Find relief from anxiety with NPR’s coping skills series: Shots

Stress is woven into the human experience.

The older I get, the more I expect challenges and problems – in relationships, career and parenthood – and health problems. Moreover, there is concern about the big things that seem beyond our control, everything from climate change to the ugliness of political polarization and global conflict. It’s all possible a lot of.

But how we handle stress is the key to success.

It turns out there are some simple strategies that can help reduce anxiety and increase positive feelings. And there’s a lot of science showing that they work.

Think of these strategies as skills you can practice – and get better at. And this can help you cope better with difficult times.

If you want to build your resilient muscles, sign up NPRs Stress less newsletter series. Over five weeks, we’ll introduce you to these powerful tools and strategies shown to help people reduce anxiety and improve feelings of well-being.

You’ll learn skills like positive reappraisal, mindfulness and self-compassion, along with insights into the science of stress from leading experts in psychology and neuroscience.

Stress Less: A quest to regain your calm opens September 30. If you are facing stressful situations, big or small, join us! Here’s how to sign up.

A special opportunity: participate in a resilience masterclass

NPR has partnered with Northwestern University to bring an online stress reduction course and research to our audience.

Stress less is based on the work of Judith Moskowitz, a research psychologist at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, who developed the course. It teaches eight skills to promote positive feelings.

It is based on her more than two decades of research into people who have experienced very difficult situations, including women with stage 4 breast cancer and people caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Its peer-reviewed studies point to benefits.

Her research shows that people who learn and practice these skills report feeling more joy and less fear, even during difficult times.

“We’ve really built up a pretty large body of research showing that these skills can work for anyone, regardless of the type of stress they’re experiencing,” says Moskowitz.

By signing up, you will be participating in an online study led by Dr. Moskowitz. You will complete surveys to measure your own level of anxiety and positive emotions before and after the course. The course is available to you free of charge.

Learning these skills takes practice; people usually spend about 10-15 minutes a week learning the skills and a few moments a day practicing them.

Join the search!

Click here to register for Northwestern’s online resilience course and participate in their research. Please note: Due to the high level of interest, you may experience delays in registering.

Click here to participate NPRs Less stress, a series of five-week newsletters, by delivering evidence-based stress management tools to your inbox.

The Stress Less series is edited by Jane Greenhalgh and Carmel Wroth.