TED talk - How to make stress your friend

People who experienced a lot of stress literally have more experienced risk of dying. It literally affects your health. But, that is only true if the person believes that stress is harmful to them. Not believing that stress is harmful to you has the reverse effect.

It is possible to change to body's response to stress.
There is a study where they design a high social stress scenario

they repeated the test but the teached the subjects beforehand that the stress symptoms are positive. Pounding heart is preparing you for action, breathing faster is getting more oxygen to the brain. Participants that learned to view stress responses as positive were less anxious and their physical responses changed.

Stress makes you social. oxytocin, enhances empathy, makes you more willing to support ppl you care about, is released when you give a hug. Releasing oxytocin when stressed is your body telling you to seek help/support, to tell someone how you feel instead of bottling it up. the heart has oxytocin receptors to help heal stress damages.

Last study asks subjects how much stress have you felt in the year, also asked how much have you helped close relatives.

Helping and caring about others can make you less stressed.

I remember that Simon Sinec clip where he talks about Olympic athletes that learn to interpret stress as being excited because the physical symptoms are exactly the same.