Reprogram Your Mind to Combat Stress in Four Steps

Feeling overwhelmed by daily stress and drowning under the mental load? You're not alone! Stress is one of the most common phenomena in our generation, leading many people to suffer from related conditions like anxiety and nervous disorders. How do we avoid this? Conventional medicine often treats it with various medications, but a newly published article brings fresh hope on the subject. 

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who began studying the impact of stress on various aspects of our lives, concluded that stress also contributes to conditions like back pain, insomnia, digestive and heart problems, chronic headaches, and even accidents. 

"Stress today is no less than a pandemic," claim researchers from the University of California, whose study findings are now published in BUSINESS INSIDER. 

According to them, stress heavily impacts the body, but there is a surprisingly effective way to overcome it by reprogramming the brain. Leading the research, Dr. Laurel Merlin, reveals four steps, which, she says, allow us to reprogram the brain and guide it onto a different track than stress. 

The Four Steps to Reprogram Your Brain 

The first step according to her theory is choice. "How we choose to deal with moments of pressure significantly determines whether we suffer from stress or not," explains the researcher. "The most important thing in times of pressure is to release it, not to continue engaging with it or let it occupy us. If you continually focus on stress, your brain gets accustomed to it, and it becomes harder to let go. 

"If you find it extremely difficult to distract yourself from stress, you can at least ask what you can gain from it, what you can learn, and what rare opportunity this experience holds for you. In this way, the brain 'learns' to handle other stressful situations when they arise. "The next time stress attacks, the brain will know how to respond in a more pleasant manner."

The second step is to remove the guilt that often assaults us during times of stress. "Ask yourself not 'Why did I do this?' and 'Why did I react that way?' but 'What level is my stress at?' With such questions, we navigate the brain to a different, more positive outlook on ourselves. By quantifying our stress and putting it in rational 'containers,' we teach the brain to place stress at a distance from us, allowing us to view it with a correct and objective perspective. 

The third step is understanding how the brain processes incoming information. "Since the brain tends to link memories with new experiences, events in our lives often signal a certain connection. As a result, we may fear new things because the brain immediately associates them with unpleasant memories embedded in our subconscious. 

So are we doomed to fear new things our whole lives? "Absolutely not," asserts the researcher. "Studies show that the more aware we are of these connections, the more we can recalibrate them, and we do this through questions and explanations. 'What am I most afraid of?', 'What makes me angry in this situation?', 'Why can't I stand this situation?', 'Why do I feel guilty?' and similar inquiries."

According to Merlin, it's important to answer these questions without judgment, and 'from a distance,' as if it's not about us. 

The fourth step is (surprisingly) - to laugh, a lot. Stress often leads to anger, not only directed at ourselves but also at others, unjustly. When we detach from this state and amuse ourselves, the brain learns to 'distance' itself from difficult and negative situations, and the brain regions that better handle such situations also 'come alive' and help us to overcome them.