Classroom Edition: Mind, Body, Health part 2 with Cougar Hall

In this Classroom Edition of the Y Health Podcast, Cougar Hall explores the powerful role stress plays in our physical and mental health, drawing from Chapter 2 of his Mind-Body Health course at Brigham Young University. As Part 2 of this series, this episode builds on foundational concepts to take a deeper look at how we experience and manage stress in everyday life.

This episode breaks down three essential truths about stress: how our perception shapes the stress response, why simplifying our lives and adjusting our attitudes can reduce unnecessary strain, and how moderate, short-term stress is not only normal—but necessary for growth. Cougar challenges the common belief that a stress-free life is the goal, offering a more balanced and empowering perspective.

Listeners are also introduced to key insights from leading experts, including the concept of the “biology of courage,” the importance of connection through “caring-created resilience,” and the idea that we can trust ourselves—with help from others and from faith—to face life’s challenges.

The episode wraps with practical, real-life strategies to better manage daily stress, from setting priorities and arriving early to creating supportive environments and building strong relationships.

Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or simply looking to better understand how stress works, this second installment offers actionable tools and a fresh mindset to help you navigate life with greater confidence and resilience.

Recorded, Edited & Produced by Averee Bates, Christy Gonzalez, Harper Xinyu Zhang, Madison McArthur, Kailey Hopkins, and Tanya Gale

Transcript

 Hello, this is Cougar Hall, host of the Y Health Podcast. Today I'm excited to bring you a classroom edition. This format is designed to share one or more key concepts from a course offered here at Brigham Young University that we hope you find beneficial without the pressure of course assignments or tests.

So breathe easy, sit back and enjoy. Hello, this is Cougar Hall. And today I am gonna record, um, a classroom edition of the Y Health Podcast, and I am going to share one thought about stress and stress management that comes from my Health 3 83 Mind Body Health course. This is chapter two in the course textbook, and it's all about stress and how stress impacts, uh, our immune system makes us vulnerable, uh, to a variety of diseases.

So what I'd like to do today, I wanna start with the biggest ideas from this chapter, and there are three that I've nailed down, and I'll go quickly. The first big idea from this chapter is, uh, the stress reaction. That we are, you know, so what we're experiencing, it comes not so much from the stressor, but from our own creation.

Of its meaning. So really the, it is our perception of life events that is really kicking off this, this sympathetic nervous system or this fight or flight response to the stress and how much, how much meaning do we attach to that? So really it is, and this is a bit of a Jedi mind trick, I suppose, but it, our minds are the most important component in this equation of stress.

How we choose to perceive it is it, is it negative? Or is, is it an invitation for growth? So a little bit there as far as a, a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset as well. The second big idea, and I'm just gonna read a quote from the book, it says, quote, the best strategy in addition to simplifying your life is to change your attitude toward the things that you can't prevent.

So what I love in this quote is there's really two things. There's really two great suggestions as it says, the best strategy in addition to simplifying your life so clearly, that means we need to simplify our lives. We need to learn to say no, when knows the right answer. Most of us, this runs really counters is counterintuitive to kind of who we are and who we're trying to be.

So we often say yes when the, the correct answer for us at that time is no. So if someone calls and asks you, Hey, can you participate in this activity? Or, or can you come and, and speak to this group and, and you really can't, like, you really don't have the time to do that. You need to be able to say thank you so much for inviting me.

Thank you for thinking of me. I'm flattered. I actually am not able to do that, but I hope that you'll think of me again next time. Please, if you do this again, will you please give me a call back? 'cause sincerely I want, I care about this and I want to be able to help. I just can't do it right now. That's a hard, that creates a lot of anxiety in people.

That's something we all need to be able to say. So the first thing there, we need to simplify our lives. We need to really look at our schedule. What is, what is nice and what is need? And when there's enough need stuff, need to do this, need to do this, then this. There's some that would be nice to do. Those things need to fall by the wayside.

So reprioritizing is the first thing. But the second thing in this big idea and in this quote is we need to change our attitude. Toward things that we can't prevent. If there's something you can change in your life that's causing you anxiety, that's stressing you out, then set a goal. Uh, just a small, doable, you know, some small doable behavior or action and get busy.

You're not gonna tackle it all in one day, but make some progress. But if it's something that you can't prevent, it's beyond your, you know, sphere of, of control. And there's a lot of things that we worry about that are beyond, you know, out outside of that circle of control. We gotta, we gotta just move on.

I can't control that. I can't control weather, I can't control national politics. I can't control, you know, some geopolitical thing on the other side of the world. So I just have to realize, oh yeah, I mean, that's unfortunate and I need to focus on the things that, uh, I actually have some influence or control over.

Finally, the third big idea from this chapter on stress is we need, and all caps need, we need moderate and transient stress. In other words, not too extreme. And for not too long, we need that. Sometimes we, we falsely believe that the goal is to be stress free. And I'm a teacher, so I have, I have a 10 month contract.

I have two months of the year where I don't work. I don't have a lot of stress during that time, and it does not lead to happiness, does not lead to contentment. We are all better off with a little bit of a load. I'll probably end this little thought here with a quote from Elder David Bednar about how we need, we need a load to get traction in life.

So while you may think, oh, I just want nothing to do, well that's great for four or five days, like you can lay on a beach for a week. By day eight and nine, you're like. Wow, I need to do something. Yeah, that is, we are hardwired for that. So please don't think that the goal is to avoid stress. Okay. Now if I can do that, if I can transition real quick, I have my students in chapter two watch a TED Talk, uh, from a, a Dr.

Kelly McGonigal, the TED Talk. You can find it on YouTube. It's probably, uh, 10, 12 years old at this point. Really cool. And I, I'm just gonna summarize three points from Dr. McGonigal. One, she talks about the biology of courage. So the next time you're experiencing the stress response, in other words, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in.

Rapid heart rate respiration increases as I tell my students, you know, palms are sweaty and mom's spaghetti. A little rock and roll reference there. Um, as your, as your body goes through this reaction, don't, don't say to yourself, oh, I'm nervous. Oh, I've got butterflies. Say, say, this is the biology of courage.

This is my body on its own autonomic nervous system, automatically kicking in and saying, we got you. We are gonna, your body will rise to the challenge. Your muscular system, your, your nervous system, your digestive system. We're gonna put that, you know, we're gonna flip that to, to off for a minute. So all hands are on deck to meet the demands of this stressor.

Really cool stuff. So if you'll just see that as. This is my body ramping up so that I can, I can excel, I can shine. That's a whole different way of looking at this physiological stress response. Really cool. The second thing that Dr. McGonal talks about is what she terms caring, created resiliency. She talks about oxytocin, this cuddle bonding hormone.

Oxytocin is one of these hormones that really bonds a mother to a newborn. Uh, and it it also bonds us to, uh, a mate, to a partner. So the closest relationships we experience in mortality, a spouse, children, parents, extended family. This is largely impacted by oxytocin. She talks about how oxytocin is actually a stress hormone and that we should, if we know that we can tap into this.

To get through really stressful times, so recognize that when you're going through stress. This is an opportunity for you to connect with the people that matter most. Now here's what's interesting. As I'm watching this TED talk over a decade ago, I realize here I am, my mid-career, I'm serving as a latter day Saint Bishop in my home ward.

I've got four small children, I've, there's not enough money, like, you know, money runs out before the month runs out that these kind of very real stresses, and she talks about caring, created resilience. And how when we're experiencing stress, we need to connect with those who really love us, who love us unconditionally.

And as she said that, I realized, you know, from time to time I'll be driving home and I'll incredibly stressed out whether it's finances or church or family or marriage or career. And I will, I will add a stoplight. I will dial and call my mother and I'll just chat with her. All those times I did that.

Never once did I say, oh mom, I'm so stressed out. I don't know what I'm gonna do. Boy, this is really bringing me down. Not at all. I would say, mom, how's it going? How's your garden? How's dad doing? Is he going on the deer hunt? Oh my goodness, I wish I were there right now and could see, you know, the sun sparkle off the lake or what?

I'm just, I asking her about her life. And then I'd say, oh, you know what, I'm almost home. Um, I gotta, I gotta wrap this up. Mom, love you. Thanks so much for the chat. Hang up. So I, I haven't shared my stresses with her. She hasn't helped me kind of problem solve. Not at all, just chatted, but I chatted with someone who loves me unconditionally and I hang up and I've got this.

That's, I've just, I've just benefited. I've just, I've just used the oxytocin, right? I've just used that, that stress response. To actually create calm and to reassure myself and feeling like I got this. So really cool. So we've got to reach out and tap in to those relationships that caring, created resilience.

The last thing that she says is. Quote, you can trust yourself to meet life's challenges. And I always tweak this just a little bit because I'm at BYU and I don't have to teach with one hand tied behind my back. In other words, I don't have to, um, pretend that we don't have a source of spiritual strength.

We don't have a loving heavenly parents, we don't have a savior. So I changed this a little bit to say, you can trust that with your savior. You can meet life's challenges and whether you need, I don't know, 5% of his help or 50% of his help, or all of his help, doesn't matter. We all need him and we are enough so we can trust that with our savior, Jesus Christ, we got this.

Whatever it is. When you start to apply that principle in your life, everything changes in your marriage. You realize, I don't know what's around the corner. Could be something really hard. It could be a terminal illness, could be a huge financial shock, could be like, you name it, whatever it is, but I know we've got it.

I know that with our savior, we got it. There's nothing we can't handle. Totally changes how you see the stress in your life. Another point that we bring up in chapter two is specifically related to our stress response, and I have my students do a little bit of reading. They read from a Dr. Robert Polsky.

Uh, I think he's the foremost, you know, behavior change kind of neuroscientist, uh, in the United States. He teaches at Stanford University. He has a couple books. The first is, why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers? And the second one that's more recent, uh, is called Behave. I have my students read excerpts from both of those books and watch a couple of Dr.

Polsky's lectures. Uh, and I, I think if it's okay, I'll just, I'll just read just a, a brief passage from his book, behave. It says, quote for primates, and he's including us in that term. Just so you know, for primates, the definition of a stressor expands beyond merely a physical challenge to homeostasis. In addition, it includes thinking.

You're going to be thrown out of homeostasis. So the body's trying to regain homeostasis or balance amongst body systems, but he points out that as we've developed a prefrontal cortex, we're the most modern of primates in his opinion, right? That now we can just think. Because of cognition, we can just think that we're gonna be thrown out.

So just our thoughts are now initiating the fight or flight response. He continues. He says An anticipatory stress response is adaptive if there really is a physical challenge coming. So yeah, makes a lot of sense to anticipate that if there really is something around the corner. However, he's continues.

If you're constantly but incorrectly convinced that you're about to be thrown outta balance, and this is hurtful. He says, you are being an anxious, neurotic, paranoid, and hostile primate who is psychologically stressed. And the stress response did not evolve for dealing with this recent mammalian innovation.

Love this. It's almost as if the, this evolutionary, you know, adaptation of this whole sympathetic nervous system, which is fight or flight, responding to stress are, are. You know, the physiology behind that stress response hasn't really caught up with this prefrontal cortex in the last, whatever, five to 10 million years, I suppose, where we are cognitive creatures.

So we are now anticipating and thinking. That, oh, the, the bad guy's out to get me, that this is gonna happen or that's gonna happen. We, we constantly think of worst case scenario, and that's initiating the whole stress response, which by the way, is releasing cortisol. And cortisol then is tapping into, you know.

Releasing energy, adding, adding sugar to our blood, like all of the lifestyle, chronic diseases, whether it's cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, like have something to do with this, you know, this stress response and some stuff that's interesting when it comes to dementia and Alzheimer's as well. So fascinating.

Love me some Dr. Polsky. Great stuff there. Uh. He ends, he's got a quote here that I think is fantastic. He says, we get sick from activating the stress response too often. Too long and for purely psychological reasons. So we have to change the way we're thinking. Um, let me, let me wrap this up real quick.

There's a concept out there called flow. Probably many people have heard of flow. We, we typically talk about flow in like an athletic setting. This is where like. Someone like Michael Jordan will say, I was in this, I was in this flow state, and the basketball hoop, like the rim looked like a hula hoop. I just gimme the ball, feed me the ball, throw it up.

It's gonna go in time, kind of stand still. You're just, you're in that zone. That's a flow state. Well. This is where we want our students to be. This is where you and I wanna be. Uh, but if you look at flow, so on one access, you might have skill. If your skill level's really high, let's say, and let's stick with basketball.

If you're a very skilled basketball player. And the challenge, so I suppose in basketball, the opponent or you know, the type of shot that you're shooting, if it's a layup versus a three pointer, if your skill is high. And the challenge is low, then you're bored. Not enough stimulus here, not enough challenge.

But if the challenge is significant, if you're shooting from half court and you've never shot a basketball before, or if you are playing someone like Michael Jordan and you're a fourth grader, then anxiety's through the roof. So what we need, ideally, we need a situation where our skill. And the challenge are equally matched and when skill and challenge are equally matched, that's flow.

I love this concept. If you get a new job. Yeah, you're feeling a little anxious because here's the challenge, but you don't even know what you're doing yet. So you, you've got all sorts of anxiety. If you've had a job forever and ever, you might be bored. Right? So what I think is cool, and here's a little testimony, I, I think our heavenly father is really good at keeping us in that flow state because as our skill increases, he gives us more challenge.

He's gonna stretch us further. And so if we are, if we are striving. To do the things we need to do if we're, if we're being responsive to the promptings and the feelings that we're having as far as growth and development and pushing and serving, he'll, he'll do his part and kind of keep us in that flow state where things are challenging, but we we're not overwhelmed and where our skill increases.

But he doesn't allow us to, you know, be bored and kind of, you know, float and have things be easy for too long. So really kind of a cool thing. Okay, let me wrap this up. We have a quote here that I love, uh, from Elder Bednar. So really speaking about stress, he says, quote, sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load, but bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness is the load I am carrying, producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the straight and narrow path.

So we, we want to welcome stress, let's invite it, and let's recognize that we have the biology of courage working for us. We can tap into those relationships that caring, created resilience, and that with our savior, we can trust that we've got this. We will get through this. My parting shot, stress related to work and to school.

I have just a couple things. Number one, arrive early. When you start the day, 10 minutes behind, uh, you have exponentially more stress and it, it, it doesn't go away as you catch up, as you speed to work or as you eliminate one of your to-dos to try to get caught up. If you start out behind, you experience stress throughout the day.

So just, just go early, be 10 minutes early to work, be 10 minutes early to a meeting. You'll find that, uh, it's so much. It's so great. There's actually parking. When you're early, you can actually sit where you wanna sit in the auditorium or in the office. You can, you can get things organized and set up before your zoom call.

So arrive early, reevaluate the meetings that you have. We, we can have death by meetings in most organizations, so let's, let's really prioritize those. What are the meetings I'm gonna agree to attend and what are the ones that I'm gonna skip and I'm gonna say, sorry, I can't make that. Every morning we're gonna set our priorities.

You can do this on a Post-It note. Here's the most important thing I need to do today. Here's, here's the least important. It'd be great if I got to that, but it's unlikely that I will. So it'll be, it'll be at the top of the list tomorrow. Set your priorities, whether you use that, whether you have a phone or some kind of time management planning system.

Knock yourself out, but you can't just start the day. Aimlessly number four. Take frequent activity breaks. Uh, don't sit for more than 20 minutes, even if you're not hungry. Hop up real quick and go get a drink. Go over to the stairwell. Do some lunges. Do some, you know, some, some squats. Do like we, we've gotta get up and move more.

Number five, simplify and beautify your surroundings if you're stressed out. Clean your office first. Clean the kitchen first. Uh, organize things, organize your email, get everything set up so that you, you can kind of feel like, you know what? I've got this. I, I, I feel like I'm making some progress and now I'm in a place where I can really make hay.

Uh, pair up. So find someone who's in a similar situation, team up. It's always easier when you've got someone else on your team. Uh, in my profession, uh, it's, it's been a game changer to find a colleague or two who want to work on a research project together. Then I don't feel like I have to be the lone ranger.

Uh, and the last one, and this is really important for most of us, we might be, uh, completely fried by the time Friday after lunch comes around, right? Friday afternoon is not my, it's not my best time of the week to write, uh, or to produce good products. So. That may be when I do organize my emails and when I do organize my office, so that on Monday morning when I am fully recharged and ready to go and tackle a week, everything's set up and I don't have to focus on this kind of low order thinking stuff.

'cause I used Friday from three to five to do that. So. A couple kind of life hacks there as far as managing stress with school and work that I think are really helpful. That's all I've got for this one. Uh, thanks for listening. Appreciate you. Bye-bye. Thank you for supporting the Y Health Podcast. We look forward to continuing to provide you with engaging discussions as well as more focused educational content through our new classroom edition and our timely public health service announcements.

We really truly appreciate your support and hope that you find the Y Health Podcast beneficial.