• News

"How To Be Better At Stress" - Tara Parker-Pope

  • The New York Times
  • New York, NY
  • (July 24, 2017)

Stress is unavoidable in modern life, but it doesn’t have to get you down. Work, money, and family create all daily stress, while bigger issues like politics and terrorism contribute to our underlying stress levels. But approach it the right way, and it won’t rule your life – it can be good for you. Resilience is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress. You can boost your resilience in a number of ways. In the book “Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Great Challenges,” the authors, Dennis S. Charney, MD, dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and president of academic affairs for The Mount Sinai Health System, and Dr. Steven M. Southwick, studied people who experienced great stressors. From that research, the duo identified ten factors associated with resilience. “Live your life in a way that you get the skills that enable you to handle stress,” said Dr. Charney. He notes that programs like Outward Bound and basic military training are all designed to make people comfortable and build their skills so that they will be better able to handle stress later on. “Putting yourself or your children in difficult social situations or speaking in public can help adults and children accumulate social and intellectual skills that help in times of stress” Dr. Charney added.

- Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System

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