How We Adapt to Stress

Brian MacKenzie doesn’t like when people tell him to “just breathe” either. So even though he’s the founder of a (great, practical, helpful) breathing app (State), you won’t hear those words coming out of his mouth. MacKenzie, the founder of Power Speed Endurance and a performance junkie, joins chief content officer Elise Loehnen to talk about tools for dealing with stress and anxiety. He explains the difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic personalities and how we can use this knowledge to plan our day in a way that avoids burnout. He explains why we don’t make good decisions when we’re stressed out (we default to habitual responses). He convinces us of the power of breath, tells us the times and places where mouth breathing is okay, and challenges us to get through a workout with our mouths shut. Learning to control our breath, MacKenzie says, helps us run our nervous system—rather than letting it run us. (For more, see The goop Podcast hub.)