6. Positive thinking
Thinking positively about stressors can help moderate stress. In 2010, for example, Jeremy Jamieson and colleagues at Harvard University coached students into believing that feeling nervous and/or excited before an exam could in fact improve performance. In other words, they coached them into having positive thoughts and thereby reappraising their stress. The students received this coaching before taking practice graduate-school entrance exams in the lab. Compared with students who were not coached, these students got higher scores both during the practice test and on the actual exam 3 months later.
Thinking about positive events in general may also help enhance your mood and happiness and lower your levels of stress. Dr. Emmons has shown that keeping a “gratitude journal” in which you regularly write something you are grateful for significantly increases self-reported levels of happiness and well-being.
Which one of these stress-relief techniques resonates with you the most? Which ones will you try?