Trump Stress With Your Thoughts

Nov. 4, 2005 -- Before you enter a stressful situation, take a moment to reflect on what's most important to you.

Doing so could tame your body's production of the stress hormone cortisol. So say psychology researchers from UCLA.

They tested that notion recently, and it worked. The plan boiled down to this:

• Figure out what aspects of yourself or your life you hold most dear.
• Reflect on those things when stress comes calling.

Those thoughts may be a shield against stress, or a "protective resource," researcher David Creswell tells WebMD.

Creswell is finishing his doctoral work in psychology at UCLA. His study appears in Psychological Science.

Affirming What Matters Most

Creswell's team studied the use of affirmations in college students who were about to take psychological stress tests.

That word -- affirmation -- needs a little explanation.

"Typically, when people think about affirmation, they think about Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live," says Creswell. "You know, 'I really like myself.' But this was a much more subtle activity -- just thinking about an important value."

Naming What You Value

A "value" wasn't necessarily a quality like honesty or optimism. Instead, it was what each person prized from their lives.

For instance, a value could be your skill as a father, your talent on the tennis court, your passion for politics, or your faith, says Creswell.

All highly held values mattered in Creswell's stress study. No particular topic helped more than others.

"That's a really important point, because these values can really shift among people," says Creswell.

Stress Test

Creswell and colleagues studied about 80 UCLA undergraduates.

The students took surveys to identify what they valued. Then they ranked their top five values.

Next, they were told to prepare a five-minute speech pitching themselves for a desirable on-campus job to a panel of people.

They were also told that after their speech, they would do some mental arithmetic for five minutes. They had to count backwards from 2,083 by 13s -- aloud and in front of an audience.

On top of that, the audiences weren't friendly. The speakers faced blank stares from the panelists, and the counters were barked at to go faster or start over if they messed up. Everyone took both tests, back to back.

The point was stress, as measured by before-and-after cortisol tests from the students' saliva. Cortisol is a hormone in your body that becomes elevated during times of stress -- emotional or physical.