The Upside of Stress

The introduction opens with a question: is stress harmful and to be avoided, or helpful and to be embraced? The author says that five years earlier the first answer would have come without hesitation: as a health psychologist, the message “stress is toxic” had been delivered for years to students, magazines and television. Then comes the study that shook that view: in 1998, 30,000 American adults were asked both how much stress they had experienced and whether they believed stress was harmful to their health. Eight years later, high stress was found to increase the risk of dying by 43% — but only among those who believed stress was harmful.

The author openly describes being shaken by this: perhaps teaching about the dangers of stress had been doing more harm than good? The comparison is with graphic warnings on cigarette packs: studies show the most frightening images can trigger fear in smokers, who then calm that fear with — a cigarette. In the same way, students told about the harms of stress right before exams left the lecture hall looking more depressed. These are the most sincere pages in the book: a scientist acknowledging a mistake.

The chapter centres on psychologist Alia Crum's experiments. In the first, housekeepers in some of seven hotels are told that their work — changing sheets, pushing carts, vacuuming — is actually exercise. Four weeks later only that group has lost weight and body fat and lowered their blood pressure, though nothing else in their lives has changed. In the second, the same 380-calorie shake is served once labelled “620-calorie Indulgence” and once as a “140-calorie Sensi-Shake” — and when participants believe it is indulgent, the hunger hormone ghrelin drops three times as much. The conclusion is simple: you get what you expect.

The most interesting part is the mock job interview the author personally took part in: dozens of sensors, “bosses” trained to give negative feedback whatever happens, and a three-minute video shown beforehand. Those who watched the video presenting stress as helpful showed no change in cortisol but a higher ratio of DHEA, a hormone that helps the brain grow stronger — the “growth index”. In an intervention at UBS during the 2008 crisis, employees who watched positive videos about stress reported less anxiety, depression, back pain and insomnia.

Here is the author's core argument: a mindset is not a placebo. A placebo is a short-lived effect; a mindset snowballs because it changes behaviour. A person who sees stress as harmful avoids it, turns to alcohol and distances themselves from the source of the problem; a person who sees it as helpful accepts the problem, makes a plan and asks for help. The chapter ends by introducing Crum's “Stress Mindset Measure” and Greg Walton's one-hour “belonging” interventions at Stanford.

A critical note matters: the 1998 study is observational and does not prove a causal link between belief and death — the author acknowledges this, yet the “182,000 people” figure is then used as a powerful headline. Some of Crum's and Walton's intervention results have replicated with smaller effects in later years. The Turkish edition contains many typesetting errors and literal translation. Despite all this, the book's main message — change how you relate to stress instead of treating it as an enemy — is smart and useful.

• A candid opening in which a scientist admits a mistake
• Psychology experiments told vividly, like stories
• Short, practical exercises for the reader in every chapter