“Stress is a word that we’ve all come across... but what’s the bottom line on stress: what really is stress?”

The first webinar in our season of Expert Insights welcomed Dr Mithu Storoni who guided the 100+ attendees through her science-backed guide to tackling stress. With an audience comprising largely of analysts and content moderators exposed to violent and sensitive content on a daily basis, Mithu’s words were met with eager ears.

“Stress is the language we use to communicate with a world we can’t predict and don’t understand”.

Through the analogy of an elastic band which stops bouncing back after it has been over-stretched, Mithu explained the function stress serves in our body in the short-term, and how this can lead to negative consequences for our physical and mental health in the long-term.

“How can you prevent acute stress from turning to chronic stress? If you can answer that, then you have a very good chance of becoming stress-proof”.

According to Mithu, the key to this lies in implementing simple counterbalances to the impact stress has along seven pathways in our body. Two of her most surprising tips:

• Play Tetris immediately after an emotionally stressful event. This prevents our brain from replaying the event and from continuing with its stress-induced response.
• Identify “pleasure pockets” in your day, and protect them as sacredly as brushing your teeth. This helps maintain our effort-reward balance which is linked to chronic stress.

These insights were just a small number of the tips Mithu outlines in her 2017 book Stress-Proof, which has already helped some members of the INHOPE Network and many others cope with traumatic experiences and high-stress lives. You can find out more about Mithu’s work here.

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