Elissa Epel
A prominent researcher in stress science and professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Her work focuses on the relationships among stress, telomeres, and aging.
Timeline (last 90 days)
Stress is technically defined as "that overwhelmed feeling when we perceive that demands exceed our own resources."
It is the stress response, not the stressor itself, that determines health outcomes.
Epel categorizes strategies for dealing with rumination into three types: top-down beliefs and mindset, bottom-up use of the body to change the mind, and changing the environment to establish safety signals.
Brief and repeated physiological stress (such as high-intensity interval training) not only improves aerobic capacity but also enhances stress resilience and reduces rumination, depression, and anxiety.
In a study of mothers of children with autism, the mitochondrial activity of caregiving mothers was significantly reduced, but caregivers with good mitochondrial enzyme function reported more positive emotions, especially at night.
Research shows that people with lower negative emotions or higher positive emotions have lower risks of depression, heart disease, and premature death ten years later.
Research found that a person's mood on a given day is highly correlated with their mitochondrial levels on that same day, suggesting that mitochondria are sensitive to thoughts and emotions on a daily basis.
People who can tolerate uncertainty experience less anxiety and depression and recover more quickly from stressful events.
Epel proposes adopting a strategy of "radical acceptance" for chronic stressors that cannot be changed—that is, "dropping the rope."
All Facts (9)
Stress is technically defined as "that overwhelmed feeling when we perceive that demands exceed our own resources."
50%UnverifiedIt is the stress response, not the stressor itself, that determines health outcomes.
50%UnverifiedEpel categorizes strategies for dealing with rumination into three types: top-down beliefs and mindset, bottom-up use of the body to change the mind, and changing the environment to establish safety signals.
50%UnverifiedBrief and repeated physiological stress (such as high-intensity interval training) not only improves aerobic capacity but also enhances stress resilience and reduces rumination, depression, and anxiety.
50%UnverifiedIn a study of mothers of children with autism, the mitochondrial activity of caregiving mothers was significantly reduced, but caregivers with good mitochondrial enzyme function reported more positive emotions, especially at night.
50%UnverifiedResearch shows that people with lower negative emotions or higher positive emotions have lower risks of depression, heart disease, and premature death ten years later.
50%UnverifiedResearch found that a person's mood on a given day is highly correlated with their mitochondrial levels on that same day, suggesting that mitochondria are sensitive to thoughts and emotions on a daily basis.
50%UnverifiedPeople who can tolerate uncertainty experience less anxiety and depression and recover more quickly from stressful events.
50%UnverifiedEpel proposes adopting a strategy of "radical acceptance" for chronic stressors that cannot be changed—that is, "dropping the rope."
50%