Stress response doesn’t have to be bad. Here’s how to reframe it.

#stress So – what does “reframing look like”. In this study they taught the participants that their stress was a tool. The students did a number of standardized reading and writing assignments to help them better understand stress and the body’s reaction to it. “It does not encourage relaxation, but instead focuses on changing the type of stress response: If we believe we have sufficient resources to address the demands we’re presented with—it doesn’t matter if the demands are high—if we think we can handle them…” In the study this led to increases in testosterone and decreases in cortisol during exam situations – testosterone helps us to work at peak performance.