The science of Stress and Resilience

Peter Gowers

Pete Gowers

• Ford IT supervisor with sidelines• Relatively new to Ford, since 1995• Engineering degree and Ford MBA• Typical IT career, lots of moving around• 7 years on stress groups, counselling courses, 10 years

presenting positive psychology, charity listening volunteer and mentor

• 1*wife, 3*cats, 1*4.1 year old, 1*.9 year old• 6.15 AM gym classes punching to dance music• Desire to help people enjoy work more and get a bit

more done• ENFP

Caveats• Pete is an IT Supervisor with an MBA not a

psychologist, medical expert or HR professional

– Do use those people as needed

• I have an interest in the subject area and am just sharing what I’ve read or discovered from professionals and experts

• This stuff works for me, but your mileage may vary

Personal Request

• I’m going to tell you things today, I think are fascinating, they help me and people I know

• They are about how stress can even be positive. I am hoping it may help

• However, if someone you know is struggling, by all means share what you learn. If it doesn’t help, support them using listening or help them get help.

Active Listening

1 Asking open questions: any questions not requiring a yes/no answer eg How? What? Where? Who? When? and Why?2 Summarising: a summary helps to show the person that you have listened and understood them.3 Reflecting: simply repeating back a key word or phrase encourages the person to go on and expand on what has been said.4 Clarifying: sometimes a person will gloss overan important point or emotion. Phrases such as‘Tell me more about...’ can help the person clarify these points for themselves.5 Short words of encouragement: A simple ‘yes’, ‘go on’, or ‘I see’ help the person to continue, and shows that you are interested.6 Reacting: People are often looking for empathy and understanding. Phrases that show you’ve really understood what something was like for them can helpbuild rapport and trust.

Resources to help you with stress

• Friends• Family• Cognitive techniques• Mindfulness• Relaxation techniques• Time management• Exercise• Medication

What about: How stressed out you feel?

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“despite what the French intellectuals say, it seems that no one wakes up in the morning thinking, "May I suffer the whole

day?"”

T

Matthieu Ricard4. PHILOSOPHY

T

“despite what the French intellectuals say, it seems that no one wakes up in the morning thinking, "May I suffer the whole

day?"”

Kelly McGonical – How To Make Stress Your Friend

http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?language=en

Video approx 1.20 to 3:30 minutes.

“Stress makes you sick, it increases the risk of everything from the common cold to cardiovascular disease”“I’ve turned stress Into the Enemy”

“People who experienced a lot of stress in the last year had a 43% chance of dying”

“Only true for people who believed that stress was bad for them”

“This study got me wondering, can changing how you feel about stress make you healthier and here the science says yes, when you change your mind about stress. you can change your body’s response to stress”

History of Stress

• Hans Selye 1936 – defined stress• Experiments on rats

– Really terrible things, imminent death– “Unavoidable, uncontrollable and utterly devoid of

meaning”…”this isn’t stress, it’s the hunger games for rodents” K. Mcgonigal

• Equated to what he’d seen in people as a doctor, unexplained problems– Suggested stress was anything, hassles up to

imprisonment, cumulative effect on health.

• ‘Stress is bad, to be avoided’

“The Most common effects of Stress on our lives are strength, growthand resillience” – K. McGonigal

Traditional View of Stress

• Fight, Flight or Freeze

• This is like school physics, assume everything is in a vacuum

– It’s not wrong, but it is a simplification

• The body’s stress response is much more complex, more interesting and handily it’s malleable

3 Possible Stress Responses

Stress Responses

Fight or Flight (or Freeze)

Threat response

Challenge Response

Tend and Befriend

Fight Or Flight - A Threat Response

• Cortisol – reduces inflammation

• Blood vessels constrict so you can be bitten and not die

• Heart pumps more blood

• Extraordinary strength and power

• Very handy for some situations

• Everything you have heard about how sucky this response is, is true– Sickness, life quality impact, depression, anxiety

even life shortening

Challenge Response

• DHEA – improves neuroplasticity

• Facilitates action

• Increases self confidence

• Helps you learn

• Opens Blood vessels

• More energised, more psyched

• Excitement more than fear

Tend and Befriend Response

• Motivates Caregiving, drives to seek support– Roots in evolution, humans are social animals, can’t

survive on our own

• Oxytocin, the “cuddle hormone”, encourages social interaction and also repairs the heart

• Dopamine, reward system– Improves motivation

• Serotonin – perception and intuition– Increases Social skills

• Increases Courage, turns fear to hope

The art of Stress Management

• Causes of stress are often unavoidable:– Work, caregiving, health, financial, hassles, chores

• Recognise; we have this response because we care about something, it’s trying to help– People predict they’ll be happier with less stress, but

opposite shown in studies

• Predisposed to a personal response, but it’s not fixed

• Can move from one stress response to another or with “mindset” interventions.

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“Pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise”

T

1. BUSINESS

“Pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise ”

T

Kobe Bryant

Mindset Interventions

• Connect with Meaning

• Align with your values

• Understand the Upside of Stress, turn anxiety into excitement

• Be tricked by a researcher

• Altruism

• All work, tested in many studies, even on people with very strong anxiety disorders

Meaning and Values• Values – What are yours?

– Sample ones: Gratitude, family, faith, hard work, compassion, creativity, fairness, honesty, love, acceptance• Stanford graduates had to write about their values and how the

things in their life related to that– Didn’t even remember the exercise but it worked 4 years later

• Doctors doing this, less likely to burn out or dread getting up, more job satisfaction

• Meaning– Where are you likely to see Joy, Love, laughter, learning or

purpose?• Think about whether these things give you stress?• 30% less deaths for people with highly meaningful lives

– What are my bigger than self goals?– Rewrite job description to align to these

Values Exercise

• My key value: Helping people. On the surface not in a typical job, but in other ways, its everything

– Help my boss, help my team, help customers, help mentees, see if stress presentations can help others.

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“ Go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to

handle the stress that follows.”

T

3. PSYCHOLOGY

Kelly McGonigal

T

“ Go after what it is that creates meaning in your life and then trust yourself to

handle the stress that follows.”

Turn Anxiety into excitement

• Jeremy Jamieson – compared sports with exams– Told half of students stress was helpful– Those higher hormones in their saliva did

better, but only with the intervention.– Response is an asset

• Believed to work if you have fear, but not fear of fear

• Heart pounding – pumping blood to your organs

• Feel tense – That’s strength to your muscles• Butterflies in your stomach – connecting to

meaning• Palms sweaty, like a first date, it matters to you

Altruism

• Asked people to help others. Thought they had more time than people given more time.

• Ignites tend and befriend response

• Works with big and small things

• After tragedies, people are driven to want to help. Altruism born of suffering.– Caring generates resilience, wiped out 30%

greater chance of death after big negative events

• Even in prisons - effective

The Mindfulness Revolution

• Google – Search inside yourself• Ebay provides meditation rooms• Many executives now “coming out” as meditators• On the curriculum of Harvard business school• Steve Jobs, Adriana Huffington

• Why?– Reaction to information overload– Because it works– Because people like it– Cuts healthcare costs

Eckart Tolle

“ "I cannot live with myself any longer." This was the thought that kept repeating in my mind. Then suddenly I became aware of what a peculiar thought it was. "Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the 'I' and the 'self' that 'I' cannot live with." "Maybe," I thought, "only one of them is real.".I was so stunned by this strange realisation that my mind stopped. I was fully conscious, but there were no more thoughts."

Observing Thoughts

Activity Thoughts Feelings

• Where are you?• With mindfulness you come off autopilot and

become an observer of your thoughts and reality

The Gazelle

Dr Mark Williams, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.

Getting Started – the Mindful minute

• Exercise – The simplest intervention

• Try it if you like with me

• I will time a minute, you job is just to observe your breathing and count your breaths

• Try to think about all aspects of the breath and if your mind wanders, gently don’t give that thought weight and come back to your breath

• Now, remember that number. When you want a mindful minute, pause and do that many breaths

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“"You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace.”

T

“You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace. ”

Yoda

4. PHILOSOPHY

T

Relating to the upside of Stress

• Mindfulness – especially meditation gives an alternative if you:

– Want to reduce stress

– Need help to see stress clearly to be able to focus on its upside

• It can also be part of the process of embracing stress and seeing its upside. Sensing and being in the moment is mindful

Kelly’s words

Science of Mindfulness

• Rooted in Buddhist traditions and philosophy, but can be a completely secular practise

• Neuroscientist Richard Davidson found monks who had done a lot of mindfulness had off the scale left pre frontal cortices – Brains rewired to be more positive. Neuroplasticity

• Lack of judgement of thoughts means natural creativity thrives, in 1 study people meditating became 50% more creative in tests

• Over time, the amygdala also is less activated, meaning less fear and aggression

• After an 8 week Programme of MBSR, candidates had more antibodies, better functioning immune systems

How to do more• Just pay attention to moments, you don’t have

to meditate, can be eating, walking, communicating even bathing. Observe without judgement, but with compassion

• I use headspace, an app. Free 10 * 10 minute guided meditations. A bad day may be a 2 headspace day. I also use one called ‘calm’

• Reading/Web videos/free and purchased resources

• Helen’s presentation – x.ford.com/htwidt

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“Mindfulness is like exercise—it is not sufficient to just understand the topic; you can only benefit from it with practice.”

T

“Mindfulness is like exercise—it is not sufficient to just understand the topic; you can only benefit from it with practice.”

2. TECH/SCIENCE

Chade-Meng Tan

T

Resilience

• What is resilience?“the capacity to rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, failure, or even positive events, progress, and increased responsibility” (Luthans et al, 2007, p.112)

• Natural Resilience – Who is resilient?– A clear strong value system

– Strong social support network

– Confidence, hope and optimism

• How do you improve your resilience?– With how you think about stress and handle it

Resilience

• Generally I find most people have heard of PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

• But many have not even heard of:

Post Traumatic Growth

“What does not kill me, makes me stronger”Friedrich Nietzsche, 1888

"What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)“Kelly Clarkson

Response to Trauma

• How do we respond to Trauma?

PTSDSUICIDE

RESILIENCE

MOST PEOPLE

POST TRAUMATICGROWTH

1. BUSINESS 2. TECH/SCIENCE

3. PSYCHOLOGY 4. PHILOSOPHY

Quote Quiz

“Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help

us in our marching onward.”

T

1. BUSINESS

T

“Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help

us in our marching onward.”

Forms of Post Traumatic Growth

PTG

Spiritual Changes

Personal Strength

Relating to Others

Appreciation of Life

New Possibilities

Stories

• Of all the easiest things to think of stories for, post traumatic growth seems to work

• Michael – football

• Can have vicarious PTG – gain from other people’s changes

• 20 minutes writing was powerful, 2 minutes even made a difference, improved outcomes for people

Active Listening

1 Asking open questions: any questions not requiring a yes/no answer eg How? What? Where? Who? When? and Why?2 Summarising: a summary helps to show the person that you have listened and understood them.3 Reflecting: simply repeating back a key word or phrase encourages the person to go on and expand on what has been said.4 Clarifying: sometimes a person will gloss overan important point or emotion. Phrases such as‘Tell me more about...’ can help the person clarify these points for themselves.5 Short words of encouragement: A simple ‘yes’, ‘go on’, or ‘I see’ help the person to continue, and shows that you are interested.6 Reacting: People are often looking for empathy and understanding. Phrases that show you’ve really understood what something was like for them can helpbuild rapport and trust.

But remember this

Summary/Conclusion

• There is an upside to stress, if you can see it differently. Challenge and tend and befriend responses are great for work– Focus on your values and chase meaning– Accept your bodies chemical and physical changes as

helpful– When bad things happen, growth is possible

• Mindfulness can help you embrace stress or reduce it, your choice– Life has stressors, but the second arrow can be more

in your control

Any QuestionsGet this presentation and a Handoutfrom: http://x.ford.com/htwidt

Th

References• Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world – 5 May 2011,

Williams, Prof Mark ISBN-13: 978-0749953089• Mindfulness For Dummies – 5 Dec 2014, Alidina, Shamash ISBN-13: 978-

1118868188• The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, 7 Jan 2001, Tolle, Eckhart

ISBN-13: 978-0340733509• A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook, 16 Jun 2010, Stahl, Bob ISBN-13:

978-1572247086• The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you (and how to get good at it)7 May

2015 by Kelly McGonigal ISBN-13: 978-0091955267• http://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend?lan

guage=en• Sane New World: Taming the Mind Paperback – 27 Feb 2014, by Ruby Wax • How to work in difficult times: 1. the art of control http://x.ford.com/htwidt• How to work in difficult times: 2. Making friends with stress

http://x.ford.com/htwidt• http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-meditates-2013-6?IR=T• http://www.forbes.com/sites/drewhansen/2012/10/31/a-guide-to-mindfulness-

at-work/• https://hbr.org/2014/03/developing-mindful-leaders-for-the-c-suite/• -Prof Mark Williams – Mindfulness -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY08aXxor20

The Journey to Here

• Positive Psychology, email, listening skills

• How to work in Difficult times with Mark Wilson

1. The art of Control

– Locus of control, other people, what’s better, time management, procrastination, ABCD technique

2. Making Friends with Stress

– Stress, reframing, grit, listening, flow, email management

All at: http://x.ford.com/htwidt