People who went through a lot of stress in a year carried a 43% higher chance of dying. That is a finding from a study of 30,000 adults tracked over 8 years, and it is as alarming as it sounds.

Except, that is only half the story.

The psychologist Kelly McGonigal built a TED talk around the other half. The part has now reached tens of millions of people. The raised risk of death showed up only in people who believed their stress was harming them. The people under just as much pressure who didn't see it as harmful had the lowest death risk of anyone in the study, lower even than the people living placid, low-stress lives. It was the same pressure, but an opposite outcome. The variable was the story in their heads.