RECOVER: April 4, 2014

Performance Enhancing Thoughts - are they legal?

Spoiler summary - words shape beliefs, beliefs shape reactions, reactions shape health.....we're closer to understanding why.

"I was so stressed out". Ever catch yourself saying those 5 incredibly powerful words?....Was it today?  Me too. What if it were a good thing?  What if that heart-racing, rapid breathing, near-anxious state was actually a good thing - your body getting ready for the challenge ahead?  Could it be? You decide.

In an effort to satisfy our curious minds and further our knowledge of what it "really takes" to achieve, the team stumbled upon a very interesting TED Talk and dove deeper to find a 2012 Association for Psychological Science paper on a subject that everyone interfaces with: STRESS. Although the academic nature of the paper made it a cure for insomnia in some readers, the authors (University of Rochester, U of California San Fran and Harvard U) flexed some fairly impressive evidence that might help turn the whole stress-is-bad thing on it's head - literally.

One of the key concepts was the power of language to shape a situation....and therefore our body's response to it.  Take for example the words "challenge" and "threat". Although they both represent something difficult, as you get below the surface, they are on very different sides of that fine line.  Challenge can be very positive - a difficult thing that is actually very positive if you choose to deal with and overcome it.  Threat on the other hand is usually very negative - a difficult thing that is likely to hurt you if you DON'T choose to deal with and overcome it.  As it turns out, deep in the recesses of your brain, when you are deciding between that fine line of "is this challenge?" or "is this threat?", your body primes itself differently.

From the study: "...challenge is characterized by improved cardiac efficiency and dilation of the peripheral vasculature, whereas threat decreases cardiac efficiency and constricts the vasculature in anticipation of damage or defeat"

What this means is that both challenge and threat kick your nervous system into a higher gear.....but they do so in very different ways....each starting a very different reaction by the body.  When the situation seems hard but winnable (challenge) your nervous system kicks on and OPENS the valves of the pipes....but if you interpret the situation as a high potential for defeat (threat) the nervous system kicks on an CLOSES the valves.

Need a classic example? People who exhibit test-taking anxiety (threat) often describe cold-clammy hands (less blood flow b/c valves are closed) - even to the point where rubbing hands together to "warm-up" seems to have some benefit.....but that bottom-up (hands to mind) attempt may have only been half of the solution.  What if you could see the situation as a hard, but winnable challenge (mind to hands), would it impact your performance? The research says yes.  One study demonstrated that people who were taught to understand that their body's responses (heart rate going up for example) were normal responses - i.e. the body gearing up for the challenge - not only performed better on the task, but recovered faster from it.

Maybe the "that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger" mindset that was very much a part of the tough fabric of the times a generation or two ago was right? Maybe there was a physiological reason why - "you're fine....it builds character" was some of the most sage advice ever given.  Maybe.....the challenges we overcome not only define who we are in the stories we tell.....but how healthy we'll be when we're telling them.

Let us know when you're ready to learn more.

Have a great week,

Mike E.