Dr. Ellen Langer

I was going to do this study years before COVID with people in China, and it just didn't happen.

Well, we take people who are diagnosed with cancer, so hundreds of people, different kinds of cancer.

And, you know, anybody who's just told they have cancer is not going to be a happy camper.

Everybody is going to be stressed and unhappy.

So let's give them three weeks to adjust to it.

And then after three weeks, we measure them once a month.

How stressed are they?

Mm-hmm.

I believe that that degree of stress will predict the course of the disease over and above genetics, nutrition, and even treatment.

Everything, and not just everything on any level is impacting everything simultaneously.

Okay, so now add that to what I said before is that events don't cause stress.

What causes stress are our views of events.

So we can control stress.

If stress is a major killer, then clearly, so let me give you a couple of one-liners for people.

Great.

I don't know if what I've just said is clear or not, but next time you're stressed, ask yourself, is it a tragedy or an inconvenience?

Because almost always, it's not a tragedy.

You know, I spoiled the meal.

I missed the appointment.

I banged the car.