Middle-aged and older men who have a challenge
response to stress are less likely to be diagnosed
with metabolic syndrome than those with a threat
response. And in the Framingham Heart Study, one
of the best-designed and longest-running epidemio-
logical studies ever conducted in the United States,
those with a challenge-response physiology had a
greater brain volume across their life spans. In other
words, their brains shrunk less as they aged.
Your stress response also affects how well you
perform under pressure. During a threat response,
your emotions will likely include fear, anger, self-
doubt or shame. Because your primary goal is to
protect yourself, you become more vigilant to signs
that things are going poorly. This can create a vicious
cycle in which your heightened attention to what’s
going wrong makes you even more fearful and self-
doubting. In contrast, during a challenge response,
you may feel a little anxious, but you also feel excited,
energized, enthusiastic and confident. Your primary
goal is not to avoid harm but rather to go after what
you want. Your attention is more open and ready to
engage with your environment, and you’re prepared
to put your resources to work.
When you want to perform well and aren’t in dan-
ger, a challenge response is by far the most helpful
stress response. It gives you more energy, improves
performance, helps you learn from the experience
and is even healthier for you. But while a challenge re-
sponse is ideal, a threat response is common in many
situations that ask us to perform under pressure.
Psychologists found that the most important fac-
tor in determining your response to pressure is how
you think about your ability to handle it. When faced
with any stressful situation, you begin to evaluate
both the situation and your resources. How hard is
this going to be? Do I have the skills, the strength
and the courage? Is there anyone who could help me?
This evaluation of demands and resources may not
be conscious, but it’s happening under the surface.
As you weigh the demands of the situation against
the resources you bring to it, you make a rapid as-
sessment of your ability to cope.
This evaluation is the key to determining your
stress response. If you believe that the demands
of the situation exceed your resources, you will
have a threat response. But if you believe you
have the resources to succeed, you will have a
challenge response.
Lots of studies show that people are more likely
to have a challenge response if they focus on their re-
sources. Some of the most effective strategies for this
are acknowledging your personal strengths; think-
ing about how you have prepared for a particular
challenge; remembering times in the past when you
overcame similar challenges; imagining the support
of your loved ones; and praying, or knowing that oth-
ers are praying for you. These are all quick mindset
shifts that can turn a threat into a challenge—which
makes them good things to try the next time you
want to perform well under pressure.
Viewing the stress response as a resource can
transform the physiology of fear into the biology of
courage. It can turn a threat into a challenge and can
help you do your best under pressure. Even when the
stress doesn’t feel helpful—as in the case of anxiety—
welcoming it can transform it into something that is
helpful: more energy, more confidence and a greater
willingness to take action.
You can apply this strategy in your own life any-
time you notice signs of stress. When you feel your
heart pounding or your breath quickening, realize
that it is your body’s way of trying to give you more
energy. If you notice tension in your body, remind
yourself that the stress response gives you access to
your strength. Sweaty palms? Remember what it
felt like to go on your first date—palms sweat when
you’re close to something you want. If you have but-
terflies in your stomach, know that they are a sign
of meaning. Your digestive tract is lined with hun-
dreds of millions of nerve cells that respond to your
thoughts and emotions. Butterflies are your gut’s way
of saying, “This matters.” Let yourself remember why
this particular moment matters to you.
Whatever the sensations of stress are, worry less
about trying to make them go away, and focus more
on what you are going to do with the energy, strength
and drive that stress gives you. Your body is provid-
ing you access to all your resources to help you rise
to this challenge. Instead of taking a deep breath to
calm down, take a deep breath to sense the energy
that is available to you. Then put the energy to use,
and ask yourself, “What action can I take, or what
choice can I make, that is consistent with my goal in
this moment?” •From The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for
You, and How to Get Good at It, by Kelly McGonigal,
Ph.D., published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin
Group. Copyright © 2015 by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.