Conventional wellness wisdom might persuade us to eliminate stress as much as possible. But psychologists say not so fast.
一种今年发表的研究Journal of Experimental Psychology证明学生将压力视为一种应对工具在数学考试中的表现要好于学生在数学考试中的表现更好。该研究背后的研究人员说，更多的证据表明压力可以成为成功的关键，而不是抑制剂。
首席研究员说，我们经常被告知压力是一件坏事。杰里米·杰米森（Jeremy Jamieson），博士，纽约罗切斯特大学的心理学副教授和社会压力实验室的首席研究员。
而且，尽管不消失的长期或慢性压力对我们的健康不利，但在我们的健康和福祉方面，我们身体的自然压力反应可能会有所帮助。杰米森博士说：“这实际上是一种资源。”“实际上，这是您成功和表现的能力。”
压力is the body’s normal and natural reaction to changes in the environment it perceives as challenging. Our压力反应triggers a series of physical and mental processes (your heart starts to beat faster, you feel more energized, and you become more alert, among other effects) to help your body meet the challenge it perceives (whether that’s escaping a burning building or kicking yourself into high gear because you’re running late for an important meeting).
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这就是为什么压力可以成为帮助而不是阻碍的工具的原因。所有这些变化都会增强您身体的反应能力。
杰米森说：“我们正在努力使您摆脱压力的心态，因为这件坏事会伤害您。”
Instead, Jamieson’s team is working on strategies to help people reframe how they perceive stress, so they can indeed use it to face (and succeed in meeting) the many challenges life throws at us, rather than be paralyzed by it. In psychology, the term for this is “cognitive reframing,” and it’s a technique that’s been well-studied.
根据review article published in February 2020 in the American Psychological Association’s journal情感(Jamieson is a coauthor), a growing body of evidence suggests that teaching people the usefulness and benefits of stress can improve stress responses, enhance performance, and boost well-being.
The new study from Jamieson and his team adds further evidence that cognitive reframing works, by testing the theory in the face of a real-world stressor: math exams.
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将压力视为工具有助于学生更好地测试
在对339名社区大学生的这项研究中，研究人员给了一组学生一组简短的文字，解释了您在压力时发生的事情，以及为什么压力可以在挑战性情况下帮助提高表现，如果您将其视为一种应对工具而不是障碍（应力重新评估）。另一个小组阅读了一些有关压力反应的段落，但建议不要考虑出现任何压力。然后，要求两组简要描述信息如何帮助他们在考试中执行。
在一个学期的过程中，研究人员跟踪了学生的数学考试成绩，学生在考试前回答了有关焦虑水平的问题，并收集了唾液样本以测量压力激素的水平皮质醇。
The group that had read about stress reappraisal performed better on exams, had lower levels of math anxiety, and even had lower皮质醇水平than the group told to keep stress out of their minds throughout the semester when they took tests.
研究表明，只有当您认为自己没有资源来处理它的情况下，压力才会损害。莎拉·普拉斯曼（Sarah Pressman），博士，加州大学欧文分校的研究人员研究了积极情绪与健康之间的相互作用（她没有参与新研究）。如果您将压力视为工具，那么您更有可能查看压力很大作为挑战。
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Can You Reframe All Stress to Work in Your Favor?
These techniques work best just before performance situations like academic testing or public speaking, scenarios where you have an opportunity to see your stress response as useful before you respond to the challenge you’re facing.
如果您患有panic attack, this technique probably won’t work, Jamieson says. The stress in that case is no longer functional because you’re already responding to whatever the challenge is. That’s why cognitive reframing is used as a therapy forpanic attacks根据您的攻击，而不是在他们期间。美国心理协会。
杰米森（Jamieson）说，他不知道这些技术对应对社交或其他压力源的学生是否有效，因为这项研究仅限于学术压力。但是他的小组正在计划研究，该研究将更广泛地研究可以应用于任何背景的思维策略和压力重新评估。
Pressman adds that it would be interesting to test other physical stress response signals beyond changes in stress hormone levels.
她补充说，这项研究的另一个有趣的发现是，接受指导的对照组忽略了压力，随着时间的流逝，其表现较差，甚至比干预组的表现更高。她说：“也许这种避免压力的事情实际上真的很糟糕，我们不应该告诉人们不要考虑压力。”
Jamieson points out, however, that an older他合着的研究也出版了Journal of Experimental Psychologyshowed there was no difference between test performance for individuals told to ignore stress and those told nothing at all. The academic performance of the control group was also similar to student performance generally in previous semesters, he says.
如何将压力视为工具而不是损害压力
If you’re worried about an upcoming event at which you need to perform in some way — a presentation at work or a toast at a wedding — here’s how you might reframe stress as something useful.
1.不学习的“压力是不好的”
在杰米森（Jamieson）即将进行的研究中，他和一个团队将研究旨在学习“压力是不好”心态的策略。还记得您上次对某事感到兴奋吗？这实际上是您工作中的压力反应。他说：“人们不认为许多积极的情感状态，例如兴奋，是压力的反应。”
2.注意压力出现时注意
请注意，您的压力以及如何为您出现。Darlene Mininni, MD, MPH, the health psychologist who created the undergraduate well-being LifeSkills course at the University of California in Los Angeles. Pay attention to the specific ways your body responds to stress, she says. (They can be emotional and physical.) “When stress shows up for me, I notice my jaw clenches. My heart is pounding. I’m sweating,” she says. That’s the stress response at work.
3.更改消息
一旦您认识到压力正在进行，请提醒自己，这种反应是正常的，甚至可能有用。“也许这表明您的身体实际上正在为您提供能量，” Mininni博士建议，他也是日常健康健康咨询委员会的成员。
4.提前计划
Mininni说，这也很有帮助。虽然我们永远不知道曲线球会给我们带来什么，但我们许多人对倾向于压力我们的情况有一个相当好的主意。Mininni建议，考虑一下您过去曾经做过的或尝试过的话，并计划将来如何处理它的方式。
5. Practice Techniques to Keep Stress Under Control
请记住，当您看到压力反应比身体所响应的实际压力大时，压力就会变得有害。Mininni说，有些人可能会发现练习技术的好处，以首先降低压力反应的音量和强度，例如深呼吸技术，然后面对手头的挑战。找到适合您的东西。
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