The Secret to Dealing with Stress is to Train for It

Reducing stress is a focus of a lot of health messaging, but neuroscientist and researcher Dr. Nick Hall says positive aging and longevity is about stress recovery, not avoidance.

Key points:

Working with athletes, tech companies and the F.B.I., Dr. Nick has found exercise to be the most accessible form of recovery training.

“Exercise brings on a lot of the biological changes associated with a lot of the things we experience in everyday life,” Dr. Hall told Hope 103.2’s UNDISTRACTED podcast.

“However, you’re in control.”

With that in mind, exercise enables our bodies to handle stress from things like ”interpersonal conflict, a lousy reward system at work” and reduces the negative implications they have on our bodies.

“Exercise brings on a lot of the biological changes associated with a lot of the things we experience in everyday life.”

“Your heart rate goes up in the same manner that it does when you lose your job, or lose a loved one,” Dr. Hall said.

“There’s the release of the same stress hormones that are providing energy to sustain the exercise that would be activated to sustain your fight-flight response.

“Exercise is a wonderful way to train your body [to] recover.”

Even greater benefits are experienced if we can exercise outdoors.

Exercise enables our bodies to handle stress and reduces the negative implications they have on our bodies.

“Absorb the fragrances, absorb the visual stimuli,” Dr. Hall said.

“It’s a complete break from what you normally do [and] a change of scenery helps stimulate improved health overall.”

Listen to the full episode of UNDISTRACTED with guest Dr. Nick Hall in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dr. Nick Hall’s book The Stress Recovery Effect is out now.

Featured image: Book cover image used with permission.