Big Think Harvard’s stress expert on how to be more resilient | Dr. Aditi Nerurkar
12 snips
May 12, 2025 
Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard physician and author of The Five Resets, dives into the nuances of stress and resilience. She highlights that stress is a natural part of life, not a personal flaw. Aditi shares her journey from burnout to understanding that true resilience is about honoring one’s limits. She offers practical strategies like mindfulness breathing and gratitude journaling to help rewire our brains for a healthier response to stress. The discussion emphasizes that managing stress is a learnable skill, essential for thriving in a chaotic world.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Personal Burnout Experience
- Dr. Aditi Nerurkar experienced stress physical symptoms during medical residency despite being strong and resilient.
- She realized the myth of invincibility among resilient people is false and true resilience honors boundaries.
Two Types of Stress
- Stress is either adaptive (healthy) or maladaptive (harmful).
- Adaptive stress helps you grow, maladaptive stress harms brain and body.
Brain Shifts Under Stress
- The prefrontal cortex manages planning and thinking, but stress activates the survival-focused amygdala.
- Modern chronic stress keeps the amygdala active, causing ongoing fight or flight reactions.
