Welcome to the positive corner of the internet. Every weekday, we help you make sense of the complex world of wellness by analyzing the headlines, simplifying the latest research, and providing quick tips designed to help you stay healthier in under 5 minutes. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free daily email here.
Today’s Health Upgrade
Can you get paid to get fit?
Number you won’t forget
How to talk your way into a longer life
Weekly wisdom
Editor’s Note
Get Paid To Achieve Your Goals
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Health
Number You Won’t Forget: 43%
We all experience stress. But could the way you think about stress be the key to outsmarting it and preventing it from causing harm?
Research suggests that believing stress is bad for your health may be more dangerous than stress itself.
In this large-scale study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 30,000 adults over eight years. Participants were asked about their stress levels and whether they believed stress negatively affected their health. Then, researchers tracked their mortality outcomes.
People who reported high levels of stress and believed stress was harmful were 43% more likely to die early compared to those with high stress but who didn’t see it as harmful.
The study suggests that the negative perception of stress — more than the stress itself — could amplify harmful physiological responses, such as increased inflammation, higher cortisol levels, and cardiovascular strain. In contrast, people who viewed stress as a challenge rather than a threat had better health outcomes, even under the same stressful conditions.
If you want to protect your health, consider reframing your mindset. Instead of seeing stress as something to avoid, recognize it as a tool that helps you grow, focus, and perform under pressure. Research suggests that developing a “stress-is-enhancing” mindset can improve resilience, reduce burnout, and even boost performance.
Together With Babbel
The Brain-Boosting Habit That Might Help You Age Slower
We often think of aging as something that happens to our bodies: wrinkles, gray hair, and a little less strength. But a massive new study suggests your words may matter just as much as your workouts.
Speaking more than one language was linked to significantly slower biological aging, even after accounting for education, exercise, and income.
Researchers analyzed data from 86,149 adults aged 51 to 90 across 27 countries to see if multilingualism protects against accelerated aging. They used a sophisticated “biobehavioral age gap” score that compares each person’s predicted biological age with their actual chronological age.
Those who spoke multiple languages were more than twice as likely to exhibit healthy aging as those who spoke only one language. The benefit grew stronger with each additional language spoken.
The researchers controlled for almost everything that could skew the results, from physical activity and education to air quality, GDP, and social inequality, and still found the same pattern. In other words, language learning appears to build cognitive reserve, a kind of mental armor that helps your brain resist age-related decline. The act of switching between linguistic systems seems to strengthen neural connections and maintain flexibility in executive function, much like lifting weights keeps your muscles strong.
If you want to keep your mind young, think of language learning as brain exercise. If you need a place to start, Babbel makes it easier and fun to pick up a new language faster than you’ll believe. We first became aware of Babbel through a village member, and since then, it has helped countless APC readers learn a new language.
With Babbel, you can speak confidently in just 3 weeks with bite-sized lessons, easy-to-grasp grammar, bingeable podcasts, and interactive speaking practice. And starting today, you get unlimited access to all languages, forever, for a one-time payment of $199.
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Mindset
Weekly Wisdom
We live in a world that rewards motion.
If you’re busy, you must be doing something right.
If your calendar is full, you must be important.
If you feel exhausted, you must be making progress.
But this quote cuts through that illusion. Think about the weeks where you felt overwhelmed, drained, constantly behind…yet you couldn’t point to a single thing you actually moved forward. That’s the trap.
Busyness becomes a performance. We confuse activity for accomplishment because slowing down feels uncomfortable. Stillness can feel like failure.
But ask anyone who’s truly built something, whether their health, a business, a relationship, or a legacy. Progress doesn’t come from frantic motion. It comes from directed motion. Fewer things done with more intention. Effort pointed in the right direction.
Movement can be a treadmill. Progress is a path.
One keeps you occupied; the other gets you somewhere.
So here’s the real question this quote asks you: Are you choosing actions that change something or just actions that fill the time?
Your life won’t reward you for how much you do. It will reward you for how much of what you do actually matters.
Turn Wisdom Into Action
Before you start your day tomorrow, ask yourself one sentence that forces clarity:
“What is the one thing I can do today that will actually move me forward?”
Write it down. Make it non-negotiable. Then, subtract something. Remove one task, distraction, or habit that creates movement without progress.
Less spinning. More advancing. That’s how you turn motion into momentum.
And that’s it for this week. Thank you for being a part of the positive corner of the internet, and we hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
-Arnold, Adam, and Daniel
Better Today
Take any of these tips from today’s email and put them into action:
1. Your Belief About Stress Might Be More Dangerous Than the Stress Itself
People with high stress who believed stress was harmful to their health were 43% more likely to die early compared to those with equally high stress who didn't view it as harmful. The research suggests that negative stress perception may amplify dangerous physiological responses, including increased inflammation, elevated cortisol levels, and cardiovascular strain. Instead, viewing stress as a challenge rather than a threat led to better health outcomes even under identical stressful conditions.
2. Speaking Two or More Languages Could Slow Down How Fast You Age
People who spoke multiple languages were more than twice as likely to age well than those who spoke only one language, and the benefit increased with each additional language learned. Switching between languages appears to function like strength training for your mind.
3. Stop Confusing Busy With Productive
Many people fall into the trap of mistaking constant motion for actual progress. Real results come from doing fewer things with more intention rather than cramming your schedule full of tasks that keep you occupied but don't move you forward.
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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell
