving the area, etc etc you are also telling yourself that whatever you feel anxious about is worthy of anxiety & that you NEED these things to handle it, oddly enough increasing anxiety. Instead a better approach is to just experience it, knowing you can handle it, also showing your body that there isn’t a threat. Using that approach has been so much more helpful for me, learning to accept where I am and taking it a day at time is the only way I can really come down from a very anxious period
I’m glad to have come across this video to confirm and put into context what I’ve been working on in therapy. Something my therapist has been telling me since the beginning but leaning on more lately is what he calls “depathologizing” my anxiety and stress. It’s not normalizing it but helping me understand that anxiety is a natural response and that I shouldn’t strive to be anxiety-free all the time. He actually says it’s not healthy to be anxiety free because anxiety helps us in many ways. Then, a few weeks ago, we were exploring my anger and frustration, and he suggested I use it to help overcome my avolition. I balked at the suggestion because anger, to me, is a “negative” feeling, and I don’t want to base my actions on “negative” stuff because… it is bad? He explained that anger is just an emotion, that they aren’t positive or negative, but their impact can be positive or negative, depending on how we process them. I was still kinda skeptical of his message, but I’m glad this video helped me put it into context 😊
I would like to know more about how the author determines causation in her conclusion, as in why the decisive factor differentiating good from bad stress is the person's attitude towards stress, and not the other way around. Couldn't there be something like a confounding agent in this case? For example, couldn't harmful stress be paired with a third issue, such a body that is less capable of handling stress, or something separate altogether relating to their life situation, and that is NOT the person's mindset about stress, that makes stress something more painful to them and thus leads to them developing a more negative attitude towards stress, or even worse effects? One example of how this could work is how a person who suffers high amounts of stress and is used to it/handles it well wouldn't necessarily become terrified of it when reading headlines. But someone who is going through something beyond high cortisol levels might relate to the idea that they seem like they're dying from stress. And in this case, I wouldn't say saying "the important thing about stress is your mindset about it" would be very appropriate, even if stress wasn't itself the issue.
What you are saying makes complete sense. The last 4 years, I started dealing with pretty bad anxiety ,where at times I have felt like I was literally living in fight or flight mode. I delved into you tube to try to find ways to deal with the anxiety as many of the therapists I saw weren't helping and majority of the self help videos I came across always highlighted the effects that living in fight or flight can have on the body. Even books that I bought, reiterated how detrimental it was. I immediately would always skip those portions cause it would literally take me into an anxious state, if I already wasn't in one. I remember thinking "WTF! How is this helpful? Some of these people are professionals, why would they even discuss this in an anxiety video?" So thank you for confirming in this video what I instinctively knew.
I think its not the stress, but how you accept or deal with it. I used to tell myself due to past abuse that when i am stressed i am just being lazy and need to work harder. Then i would get burned out and sick. Now i stopped denying the stress and instead respond by allowing myself to recover and process through rest. I have autoimmune, neurological, and kidney problems that all are stress-sensitive conditions. I cannot avoid stress, but dealing with it in a healthy way helps. Sometimes i still get sick, even when not feeling stress... i get really annoyed when doctors act like i should avoid stress and that alone should cure my illnesses 🤦♀️ my illness is not my fault for being stressed and many stressors cannot be avoided. Being sick is a stress by itself. Its often the effect, not the cause. Blaming every illness on anxiety, depression, and stress is getting really old and at this point just makes me angry. I did the work to recover from PTSD and i even became a Buddhist nun to be proficient in meditation. Its like telling someone who lost a lot of weight to have a healthy weight only for the doctor to STILL blame the illness on being overweight and telling them to lose more even tho thier weight is healthy now 🤦♀️
I figure skate competitively and struggle with anxiety, to which my coach told me that anxiety and excitement are essentially the same physiologicaly, so you can easily change those nerves into excitement. That knowledge is something I carry with me and think about often.
Since I began acknowledging that I can only beat stressful situations and experiences by going through it and seeing myself to the other side, I find I’ve generally been handling life a lot better. For example, I quit my job a couple months ago to pursue turning some hobbies that I already was making money on into a job (woodworking and buying/selling/trading/repairing musical instruments). It hasn’t been the easiest, but businesses often are slow to start, and I have almost two years worth in expenses sitting around in musical instruments alone, plus I’m only sentimental about a handful of them. I could be worried about the fact I’m not making a sustainable profit yet, or I could be excited that my brand is growing and that between my current revenue and asset value, I should have the resources to keep it going until it can sustain itself. Worst comes to worst, I just get a job again. There are twice as many open jobs in America as there are unemployed Americans. I’m excited to see where life takes me, regardless of the fact that paying next month’s rent without touching my savings isn’t guaranteed. I’m excited to see if I’ve stressed myself for the right reasons.
I THRIVE on stress. I worried about retiring because I wondered what the lack of stress would do to me. Now I have a part-time job, so I'm back to thriving without the need to "relax" 24/7. Retirees have long talked about what happens when it all drops away & it is a common fear. I don't need a book to tell me that stress is good for me. I've long experienced it.
Stand for something or fall for anything so learn to deal with pressure cause it'll if anything be what you lean on when you're expected to stand Proud.
I know this is anecdotal but seeing disturbing images on cigarette packs 100% did work for me. Granted I only smoked cigarettes here and there so it may be different for a regular smoker but it scared the absolute hell outta me and I have rarely touched a cigarette since.
Yes, I doubt this whole messaging does not work thing. Never leave one's common sense at door when going through medical/psychological research. Some of them are manipulated or outright false.
This Video is soo great! It really opened my eyes about this topic and confirmed some Observations I could not explain before. This should be more common knowledge. Thank you!
Woow I really needed this 💜 got into a relationship and we’ve been handing conflict pretty well but I’ve been feeling so stuck in my fight or flight, I’ve been stuck in rumination which causes me to stay stressed. I knew deep down my mindset was the reason why and this video gave me a new perspective and like a deeper ah ha moment. Thank youuu 🙏🏼✨
Just a side note on the cigarette bit... I've traveled to Mexico quite a bit.. and I was shocked to see rotting feet, and black rotting tongues and everything else on the cigarettes It was incredible to see people still smoking them regardless. I don't see many people smoke here anymore... but I think the no.smoking zones and the incredible price Increase on cigarettes helped to deter. Vaping and gummies is not to uncommon here from what I've seen
Here’s something I noticed as someone who takes public transit regularly for commuting: I can go for jogs outside or run miles on the treadmill barely breaking a sweat. But if I’m running to catch a subway that’s about to leave- I’ll be gasping for air and sweating so much by the time I’m actually on the train.
I would have liked it if you could have given a definition of stress during the video, because all the while I was wondering how anyone could find it positive since I thought it was the feeling you get when there is too much to do and you can't do it and it completely paralyses you, slows down your thinking etc, but after looking it up it is actually way more than that so I kinda get what you mean.
I see a lot of people talking about stress as a strictly negative thing, but eustress, or stress that can have a beneficial effect on the body and mind, I think absolutely can and does exist! Like, when you face challenges, you can feel motivated and energized due to the stress, rather than strictly being demotivated or harmed in some fashion. There's always two sides to a coin!
Seeing "Dr. Ana" in the intro made me really happy. Your videos have helped me a lot since I discovered your channel, I hope you can continue making them and pursuing your goals in life Good luck!
Thank you Ana, I always was this very excited kid and teenager and then life happened and anxiety and now after some healing I’m like « why can’t I be like before, it was pure excitement and joy and now everything is so complicated » like even when good stuff and bad stuff happen I am never just happy or sad about them. So!!!! Now I know that stress and excitement are the same thing!!! I am not even surprised it makes so much sense. Especially it goes along the philosophy of the GOAT Spinoza about people choosing one of the two passions, sadness vs joy (obviously it’s deeper than that and it’s about transcendance and I cannot translate) , with the people living in the way of sadness becoming slave of that passion. That dude is always right it’s crazy
This is a great video. When I was doing addiction counseling a big lesson I did was on stress and educating not only on how to manage it, but teaching about the good types of stress. For example, exercise increases the cortisol in the body. We may become stressed during a challenge like school and end up growing from it. Etc. I really liked your comment about getting anxious about your pulse getting faster, because that happens to a lot of people, yet when it’s stress and a fast pulse from exercise we don’t think about it
But how you respond to stress and the effects of stress are two separate things. Isn't it obvious that people who have healthy coping mechanisms can mitigate the harmful effects of stress better than those who do not?
Congratulations Dr. Ana! :) Really love this video. I've been rewatching your video on stoicism trying to burn these ideas into my head and this one will also get a few replays. Ironically, I've learned to deal with stress worse as I've gotten older. As a teen, I made a big commitment to become more optimistic and positive to great effect. I've slowly lost this mindset throughout my 20s. These videos are helping me reignite that flame.
This was great! I just wish the stress we all are experiencing wasn’t mostly to blame on capitalism! We can’t normalize this insanity by saying it’s regular ol stress and you just need to reframe out of it. Don’t work that way.
There are multiple studies confirming significant reduction in functional IQ when a subject experiences significant stress (especially over prolonged periods). Interesting how you didn't discuss that at all.
gratz on finishing! I love your takes. I'm really happy for you and for anyone who gets to see your content. We need more people like you on youtube. Now all you need is the youtube stamp that says you are a qualified expert in the field.
I have GAD, watched over 500 videos on the topic, tried so many programs. All because i was convinced 100% that stress is bad and i’ll become severely ill eventually if I have it. This video kinda blew my mind, I see my mistake suddenly, everything makes sense. Thank you Dr.Ana!
This was an awesome and enlightening video! Thank you so much for sharing. I used to buy into the whole 'stress minimization' narrative and I'm so glad I learned about how your mindset can affect how stress impacts you. I am in an MFT program right now and this video changes how I will talk to my future clients about stress. Stress is INEVITABLE. Rather than viewing stress as a fight-flight-freeze response, it is much more helpful and hope-inspiring to use the mindset of shift and persist or excite and delight.
Very interesting thesis and point of view. I remember one of the earliest nueroscience articles I read focused on a Bell Curve of stretch where at the optimal amount is a healthy amount of stress. Mindset could be related, I love it.
I really needed this video! I have questions, though; Ana, how would you frame this for people who already have PTSD as well as stress-sensitive chronic illnesses?
I had the same question when I was watching the video. Personally, I think I was pretty good at dealing with stress until a certain point in my life. I did consider stressful situations a challenge and I was always up to it. However, then an immensely stressful, painful and scary situation happened to me, and while I did initially view it as a challenge, I actually failed at it miserably. Without any way how to re-frame it positively, and combined with other negative factors at that time, it really ended up giving me PTSD and was a trigger for my anxiety disorder. At first the anxiety was mostly related to human relationships, but I've noticed that as I get older, the more areas of my life it touches, and lately I find it hard to deal with stress at all. I've obviously noticed that this inability affects my life negatively (it really stunts my growth), but changing it is much easier said than done. I feel like at a certain point, this becomes a physical, neurological issue rather than a purely psychological one, and rewiring your brain is a pretty tough task. Dr. Ana's video gave me some interesting pointers I haven't thought of before, but I'd still like to see her address this "caveat".
I was just thinking the other day that I'm surprised I don't have one on it! I will definitely keep that in consideration, cause it's one of the most transformational books I've read and one I'd like to go back to regularly.
I have ADHD and use stress to push me and focus at work. Unfortunately, I am now in a cycle of daily burnout as I don't know how to also make career success (or other success) meaningful to me. I struggle with framing things as meaningful as it doesn't feel natural (or authentic) and I lack remaining willpower to force myself buy-in to change without meaning. Does reframing your mindset feel unnatural, disingenuous, wrong, and how do you overcome that?
Congratulations on becoming a Dr! Regarding the topic of video, since you mention a lot of studies, have you heard about the recent scandals of manipulated data in behavioral studies (like that one professor from Standford)? How do you think this would impact applying paper findings in the real world?
Im interested too. I read that research retractions are up from 1 in 100 to 1 in 50. In reading research papers and studies myself i have noticed bad methods, logic and biases. When people are taking these studies as gospel it can be disasterous. I am glad its coming to light how flawed this system can be, not just in behavioral health but health in general.
all growth/improvement is a trauma response to stress , without stress you would be a puddle of slime or worse XD ; absolutely HOW you respond to stress will determine the quality of your life indeed
I believe you're mixing worry and anxiety with stress, which alot of people do. Stress is an overwhelming feeling of danger and unease which forces you to fight flight freeze fawn. You literally feel like you are going to die, that's why it's called survival mode. What we stress about (which is actually worry about) is something triggering the stress response. Stress is not sustainable. You can channel your worries and anxieties into being prepared or to be productive but prolonged stress is not healthy.
16:43 dont think I'd go as far to say that it's ONLY harmful if dont have a good mindset about it. with all things there's usually a threshold in which we can deal with something and that threshold is highly individualized. still, very cool video and puts to words phenomena I see in myself which is one of the best things media can do for me :)
So just wondering, why do you have videos on ‘healing the nervous system from trauma’ if you say that people with CPTSD/PTSD/anxiety are ‘overestimating’ their own physical responses and lived experience? It’s a bit contradictory...
Wouldn't you think that the people who didn't think stress was bad, didn't have stress that was that intense to begin with? I think that's a huge confounding factor that's being overlooked here. It might be helpful for mild stress but telling people whose lives are debilitated by unbearable stress and emotional triggers to just change there mindset and see it as a good thing is hugely invalidating and destructive IMO.
It might be the case that people who have an optimistic view on stress learn to manage stress better but I can’t see how chronic stress in any fashion isn’t harmful
Like the video mentioned, it largely depends on the kind of stress! The stress of a high-stakes job that you're excited for and find fulfilling is quite different from the stress of working for a tyrannical boss. Not all stress is created equally, and some kinds are definitely easier to view more positively.
I found that many doctors love to use stress as a catch-all reason for your health issues, since they can't really do anything about it and it removes responsibility from them to you, and since there are so many articles about stress negatively affecting mental and physical health, you can't say they are in 100% wrong. But sometimes, we are under stress and that is just the way it is, and it's better to accept it than fear-monger about stress literally making everything in your body fall apart. You know doc, it's pretty reasonable that I'm stressed when I am in constant chronic pain 24/7, I don't need you preaching about "managing stress", actually I managed it a lot more stoically before so many doctors came along and started making the Stress alone something to be afraid of. Just like telling your panic attack "I'm not scared of you, I won't try and stop you, do your thing" makes the panic attack quickly melt away, the same can be applied to stress
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Considering that stress levels like cortisol aren't the main problem, do you think caffiene isn't as bad for stress and anxiety as we're told. Could it even be beneficial if it gives us the energy to face our fears by viewing them through the challenge mindset?
All fine, but how does that apply to little children who live in stressful environment and still don't have such cognition around stress and its perception?
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Can you talk about sleep therapy for people that have pain in their body? I am currently in that type of therapy and have pain on my pelvic do to endometriosis. I stress and focus on the pain as well as stressing about not sleeping or getting up on time. Which will result me not sleeping at all, but not sure if its my minds fault or the pain?
I have not heard someone talk about that topic.
I learned in the therapy that association with the bed being something negative can play a part which I have never thought of.
Eeeeeeh whats up doc?
*chews on carrot*
“Pain is inevitable, suffering is not” 🙌🏻
@@peterkerj7357 Does she say that in the video?
still though. how do you even avoid suffering when faced with immense pain? if I knew how I'd probably won't be depressed by now
You can't avoid either, of there are better and worse ways to deal with them, denying suffer won't earease the suffer either, suffering is the result of pain one does not exist without the other, the idea is move past it and stay in suffering forever
Dr. Ana?!?!? AH!!! Im so proud of you!! I’ve been watching you since 2021 when i decided to pursue a major in psychology. You inspire me to keep going. Congratulations!🥳🎉
@Thessalinhah she's not that kind of doctor but still well done Dr Ana!
I have been realizing the “Eliminate all stress from your life or it’ll kill you!” School of thought, gives the same vibe as having an surgery to temporarily fix something that would completely go away with a simple lifestyle change.
It's as Ana said earlier in this video. I think it kinda all depends on the mentality you have over stress. Just like with the example of the housekeepers and the milkshake tasters. If you view stress and stressful periods in your life as a challenge and feel like it makes you stronger, it tends to have a positive effect on you. Whereas if you've always been told that stress is bad for your health and believe it, it will have a bad effect on you.
@@kaneSbreh That is basically eustress vs distress also tied to fight or flight response, but the truth is for the most part we have no say on whether it’ll be one or the other. The brain have a built in system for it that correlates the stress with the outcome, so something that is manageable and have equal energy to reward will be eustress, and events that are overwhelming and requires high energy to low reward (or even punishment) will be distress.
You could use self deception + conditioning to make distress into eustress, but it’s not a surefire method that works for everyone. Also people still need distress to survive longer, a lot of daredevils that “lost” their distress got to their early end this way. But i believe there is no right or wrong to live so do whatever seems fit for your life and enjoy the umwelt :)
yep. it's giving "I'll just get a bariatric surgery instead of dieting" and then they gain all the weight back
Basically.
In the past 3 years I've; lost both of my parents to cancer, experienced unemployment, gained 100lbs from stress, went through the quarantine, went through a C-section and severe postpartum depression, and my husband was working 2 jobs so I felt like a single mother. I have blatantly told people that I'm shocked I'm still alive. You are so much stronger than you believe.
If you still have meaning to your life I could understand being able to go through something similar. But if you have nothing, then what?
If two people have an identical mindset about stress but one of them is exposed to fifty times more stress than the other I'm guessing the one with more stress will end up with worse medical outcomes. I think your mindset is important but I don't think it's so potent that it can negate the effects of stress on your health if you're overexposed.
Yea ... I think that's good way to think about it. Also, I feel chronic stress for long term is quite dangerous even with good mindset. Yea mindset might minimise its effects but still it will be dangerous.
Agree with this 100%. The message is important, but different people probably would need to hear this phrased with different levels of assertiveness depending in their baseline for anxiety and/or if they’re prone to “moral inflexibility”. Could easily see this presenting the same difficulty as the movement for body positivity (which frequently makes overweight people feel worse, not better). “Oh, now not only do I have to worry about my individual stressors, but I should also be worried about my feelings toward my own stress? o jeez o crumbs.”
This is probably true, but also what can you do? If a fair amount of stress is outside of your control, then there is no point worrying about how your additional stress is killing you. Especially if you are just stuck. A better mindset still gives you a better quality of life in the moment. Death is inevitable and we aren't all going to be 100 when it finally comes for us. That doesn't mean we should accelerate the process but we also can't really control when or how we will die.
Good mindset doesn't erase the side effects of stress. Too many stress can lead to addictions.
Faith in God counters a lot of things and produces a great mindset
I’ve worked 70 hours a week at a startup that could go under at any moment for 2 years now. I’ve come to develop a mindset that basically reads as “no matter what level of stress or hardship I encounter, I have to get through it or the business will fail”. Sounds intense, but I can say with full confidence that I’ve basically taught myself to embrace stress because it forces me to improve, and therefore forces the business to improve. This video really resonates with me! Great job as always Ana 🤘🏻
wow that's a lot, unless you own this startup? I'm working at a startup too, it's just that I think I wouldn't see any benefits for my growth if I worked 70hrs/week instead of 40 + 30 on side projects, let's say. what's your view on this?
@@kshyr811 It’s a great point! For me personally, I have grown more than I could have ever imagined having dedicated the majority of my time to one thing that I have a ton of passion for. I have continually pushed myself to take on more and more responsibility, which makes every day feel incredibly fulfilling. Over the years I’ve developed amazing relationships with extraordinarily productive and capable people, and it pushes me to be a better person. I have tried more of a balanced lifestyle in the past, but it just hasn’t had the same effects on my personal growth, maturity, attitude, and overall life experience than what I expected. I made the conscious decision to go against the advice of many friends and mentors in doing this, but… to each their own I suppose!
this is me too rn
@@abyssairishlenlayug6747 That’s great! Awesome to know there are others out there with a similar experience. If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear about it!
So interesting! I noticed that also a feeling of purpose completely changes if I perceive something as stressful in a negative or positive sense - when I worked a job I didn't like / didn't see purpose in, the daily stresses affected me much more negatively than now, where I am actually loving my work and feeling a sense of purpose. As a self employed musician, my stress levels nowadays are significantly higher than previously, but it feels overall positive and exciting because I am living much more in alignment with my purpose, if that makes sense!
Funnily enough, whenever I was stressed, I automatically tend to seek out more social interactions. At times it was just enough to be surrounded by close people and other times I would talk about what's stressing me. While my stress didn't vanish completely it was reduced to levels where I didn't feel anxious anymore and could focus on my tasks.
Stress unfortunately cannot be avoided but how you respond to it matters kind of like a catch twenty two situation worry is one thing but letting it get to you just makes things worse all about self control in the end
eustress and distress are a thing
@@vivvy_0one of the main differences between eustress and destress is the length of stress exposure. Destress is longer exposure.
Congratulations on becoming a Dr! It’s been a while and I don’t get to watch RUclips much nowadays. I feel like I stress myself out worrying about how much I worry 😂
Thank you!! Haha I do the same, I need to stop
@@AnaPsychology Of course!! Haha me too, I’m also bad with overthinking everything
Really nice video Ana. Thanks
Would love to see studies on not just the approach to stress, but whether or not choosing that stress actually improves how you deal with the stress
Wonderful question!!!! Makes me wonder if people who work out... and or people who do those cold pludges tend to deal with stress better because they choose their stress
@@sarahshanahan2222They do, they have better control and awareness of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors and can therefore make better decisions. They have better self control
I think there was a study on lab mites that were forced to run in a spinning wheel or chose to, their body responded different, even though it was the same amount of effort.
Absolutely love this. Recently read a book by Dr. Wendy Suzuki called "Good Anxiety" with a similar message. I recently left a year long co-founder startup relationship that I felt almost completely powerless in as I did not have the skills in being assertive at the time to know better and to either change things or leave. I am slowly coming back to myself and trying to do things that I feel afraid of by changing my whole mindset and attitude and so far it has worked. A technique I developed for myself was to notice a negative thought, consider it, then consider the thought and mindset I would like to have i stead of that thought, and then when the negative thoughts come in, just let them roll in and roll out on their own time while choosing to place my thought on the mindset I deemed as better. It's all attitude in the end. Thanks for this beautiful reminder and the constant wisdom and inspiration, Anna.
This video really came at the perfect time for me. I’ve been struggling this past week with a lot of anxiety & burnout and then feel anxiety about feeling anxiety because of the messages I receive about stress. Honestly it’s hilarious to look up resources on how to deal with anxiety. Half of what I see is vilifying it, making it out to seem like it’s life or death if you don’t find good coping strategies soon.
Actually oddly enough the coping mechanisms for me never helped me. And I remember a watched a video from therapy in a nutshell here on RUclips that absolutely changed my POV. She said that essentially if you respond to anxiety by immediately trying to do deep breath exercises, leaving the area, etc etc you are also telling yourself that whatever you feel anxious about is worthy of anxiety & that you NEED these things to handle it, oddly enough increasing anxiety. Instead a better approach is to just experience it, knowing you can handle it, also showing your body that there isn’t a threat. Using that approach has been so much more helpful for me, learning to accept where I am and taking it a day at time is the only way I can really come down from a very anxious period
This gives me so much hope. We're stronger than we think.
I’m glad to have come across this video to confirm and put into context what I’ve been working on in therapy. Something my therapist has been telling me since the beginning but leaning on more lately is what he calls “depathologizing” my anxiety and stress. It’s not normalizing it but helping me understand that anxiety is a natural response and that I shouldn’t strive to be anxiety-free all the time. He actually says it’s not healthy to be anxiety free because anxiety helps us in many ways.
Then, a few weeks ago, we were exploring my anger and frustration, and he suggested I use it to help overcome my avolition. I balked at the suggestion because anger, to me, is a “negative” feeling, and I don’t want to base my actions on “negative” stuff because… it is bad? He explained that anger is just an emotion, that they aren’t positive or negative, but their impact can be positive or negative, depending on how we process them. I was still kinda skeptical of his message, but I’m glad this video helped me put it into context 😊
I needed this! Thanks!
"Some level of stress is necessary for meaning making in your life" 🙌
This is honestly one of the most helpful videos on stress I've seen, and I've seen a lot. Thank you
love your videos! even when i don’t think i’ll agree with you you always give me something to chew on. thank you dr ana, congratulations
Thanks, that was a great insight!
I would like to know more about how the author determines causation in her conclusion, as in why the decisive factor differentiating good from bad stress is the person's attitude towards stress, and not the other way around. Couldn't there be something like a confounding agent in this case? For example,
couldn't harmful stress be paired with a third issue, such a body that is less capable of handling stress, or something separate altogether relating to their life situation, and that is NOT the person's mindset about stress, that makes stress something more painful to them and thus leads to them developing a more negative attitude towards stress, or even worse effects?
One example of how this could work is how a person who suffers high amounts of stress and is used to it/handles it well wouldn't necessarily become terrified of it when reading headlines. But someone who is going through something beyond high cortisol levels might relate to the idea that they seem like they're dying from stress. And in this case, I wouldn't say saying "the important thing about stress is your mindset about it" would be very appropriate, even if stress wasn't itself the issue.
Whoa this changed my perspective totally.
What you are saying makes complete sense. The last 4 years, I started dealing with pretty bad anxiety ,where at times I have felt like I was literally living in fight or flight mode. I delved into you tube to try to find ways to deal with the anxiety as many of the therapists I saw weren't helping and majority of the self help videos I came across always highlighted the effects that living in fight or flight can have on the body. Even books that I bought, reiterated how detrimental it was. I immediately would always skip those portions cause it would literally take me into an anxious state, if I already wasn't in one. I remember thinking "WTF! How is this helpful? Some of these people are professionals, why would they even discuss this in an anxiety video?" So thank you for confirming in this video what I instinctively knew.
I think its not the stress, but how you accept or deal with it. I used to tell myself due to past abuse that when i am stressed i am just being lazy and need to work harder. Then i would get burned out and sick. Now i stopped denying the stress and instead respond by allowing myself to recover and process through rest.
I have autoimmune, neurological, and kidney problems that all are stress-sensitive conditions. I cannot avoid stress, but dealing with it in a healthy way helps. Sometimes i still get sick, even when not feeling stress... i get really annoyed when doctors act like i should avoid stress and that alone should cure my illnesses 🤦♀️ my illness is not my fault for being stressed and many stressors cannot be avoided. Being sick is a stress by itself. Its often the effect, not the cause. Blaming every illness on anxiety, depression, and stress is getting really old and at this point just makes me angry. I did the work to recover from PTSD and i even became a Buddhist nun to be proficient in meditation. Its like telling someone who lost a lot of weight to have a healthy weight only for the doctor to STILL blame the illness on being overweight and telling them to lose more even tho thier weight is healthy now 🤦♀️
I figure skate competitively and struggle with anxiety, to which my coach told me that anxiety and excitement are essentially the same physiologicaly, so you can easily change those nerves into excitement. That knowledge is something I carry with me and think about often.
Congrats, Dr. Ana!
Since I began acknowledging that I can only beat stressful situations and experiences by going through it and seeing myself to the other side, I find I’ve generally been handling life a lot better. For example, I quit my job a couple months ago to pursue turning some hobbies that I already was making money on into a job (woodworking and buying/selling/trading/repairing musical instruments). It hasn’t been the easiest, but businesses often are slow to start, and I have almost two years worth in expenses sitting around in musical instruments alone, plus I’m only sentimental about a handful of them. I could be worried about the fact I’m not making a sustainable profit yet, or I could be excited that my brand is growing and that between my current revenue and asset value, I should have the resources to keep it going until it can sustain itself. Worst comes to worst, I just get a job again. There are twice as many open jobs in America as there are unemployed Americans. I’m excited to see where life takes me, regardless of the fact that paying next month’s rent without touching my savings isn’t guaranteed. I’m excited to see if I’ve stressed myself for the right reasons.
I THRIVE on stress. I worried about retiring because I wondered what the lack of stress would do to me. Now I have a part-time job, so I'm back to thriving without the need to "relax" 24/7. Retirees have long talked about what happens when it all drops away & it is a common fear. I don't need a book to tell me that stress is good for me. I've long experienced it.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I am moved.
You're by far my favorite psychology channel. I think we all need more scientific understanding in our lives
Really needed this. Thank you so much Ana. ❤
Stand for something or fall for anything so learn to deal with pressure cause it'll if anything be what you lean on when you're expected to stand Proud.
Thanks Dr.Ana for this video. It definitely helped shifted my perspective on stress
I know this is anecdotal but seeing disturbing images on cigarette packs 100% did work for me. Granted I only smoked cigarettes here and there so it may be different for a regular smoker but it scared the absolute hell outta me and I have rarely touched a cigarette since.
Yes, I doubt this whole messaging does not work thing. Never leave one's common sense at door when going through medical/psychological research. Some of them are manipulated or outright false.
Thank you for this Ana! this change in perspective is so helpful for me. Great video
Im proud of you!!! im starting my masters in mental health counseling this fall :)
This Video is soo great! It really opened my eyes about this topic and confirmed some Observations I could not explain before. This should be more common knowledge. Thank you!
Woow I really needed this 💜 got into a relationship and we’ve been handing conflict pretty well but I’ve been feeling so stuck in my fight or flight, I’ve been stuck in rumination which causes me to stay stressed. I knew deep down my mindset was the reason why and this video gave me a new perspective and like a deeper ah ha moment. Thank youuu 🙏🏼✨
I feel the same way! Thanks!
Just a side note on the cigarette bit... I've traveled to Mexico quite a bit.. and I was shocked to see rotting feet, and black rotting tongues and everything else on the cigarettes
It was incredible to see people still smoking them regardless.
I don't see many people smoke here anymore... but I think the no.smoking zones and the incredible price Increase on cigarettes helped to deter.
Vaping and gummies is not to uncommon here from what I've seen
THIS IS THE BIGGEST RELIEF I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. THANK YOU
Thank you soo much for your videos! What you’re putting out is precious. Thank you for the effort.
Thank you so much for making this video for us. This is a valuable gift to many of us
Here’s something I noticed as someone who takes public transit regularly for commuting: I can go for jogs outside or run miles on the treadmill barely breaking a sweat. But if I’m running to catch a subway that’s about to leave- I’ll be gasping for air and sweating so much by the time I’m actually on the train.
I would have liked it if you could have given a definition of stress during the video, because all the while I was wondering how anyone could find it positive since I thought it was the feeling you get when there is too much to do and you can't do it and it completely paralyses you, slows down your thinking etc, but after looking it up it is actually way more than that so I kinda get what you mean.
So much needed information. Thank you Ana!
I see a lot of people talking about stress as a strictly negative thing, but eustress, or stress that can have a beneficial effect on the body and mind, I think absolutely can and does exist! Like, when you face challenges, you can feel motivated and energized due to the stress, rather than strictly being demotivated or harmed in some fashion. There's always two sides to a coin!
Seeing "Dr. Ana" in the intro made me really happy.
Your videos have helped me a lot since I discovered your channel, I hope you can continue making them and pursuing your goals in life
Good luck!
Thank you Ana, I always was this very excited kid and teenager and then life happened and anxiety and now after some healing I’m like « why can’t I be like before, it was pure excitement and joy and now everything is so complicated » like even when good stuff and bad stuff happen I am never just happy or sad about them. So!!!! Now I know that stress and excitement are the same thing!!! I am not even surprised it makes so much sense. Especially it goes along the philosophy of the GOAT Spinoza about people choosing one of the two passions, sadness vs joy (obviously it’s deeper than that and it’s about transcendance and I cannot translate) , with the people living in the way of sadness becoming slave of that passion. That dude is always right it’s crazy
Very true. Puts it into perspective when u hear or see someone else's struggles
This is a great video. When I was doing addiction counseling a big lesson I did was on stress and educating not only on how to manage it, but teaching about the good types of stress. For example, exercise increases the cortisol in the body. We may become stressed during a challenge like school and end up growing from it. Etc. I really liked your comment about getting anxious about your pulse getting faster, because that happens to a lot of people, yet when it’s stress and a fast pulse from exercise we don’t think about it
Great video! Thanks Ana, i think I've been avoiding stress out of fear of embracing it, and I feel valid now in relating with it in different ways
But how you respond to stress and the effects of stress are two separate things. Isn't it obvious that people who have healthy coping mechanisms can mitigate the harmful effects of stress better than those who do not?
Exactly
Congratulations Dr. Ana! :) Really love this video. I've been rewatching your video on stoicism trying to burn these ideas into my head and this one will also get a few replays. Ironically, I've learned to deal with stress worse as I've gotten older. As a teen, I made a big commitment to become more optimistic and positive to great effect. I've slowly lost this mindset throughout my 20s. These videos are helping me reignite that flame.
Omg the channel name change!! Congrats, Dr. Ana!
Thank you very much for this video.
This was great! I just wish the stress we all are experiencing wasn’t mostly to blame on capitalism! We can’t normalize this insanity by saying it’s regular ol stress and you just need to reframe out of it. Don’t work that way.
This was so helpful and enlightening! THANK YOU for sharing this information ❤
Love the Dr.Ana !!!!
There are multiple studies confirming significant reduction in functional IQ when a subject experiences significant stress (especially over prolonged periods). Interesting how you didn't discuss that at all.
Thank you very much! That was helpful ❤
gratz on finishing! I love your takes. I'm really happy for you and for anyone who gets to see your content. We need more people like you on youtube. Now all you need is the youtube stamp that says you are a qualified expert in the field.
I have GAD, watched over 500 videos on the topic, tried so many programs. All because i was convinced 100% that stress is bad and i’ll become severely ill eventually if I have it.
This video kinda blew my mind, I see my mistake suddenly, everything makes sense.
Thank you Dr.Ana!
This was an awesome and enlightening video! Thank you so much for sharing. I used to buy into the whole 'stress minimization' narrative and I'm so glad I learned about how your mindset can affect how stress impacts you. I am in an MFT program right now and this video changes how I will talk to my future clients about stress. Stress is INEVITABLE. Rather than viewing stress as a fight-flight-freeze response, it is much more helpful and hope-inspiring to use the mindset of shift and persist or excite and delight.
Thank you, this info is very helpful :) It really helped me to shift my perception of stress and feel more in control :)
If you have a reason to endure it, stress is tolerable. If you don't, like me, you just want it all to end.
Very interesting thesis and point of view. I remember one of the earliest nueroscience articles I read focused on a Bell Curve of stretch where at the optimal amount is a healthy amount of stress. Mindset could be related, I love it.
What are these examples of countries that are less stressed and unhappiest? Because i always read about the opposite examples.
I really needed this video! I have questions, though; Ana, how would you frame this for people who already have PTSD as well as stress-sensitive chronic illnesses?
I had the same question when I was watching the video. Personally, I think I was pretty good at dealing with stress until a certain point in my life. I did consider stressful situations a challenge and I was always up to it. However, then an immensely stressful, painful and scary situation happened to me, and while I did initially view it as a challenge, I actually failed at it miserably. Without any way how to re-frame it positively, and combined with other negative factors at that time, it really ended up giving me PTSD and was a trigger for my anxiety disorder. At first the anxiety was mostly related to human relationships, but I've noticed that as I get older, the more areas of my life it touches, and lately I find it hard to deal with stress at all. I've obviously noticed that this inability affects my life negatively (it really stunts my growth), but changing it is much easier said than done. I feel like at a certain point, this becomes a physical, neurological issue rather than a purely psychological one, and rewiring your brain is a pretty tough task. Dr. Ana's video gave me some interesting pointers I haven't thought of before, but I'd still like to see her address this "caveat".
I wonder if MDMA therapy could help you out with the anxiety and PTSD, life changing for some. Soon it will be legal for treatment resistant PTSD.
Congrats, Dr.Ana! I've been watching since the beginning hehe so excited for you and this new chapter!
Congratulations on becoming a Dr.!🥳🎉
A majorly overlooked source of actual physiological stress- skipping meals.
Dr. ANA!!
I really needed this video more than I knew 😅💞
I'd really like a video on Frankl and logotherapy.
Maybe you already have one?
I was just thinking the other day that I'm surprised I don't have one on it! I will definitely keep that in consideration, cause it's one of the most transformational books I've read and one I'd like to go back to regularly.
I have ADHD and use stress to push me and focus at work. Unfortunately, I am now in a cycle of daily burnout as I don't know how to also make career success (or other success) meaningful to me. I struggle with framing things as meaningful as it doesn't feel natural (or authentic) and I lack remaining willpower to force myself buy-in to change without meaning. Does reframing your mindset feel unnatural, disingenuous, wrong, and how do you overcome that?
My family just bought your new book for my birthday, I really can't wait to use it!
THANK YOU!!
dr. ana!!!
Congratulations on becoming a Dr! Regarding the topic of video, since you mention a lot of studies, have you heard about the recent scandals of manipulated data in behavioral studies (like that one professor from Standford)? How do you think this would impact applying paper findings in the real world?
Im interested too. I read that research retractions are up from 1 in 100 to 1 in 50. In reading research papers and studies myself i have noticed bad methods, logic and biases. When people are taking these studies as gospel it can be disasterous. I am glad its coming to light how flawed this system can be, not just in behavioral health but health in general.
Thank you for this
Good content. Our thoughts create our reality.
all growth/improvement is a trauma response to stress , without stress you would be a puddle of slime or worse XD ; absolutely HOW you respond to stress will determine the quality of your life indeed
I believe you're mixing worry and anxiety with stress, which alot of people do. Stress is an overwhelming feeling of danger and unease which forces you to fight flight freeze fawn. You literally feel like you are going to die, that's why it's called survival mode. What we stress about (which is actually worry about) is something triggering the stress response. Stress is not sustainable. You can channel your worries and anxieties into being prepared or to be productive but prolonged stress is not healthy.
Very important video 👍
Weirdly, this video aligns with the spiritual book A Course in Miracles
Talk about stress management
Congratulations for becoming a Dr.
"Be delulu. That's the solulu."
16:43 dont think I'd go as far to say that it's ONLY harmful if dont have a good mindset about it. with all things there's usually a threshold in which we can deal with something and that threshold is highly individualized. still, very cool video and puts to words phenomena I see in myself which is one of the best things media can do for me :)
So just wondering, why do you have videos on ‘healing the nervous system from trauma’ if you say that people with CPTSD/PTSD/anxiety are ‘overestimating’ their own physical responses and lived experience? It’s a bit contradictory...
Wouldn't you think that the people who didn't think stress was bad, didn't have stress that was that intense to begin with? I think that's a huge confounding factor that's being overlooked here.
It might be helpful for mild stress but telling people whose lives are debilitated by unbearable stress and emotional triggers to just change there mindset and see it as a good thing is hugely invalidating and destructive IMO.
It might be the case that people who have an optimistic view on stress learn to manage stress better but I can’t see how chronic stress in any fashion isn’t harmful
Like the video mentioned, it largely depends on the kind of stress! The stress of a high-stakes job that you're excited for and find fulfilling is quite different from the stress of working for a tyrannical boss. Not all stress is created equally, and some kinds are definitely easier to view more positively.
Yes, that's how I think about it, too.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality - Seneca. There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so - Shakespeare.
What about the studies that show a high amount of stress can cause physical health issues?
I found that many doctors love to use stress as a catch-all reason for your health issues, since they can't really do anything about it and it removes responsibility from them to you, and since there are so many articles about stress negatively affecting mental and physical health, you can't say they are in 100% wrong. But sometimes, we are under stress and that is just the way it is, and it's better to accept it than fear-monger about stress literally making everything in your body fall apart. You know doc, it's pretty reasonable that I'm stressed when I am in constant chronic pain 24/7, I don't need you preaching about "managing stress", actually I managed it a lot more stoically before so many doctors came along and started making the Stress alone something to be afraid of. Just like telling your panic attack "I'm not scared of you, I won't try and stop you, do your thing" makes the panic attack quickly melt away, the same can be applied to stress
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Considering that stress levels like cortisol aren't the main problem, do you think caffiene isn't as bad for stress and anxiety as we're told. Could it even be beneficial if it gives us the energy to face our fears by viewing them through the challenge mindset?
All fine, but how does that apply to little children who live in stressful environment and still don't have such cognition around stress and its perception?