17 Dec 2025 · 6 min
Brian Johnson covers two ways to handle stress: reframe your racing heart as excitement instead of panic, and practice a breathing pattern (inhale 6 seconds, hold 2, exhale 7) to calm your nervous system. Both work better when you use them before you need them.
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to the micro class. This one is on dealing with stress. It's inspired by a mind for numbers. Barbara Oakley. Thank you. Now she's talking about students dealing with stress related to a test. But the reality is we all have stress, and it impacts us in pretty much the same way physiologically, depending on what we're up to. But what research shows is that it's how we respond to the stress response that dictates how it affects us. So you have two choices. Let's say you're sitting here and your heart starts racing. Your palms are getting a little sweaty. Those are your sweaty palms, right? And you're kind of, whoa, what's going on? You have two choices. You can say to yourself, oh, my God, I'm freaking out. I need to calm down. Something's wrong with me. I'm gonna choke. Or same exact physiological response. You can take a deep breath, smile, and say to yourself, wow, my body's kicking in. I'm excited right now. Everything that's happening to me is good. It's allowing me to increase my performance. I'm excited. Thanks for the energy. I'm gonna go Crush it. Kelly McGonigal talks about the exact same idea in the Upside of Stress. She describes it as the biology of courage. Check out below. We've got her. Note below where she talks about the research that she shares in her great book, the Biology of Courage. By simply changing the way we interpret the physiological response, we change the way it actually impacts our biology and our performance. Big idea. So if you're dealing with stress in your life and you're feeling the physiology ramp up, notice what you're saying to yourself and realize that that's good. Nothing's wrong with you. You can use this energy. It's neutral. It's how you interpret it that determines how it affects you. Other ways to deal with stress, whether it's tests or otherwise. Take a deep breath. Breathe. It slows down. Your mind brings oxygen to your brain right when you need it most. The breathing pattern that I personally love right now is 6. 2. 7. Inhaling to 6. Let's do it right now. Inhale to 6. Hold for two. Exhale for seven. Now I inhale through my mouth. I'm sorry. Inhale through my nose. Hold for two, and exhale through my mouth with my tongue against the top part of the roof of my mouth near my teeth. Inhale to six. Hold for two. Exhale for seven. Breathing is a huge way to calm down your nervous system. While you're doing that, you can tell yourself you're excited and remember, Practice makes permanent. This is a book about learning and moving from working memory to long term memory. If you want to get good at anything, you have to practice it diligently, patiently, persistently. And it's not about practice making perfect, it's about practice making permanent. So if you want to be able to tap into your breathing and your cognitive response during a stressful time, you have to practice it. I practice this breathing technique every single morning. It's how I start my meditation. It's what I do when I'm doing a little afternoon napitation. It's what I do right before I fall asleep when I get into bed. 6. 2. 7. Whatever it is for you, practice it. You can do it in a minute or two throughout your day, or 10 or 15 minutes during your meditation. Practice makes permanent Remember, you can deal with stress by noticing the physiology and choosing the most empowered response. I'm excited you've got this. You're cultivating the biology of courage as you breathe deeply in practice to ingrain it permanently. Hope you enjoyed. Look forward to sharing more. Have another awesome day. See ya. Hi, this is Brian. I hope you enjoyed that micro class. If so, I think you'll enjoy everything else we offer at BrianJohnson. Me two basic things. 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