On the finish of 2022, NPR launched a sequence that explored the subject of tension, particularly because it associated to the pandemic, political unrest, and ongoing financial uncertainty. Dr. Elissa Epel, writer of the e book The Stress Prescription, which had just lately been printed, was one of many first company on the present.
I occurred to listen to Dr. Epel on the radio late one December night whereas driving. Within the flurry of the vacation, I discovered her discuss on stress so compelling that I needed to pull off to the aspect of the highway and seize a few of her key concepts.
The director of the Getting old, Metabolism, and Feelings (AME) Heart on the College of California San Francisco, Dr. Epel will not be solely an knowledgeable on stress, getting old, and well-being, her work additionally focuses on local weather wellness because it pertains to these matters. On NPR, she spoke a few collective “vitality disaster” and famous how stress, though very helpful and adaptive, can drain our battery, particularly when it’s power stress.
The issue, as she sees it, is that our stress response is continually on, with out enough time in a “deep relaxation” mode the place the physique can actually get better. Synthesizing a big physique of analysis, she emphasised the necessity to be proactive with a purpose to recharge. Her seven-day program gives a brand new ability every day because the reader engages with practices and builds habits.
The sensible knowledge Dr. Epel references clearly aligns with the sphere of optimistic psychology and its evidence-based methods and interventions. Upon studying The Stress Prescription shortly after I heard the interview, I used to be delighted to seek out that SPIRE, WBI’s whole-person well-being mannequin, was certainly featured within the e book. In her dialogue of stress resilience within the remaining chapter, Dr. Epel cites the SPIRE mannequin and its elements as foundational for constructing the “infrastructure of long-term happiness.”
As a psychological well being practitioner, I linked each personally and professionally with Dr. Epel’s message relating to the significance of utilizing accessible and efficient methods to advertise more healthy stress responses and better resilience. Through the previous few years, we’ve got all confronted lots of uncertainty, which may set off our stress response. This has led to elevated consciousness relating to the necessity for assist for psychological well being and well-being. The WBI/JCC Optimistic Psychology Hour was born in 2020 as a discussion board to share methods to just do that.
In a nutshell: To counter the affect, of stress, we are able to concentrate on points of our lives which might be inside our management. The Stress Prescription gives perception and science-based methods that we are able to all add to our toolkits.
Be a part of Phoebe for the web Optimistic Psychology Hour on Tuesday, February 28, at 12:00 pm ET to look at Dr. Epel’s stress prescription by means of the lens of SPIRE, and discover how we are able to incorporate every day practices to assist decrease our stress and increase our well being and well-being. Register now.