Why mindset actually matters when it comes to stress.

Your heart rate is rising, your hands are sweaty, your breath is speeding and you can feel your heart pumping in your chest.

Is this anxiety, a panic attack...

or are you just going for a jog?

It may surprise you, but what's happening in your nervous system and hormonally is very similar between extreme stress and a good workout. In fact, if you took your bloodwork and vitals while you were exercising, it would probably look like you were so stressed out you were about to have a massive heart attack. And yet, when we exercise, we aren't worried that any of these physiological changes will harm us.

We actually know that they'll make us healthier!  So what's the difference? 

Choice. 

Your mindset is one of the most important factors in how your body reacts to the stressors in your life. 

Think I'm kidding? Look at this study:

Researchers took 30,000 US adults and asked them two main questions:

1) “How much stress have you experienced in the last year?”

2) “Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health?”

They waited 8 years and then tracked everyone down to see what happened. 

Unsurprisingly, those who experienced a large amount of stress AND perceived that stress to be harmful to their health had a 43% increased risk of dying during the course of the study.

Yikes.

 But, people who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful , actually had the LOWEST RISK of dying early of anyone in the study--including people who had relatively little stress. According to these findings, stress doesn’t kill—it can actually improve your longevity. Our thoughts about stress kill.

So how do you make sure that the stress you're experiencing is as beneficial to you as exercise, rather than a silent killer? All you need are some simple, research supported  mindset, breathing and habit building techniques to guide you towards resilience.  When you're ready to get started, I'd love to chat with you.