How you think about stress, impacts the stress response in profound ways.

So this
paper, rethinking stress, the role of mindsets and determining stress, did a very
simple set of manipulations. They had people in one group listen to a lecture that
effectively was titled, quote, the effects of stress are negative and should be
avoided. And that lecture included information about how stress diminishes
performance and how it can diminish health and vitality learning and performance,
productivity. It increases uncertainty, et cetera. And all of that information is
true. A separate group listened to a lecture entitled: Experiencing Stress Improves
Health and Vitality. And again, that information is true. Now I realize that some
of you are probably still asking how can it be that stress diminishes health and
performance and stress also enhances health and performance? And the answer lies in
two things. One, the level of stress and therefore the level of hormones that are
released in response to that stress, the duration over which the stress response
occurs.