Let's talk about stress, baby: reconceptualizing physiological arousal to improve health and wellbeing.

'The candle that burns twice as bright lasts only half as long'. 'Too much stress is bad for you.' 'You're going to work yourself into an early grave.' We have all heard these statements (or ones with similar themes) in our lives. Popular opinion holds that elevated levels of psychological stress is a predictor of poor health outcomes and premature death, the so-called disease of the Type A personality. 

This old piece of 'common sense' is being challenged by new research that asks whether or not it is stress itself that leads to premature death and poor health outcomes, or if it is our conceptualization of stress as a negative that is the causative factor. In a recent paper published in Health Psychology, Keller et al (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22201278) use multiple logistic regression models in conjunction with US Health Interview Survey and National Death Index data to shed some light on the affect our attitudes have on our bodies. 

Keller et al's (2012) research is just one piece of a larger puzzle that multiple research teams around the world are beginning to put together: how we think, how we feel, and how we understand the world around us contributes greatly to our health even in matters previously considered to be purely physical. Below, health psychologist Kelly McGonigal discusses our changing understanding of stress.  

TED Talk: How to make stress your friend