We know stress is enemy No1 for good health and wellbeing, right? Excess stress has been linked with IBS, depression and insomnia, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer, skin conditions, ageing and even making you put on weight around the middle. So reducing chronic stress is generally regarded as a good thing to do.

But now a group of scientists are bucking the trend and saying that we’ve got it all wrong about stress and that our efforts to reduce it are actually making it worse. According to Dr Kelly McGonigal from Stanford University, what we really have to do to eradicate the harmful effects of stress is change our mindset. She believes it’s not stress itself that is bad for us, it’s thinking stress is dangerous that’s the problem. Embrace stress and see it as a positive force in your life, she says, and it will improve your health, by boosting your immune system and memory. In her book, The Upside of Stress, she lists research that suggests that regularly experiencing stress can even help you live longer – if you think about it in the right way. ‘The best stress management approach isn’t to reduce or avoid stress, but rather to rethink or even embrace stress,’ says Dr McGonigal. ‘Changing your mind about stress can transform your health, your emotions and ultimately, your experience of life.’

As a health psychologist, Dr McGonigal spent much of her career highlighting the dangers of stress and advising on ways to reduce it. But then she came across a study that challenged everything she had previously taken for granted. In 1998, 30,000 adults in the US were asked how much stress they had experienced in the past year. They were also asked if they believed stress was bad for health. Then eight years later, the scientists checked public records to see who among the 30,000 had died. The study showed that high levels of stress increased the risk of dying by 43 per cent, but only in people who believed that stress was bad for you. People who experienced high levels of stress but did not view it as harmful had the lowest risk of death of anyone in the study, including those who experienced very little stress. ‘The researchers concluded that it wasn’t stress alone that was killing people. It was the combination of stress and the belief that stress is harmful,’ says Dr McGonigal. Inspired to do further research, she has come to the conclusion that stress is harmful only when you believe it is, and that viewed positively, stress can bring a range of benefits.

Whether stress is a positive or negative influence on your health comes down to the balance of hormones, believes Dr McGonigal. We hear a lot about the hormone cortisol that is released by the adrenal glands during stress. As well as metabolising fat and sugar for use as energy, it suppresses some biological functions such digestion and cell repair. Being regularly exposed to excessive amounts of cortisol can lead to problems such as impaired immune function and depression. But what’s less well-known is that stress also triggers the release of DHEA, a neurosteroid which helps your brain grow. DHEA also counters some of the effects of cortisol by speeding up wound repair and enhancing immune function. High levels of DHEA are linked with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression, heart disease, neurodegeneration and other diseases.

Now research is showing that your mindset may influence how much DHEA you release when you’re under pressure. In one study by psychologist Alia Crum from Columbia University, participants who watched a three-minute video on how stress can improve performance, enhance wellbeing and help you grow, released more DHEA when exposed to a stressful event (a mock job interview) than participants who watched a video describing how stress harms you. ‘Viewing stress as helpful created a different biological reality,’ says Dr McGonigal.

But given stress’s bad reputation, how realistic is to suddenly switch to thinking about it positively? It’s easier than you might think, says Dr McGonigal. She points to a study of employees at UBS, the global financial firm, who faced severe pressure during the 2008 economic collapse. A group of employees were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group received online training on how harmful stress is for health and wellbeing. The second group received online training on the positive aspects of stress. A third group received no training at all. The study found that the employees in the second group were less anxious and depressed and reported fewer health problems like back pain and insomnia, despite continuing to work in a very stressful environment. They also reported greater focus, engagement and productivity at work, while the employees in the other two group reported no changes. But what’s surprising is what the online training programme consisted of – it was simply three, three-minute videos. ‘Very brief interventions can lead to lasting changes in how people think about and experience stress,’ says Dr McGonigal.

A study at the University of Lisbon found that students who viewed exam anxiety as helpful, not harmful, reported less emotional exhaustion as exams approached. They also did better in their exams and earned higher grades at the end of the term. Other studies have found that teachers and doctors who view their anxiety as helpful are less likely to suffer burn-out. ‘To my surprise, embracing stress has helped me the most in the most difficult situations – dealing with the death of a loved one, coping with chronic pain, and even overcoming a paralysing fear of flying,’ says Dr McGonigal. ‘Even when stress doesn’t feel helpful – as in the case of anxiety – welcoming the stress can transform it into something that is helpful: more energy, more confidence and more willingness to take action. Seeing the good in stress doesn’t require abandoning the awareness that in some cases, stress is harmful. The mindset shift that matters is the one that allows you to hold a more balanced view of stress – to fear it less, to trust yourself to handle it, and to use it for a resource for engaging with life.’

The 3-Step Good Stress Guide

1 Acknowledge stress when you experience it. Simply allow yourself to notice the stress, including how it affects your body.

2 Welcome stress by recognising that stress is a response to something you care about. Can you connect to the positive motivation behind the stress? What is at stake here, and why does it matter to you?

3 Direct the energy that stress gives you, instead of wasting that energy trying to manage your stress. Ask yourself: what action can you take, or choice can you make, that is consistent with your goals and values in this moment?