In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, stress takes center stage. All of us are experiencing stress to some degree. From small stressors like life’s petty annoyances to big stressors like a pandemic, financial uncertainty and unrest in our communities.

Stress can embed itself in our bodies and minds, and really mess us up. That’s why I wanted to have Siim Land back on the show. He’s researched the science behind stress and how to hack it in his new book: Stronger By Stress: Adapt to Beneficial Stressors to Improve Your Health and Strengthen the Body.

Siim is an author and speaker from Estonia who helps people improve their health and performance with biohacks. The first time he was on the show, we went all in on metabolic autophagy and intermittent fasting. I wanted to have him back on the show to talk about how to leverage stress adaptation for increased resilience and longevity.

“You need some small amounts of stress for the body to adapt to it, and especially the mitochondria to also become stronger from the stress,” Siim says. “Mitohormesis describes that where the mitochondria are just adapting to distress in a hormetic dose, like too much is bad, but too little is also bad. So, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.”

You can’t have physical stress adaptations without an accompanying mindset.

“Mindset is the very foundational aspect to being able to adapt to stress,” Siim says. “Because if you create this fear around stress, like hysteria and panic about stress, then you're never going to do some of those things that may be beneficial for you as well. You need to have some small amount of discomfort in your life in order to maintain a beneficial hormetic adaptation.”

You’re going to learn how to recognize stress, identify what it’s doing to your body and mind, and then apply skills to manage and adapt to it.

Enjoy the show! And get more resources at https://blog.daveasprey.com/category/podcasts/.

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Daisy Fancourt, "Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives" (Cornerstone Press, 2026)

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