Amit Sood, MD — Advisory Board Member USOS

Amit Sood, MD: Q&A on Stress

Executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Well-Being

amit sood, md
Photo Courtesy of The Mayo Clinic

Everyday Health’s United States of Stress special report surveyed 6,700 Americans nationwide, ages 18 to 64, across demographic groups, gender, and health conditions, to find out what stresses us and how we cope. We asked Amit Sood, MD, a member of our Wellness Advisory Board, to share his expertise on the topic of chronic stress.

What are you working on now?

It may sound a bit grandiose, but I’m searching for ways to help enhance global resilience and well-being. Nearer to home, here at the Mayo Clinic, I’m helping patients cope better with their illnesses; working to prevent illness in the first place, which is part of my motivation for teaching people about stress; and helping enhance the resilience of caregivers. Being involved in student life and wellness, I’m trying to improve student and teacher engagement and, yes, decrease the stressfulness of that engagement. And I’m working to prevent, and even reverse, professional burnout among healthcare professions.

RELATED: The United States of Stress: You'll Never Think About Stress the Same Way Again

From your own research or that of others, what have you learned about stress that you didn’t know or that surprised you?

Here’s what I didn’t know when I started on this path of research and study:

  • Even a little daily stress can have adverse metabolic consequences.
  • After a particularly stressful episode, your risk of death and heart attack goes up several fold for a few hours.
  • Not only does our response to stressors — real and perceived — start with the brain, but in the form of chronic, toxic stress, it ends up harming the brain. It’s a kind of perfect feedback loop.

What stresses you out, and how do you manage the stressors in your life?

Seeing little children suffering completely stresses me out. I cry, but then transform my emotions into actions by doing what I can, and the best I can, to help the world.

We all need to be better informed about stress. In a sentence, what should we know to increase our stress IQ?

The kind of stress — the stressing out — that endangers our well-being comes from a demand-resource imbalance, a lack of control, and a lack of meaning in our lives.

What would you recommend to help people lower their daily stress levels and function better in the midst of a stressful situation, incident, or moment?

I actually have three recommendations that, I believe, will work in both situations:

  • Assume that everyone around you is struggling and special. Be kind.
  • If it won’t matter in five years, it isn’t worth stressing out about today.
  • Sometimes a step back can be a move forward. An adversity may be preventing a catastrophe.
Not only does our response to stressors — real and perceived — start with the brain, but in the form of chronic, toxic stress, it ends up harming the brain. It’s a kind of perfect feedback loop.
— Amit Sood, MD

Why did you become involved in research related to stress?

From a young age growing up overseas, I saw an incredible amount of suffering. My interest and research into stress accelerated when I saw how stressed out so many people are in the United States, where I, naively, expected everyone would be happy. Understanding the underpinnings of that stress in neurobiology enhanced my enthusiasm for developing solutions.

Have you ever experienced a meltdown? If so, where and why?

I probably have, but I can’t recall the last time.

Margot Slade

Author

Margot is a contributing editor, overseeing special reports and supporting editorial in producing timely and trusted consumer health, wellness, and medical science news and information. She is a seasoned reporter, editor, manager, and newsroom leader, having worked as a senior editor at The New York Times, as editor in chief at Consumer Reports, and as global managing editor at Bloomberg News, with senior and founding editor positions at several digital startups.

An expert in content development and branding, Margot is passionate about empowering people to make smart, informed decisions about their health and wellbeing. Before joining Everyday Health, Margot was senior editor of health and medical science at WNYC-New York Public Radio, where she developed hard-hitting reports such as the “We’ve Got You Covered” examination of Obamacare and the campaign for health insurance signup; broadcasts on the new truths about diabetes; and the well-received podcast series The Aftereffect, about adults with autism, and The Realness on hip-hop artist Prodigy and his struggle with sickle cell anemia. Margot has adult twins, Emma and Jacob. She currently lives in New Paltz, New York, with her British husband, a professional chef/caterer (yes, she married a man who cooks). She enjoys swimming, horseback riding, hiking, and planning travel adventures and visits with far-flung friends and family.