Is there a way to take benefit of a stressful situation?

Stress responses like faster heart rate, faster breathing, etc. Must be used to face any challenge because our bodies are biologically best at dealing with stress.

In an open conversation, Kelly McGonagall talks about the importance of changing history about how we think about stress. He's always treated stress as a disease, but thanks to the latest stress research, Kelly has redefined stress and how we should view it.

The study analyzes how people feel when stressed, their attitude to stress, and then tries to relate it to death. Surprisingly, people who were stressed and thought stress was harmful to their health had a significant risk of death than those who were stressed but didn't know it was dangerous.

So, according to Kelly, research proves that stress does not cause death, but our belief system that stress is harmful, and therefore we can change our body's response to stress by changing the way we think about stress.

Explaining the general psychological concept of "fight or flight" to his audience, Kelly explains that because our bodies are biologically best at handling stress, stress responses like faster heart rate, faster breathing, etc., must be used to meet any challenge.

The downside of stress is the constriction of blood vessels accompanying cardiovascular disease. Still, when people learn to view stress as a positive phenomenon, blood vessels don't constrict that much.

Oxytocin is often associated with relationships and is sometimes referred to as the cuddle hormone. However, this hormone is also released in stressful situations. It is known to maintain the heart and heal it from the effects of stress, so you indirectly increase your resistance to stress by releasing more of this hormone in stressful situations. 

In this way, Kelly concludes that preparing our minds for stressful situations can have long-term benefits.