How to Make Stress your Friend

After watching Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk respond to the following questions:

  • What did she say that was different from what you have believed about stress?
  • What did you take away from the talk that you can use in your own life?

14 Responses

  1. Samus Marsh says:

    One thing that she said that I didn’t know about stress was that changing how you think about stress can make you healthier.
    One thing I took away from the talk was to not always think that stress is bad or at least not to always react in a negative way.

  2. Kyleisha says:

    Kelly McGonigal’s TED talk is different from what I believed because she is starting to focus on that changing your way of thinking about stress can make it less negative on your health. Everyone growing up tells you stress is bad for your health, as it increases death by 43% in a person, but that is only if you think of it that way, if you don’t then stress will not increase a persons death rate. What I took away is that my opinions on stress could be wrong as she is telling her audience about how she always thought about stress was bad, but one article changed it all for her due to other people having different opinions on stress. Looking at stress as helpful can keep you more focused as well as healthy, remaining relaxed when there are stressful experiences can make you live into your 90s, having a positive outlook on it will make you rise when dealing with these difficult situations, therefore I want to adapt that into my thinking especially with school; stressing about work will only make you better for college and the future.

  3. marla says:

    One thing that she said that was different from what I believed about stress was that it can be good for you if you make your body believe it is good for you. I also did not know that harmones were involved. One thing that I can take away and use in my own life is that caring for people can reduce stress and help you cope with stress.

  4. William says:

    Something that she said that I didn’t know about stress is that if you think your stress in affecting your health the chance of your death increases meaning your life span goes down, but if you don’t believe it affects your health it doesn’t have an effect.
    I learned that stress isn’t always a bad thing and it literally is trying to force your body to seek help. when I heard we released oxytocin when stressed I was very surprised. I always thought stress is just only negative effects. So this helped me see that to stop my stress i need to not bottle things up and just talk about it.

  5. kenyon burris says:

    in the TedTalk she said you have to think of the stress of stress in a different light you have to think about stress as a challenge you can overcome not something that will cause you to panic. stress takes a big part of your body and makes you think negatively about things but if you think that you can overcome it with the help of kindness and caring it will help you bounce back from the stress of large situations. she tells you to stress talks about how she always thought stress was bad for your health and that it isn’t good, but she found out later that she was wrong and stress wasn’t bad it’s the way you manage the stress which takes a toll on your health. what I learned it isn’t bad unless you make it bad you have to control how It is for you and if you control the stress it could make your life less stressful. I also took out what she was saying that stress is helped by family and friends because they will help you feel better and help you bounce back from it easier because you’ll have a new look at stress and that you can overcome it without damaging your health.

  6. Raegan says:

    I have never thought of stress as something that could have positive effects, but the research and studies spoken about in the TED Talk say otherwise. I learned that the way stress is viewed by the person experiencing it can effect not only our mindset but our future health.

    I will now try to view stress positively, as a response that is preparing me for events or situations that need it. I think doing this will improve my health and view on life, making stress a more positive experience rather than a negative one.

  7. Jestin Lord says:

    I believed before that stress was scary but hopefully her words will work and next time I’m feeling stress I’ll think, “That’s my body caring for me.”

  8. Jasmine Wade says:

    thinking of your stress response as helpful can make you less anxious and more confident it can also change your physical response by keeping your blood vessels relaxed and healthy rather than them restricting which is very unhealthy for your body.
    leaning to think about stress as helpful rather than harmful can improve your mental and physical health.

  9. Alondra says:

    I found it super interesting that she was able to contrast with her own ideas that she had been teaching for years which in a way teaches that your opinion on something does not need to be concrete forever. I was unaware of how many different ways stress affects the body physically. I know correlation does not equal causation but her bringing up the statistics to back up her claim really solidified her argument. The numbers made me feel more accountable for my actions because I don’t want to stress on stuff that is so fleeting.

  10. shayde says:

    She said that was Stress was harmful for you. There is a disease call Oxycontin, Oxycontin is a hormone is a distress that it can cause unfriendly relationships. I can use resilience in my life to keep the positive and negative thoughts at balance.

    • shayde says:

      She said that stress can be good for my body and actually make me work harder. I have believed that stress is harmful for my body & stress causes emotions.

      From the talk, I took away that learning oxytocin has be both good and bad when it is released. Since learning that it can be good and bad, I will use that to gain resiliency and learn that sometimes being anxious or nervous isn’t a bad thing. Just like stress isn’t always a bad thing.

  11. Nick says:

    What I can take away from this talk is stress doesn’t always have to be harmful to your health. I could learn how to use my stress in a healthy way by helping others in need. She said it could help you live longer by connecting with others that are in need.

  12. Priscilla says:

    What she said that was different from what I believed about stress was that stress can affect people’s health more if they believe it can have negative impacts on their health. But people who viewed stress as unrelated to their health faced fewer negative effects from it.
    What I took away from the talk was that stress can be a beneficial experience rather than something to be ashamed of or anxious about having.

  13. neal says:

    If you always are trying to see what is wrong with your friend and never leaving them alone you will stress them out even more. But if you try to talk about stuff that you can relate to it will make them more comfortable to talk about the training to make them talk .

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