The beating of your heart prepares you for what lies ahead. If you breathe faster, it's not a problem. This just brings more oxygen to the brain. And participants, who learned that their stress response is helpful to their performance, were less anxious, less stressed and more confident. In a typical stress response, your heart rate increases and blood vessels constrict. This constriction explains why chronic stress is associated with cardiovascular disease. Although it is not healthy to always be in such a quiet mood, participants view their natural responses as strengths and their blood vessels remain relaxed. While their hearts were still beating, their cardiovascular profile was healthier. . This “profile” actually looks like what we see in moments of joy and courage. Over the course of countless stressful experiences, this simple biological change could mean the difference between a stress-induced heart attack at age 45 and living until age 80. This shows that your opinion on stress is really relevant