Celebrating Challenge

Reflections on the book The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for you (and How to Get Good at it) by Kelly McGonigal

It is becoming increasingly well-known that we have two different types of nervous systems: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. A healthy balance is required between the two; and if this balance is upset when one’s sympathetic nervous system is induced too much, the excess of cortisol and adrenalin can have adverse effects on the body. Many people with a predisposition towards stress, or who live stressful lifestyles may be at risk of this imbalance, and are encouraged to try to calm their nerves through various techniques including deep breathing, meditation and yoga.

The Upside of Stress is based upon the premise the vast majority of people believe that the “fight or flight response” triggered by the sympathetic nervous system is “bad”, and the “rest and digest response” triggered by the parasympathetic system is “good”. McGonigal counters this idea by arguing that in addition to cortisol and adrenalin being released during times of stress, there is another hormone, DHEA, which may be induced when the individual takes a positive attitude towards the stressful situation they are experiencing. If one welcomes a period of stress as a challenge, they will reap benefits rather than suffer detriment. A build-up of DHEA, McGonigal explains, reduces levels of anxiety, depression, heart disease and neurodegeneration. In addition there are other hormones such as oxytocin which are released during times of stress; and oxytocin over time can be good for cardiovascular health. Essentially therefore, The Upside of Stress is a book about positive thinking.

McGonigal argues that the term “fight or flight” to describe the response initiated by the sympathetic nervous system is misleading, and offers instead the terms “excite and delight” (as DHEA helps one recover and learn from stress) and “tend and befriend” (as during difficult situations, the pituitary gland releases oxytocin to motivate social connection). What she suggests is in fact nothing new. We are all aware that learning how to deal with demanding situations is better than to pretend they do not exist; and that challenges can be enjoyable and invigorating. While I was pleased to see McGonigal encouraging her readers to adopt a positive attitude, she seemed to misunderstand the endeavours of the industry which has built up around reducing people’s stress levels. Part of reducing stress is, of course, to accept it and learn how to put it to good use.

McGonigal suggests that engaging oneself with a situation is the polar opposite of being relaxed. However, yoga has taught me with that this is not true. When practising hatha yoga, you engage your muscles so that they are neither clenched nor floppy. By extension yoga can help people fine-tune their attitude towards life, reaching acceptance and taking action as appropriate; engaging with situations rather than “fighting” or “fleeing” from them. (In fact The Bhagavad Gita, upon which much of yoga philosophy is based, is very much about taking action. However, that is a separate subject!)

Most of The Upside of Stress read like a self-help book, and therefore did not interest me much. However, there were a few concepts which interested me. For example, she explained how tests on rodents to see how a mammal responds to a stressful situation were inappropriate, because the torture inflicted on them was very different from the type of stress we might feel, for example, in the office. And she discussed how one can alter one’s physical health through psychosomatic means (citing Alia Crum’s famous experiment, whereby the physical fitness levels of hotel maids were greater in those who were told their work was good physical exercise).

I am not sure whether I would necessarily recommend The Upside of Stress, but reading it has reinforced my attachment to yoga as the ideal way to simultaneously challenge oneself and let go; and feel both energised and at peace within.