A TED-Talk by Kelly McGonigal on “How To Make Stress Your Friend”
A classmate showed me this great TED-Talk about a month ago and thought it would be great to share! If you feel like your stress levels can get a bit out of control and you want to learn to handle it a bit better, then this brief talk might be beneficial for you to watch. The biggest shocker to me was definitely learning that oxytocin (a.k.a. the “cuddle hormone) is released along with adrenaline in times of stress, and the release of oxytocin prompts us to seek human contact. This can prove to be an adaptive response though, since our body is attempting to solve our problem (stress) by making us want to seek help.
In short, what I took away from this TED-Talk:
1. Talk to someone! Oxytocin is healing to your heart and helps repair damage, and this hormone can be released in times of intimacy and social interaction.
2. Learn to associate stress positively instead of negatively. Your body acts in response to your brain, so if you see stress in a different light, your body will too.