Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.

This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.

Okay. Do you feel stressed most of the time?

Do you struggle to find stress relievers that can actually help you feel better?

Do you sometimes reach for things that give you temporary relief, but ultimately those things add to your long-term stress?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you're in the right place.

Today we're talking about strategies that can help you manage stress in a healthy way.

My guest is Dr. Alyssa Epple.

She's a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California,

and much of her research focuses on healthy aging. She's also the author of a new book called The Stress Prescription. Some of the things she talks about today are the differences between

chronic and acute stress, the most effective strategies for managing your stress,

and strategies for getting deep rest. Make sure to stick around until the end of the episode

for the therapist take. It's the part of the show where I'll share how you can apply

Dr. Epple's strategies to your own life. So here's Dr. Elyssa Epple on how managing your stress can help you grow mentally stronger.

Dr. Alyssa Apple, welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast.

Thank you, Amy. Happy to be here.

So you just launched a book called The Stress Prescription.

And I can't think of a better time in the world than to launch a book about stress because

everybody seems so stressed

out these days, right? Absolutely. I mean, we want 20, 23 to be different, but not that much has

changed in our last three pandemic years, although there certainly is a trend. Trend of getting better.

What are you finding after the pandemic in terms of our stress levels? I think we expected

...