Managing Stress In The World’s Most Stressful Environments: Jelena Brcic (Transcript) 

The resources you have brought, the people on board are your help. You are the first humans not to see Earth.

My work looks at teams at the International Space Station. We aim to answer questions such as, is spaceflight stressful? How do we cope with spaceflight? What kind of value systems do we have? What motivates people to go into these environments?

Research on Space Teams

What do we do in our free time when we’re there? There’s lots of free time in the nine years on the way to Mars. Do we form a culture away from home? Now, I’ve tried to answer some of these questions at the International Space Station so that we can help those teams going to Moon and Mars.

As part of my PhD dissertation, along with Dr. Peter Suedfeld and Phyllis Johnson at UBC, I looked at a variety of archival documents from astronauts, such as books, diaries, journals, blogs, and some cosmonaut questionnaire data. And we tried to answer some of these questions.

Now before I tell you what we found, I want you to stop and think. Could you leave your sandbox? Could you challenge yourself to overcome your obstacles and be okay? Could you leave your sandbox and come out better? Could you grow? Could something positive happen to you?

The first construct we looked at is something called coping. It’s the thing you and I do when we’re stressed. In my field, we define this as a response to an environmental or psychological challenge serving to reduce, prevent, and control negative affect.

Understanding Coping Strategies

Let me give you an example. You’re on your way here to this event. You get a flat tire on Highway 1. You’re going to be late.

Now, one thing you could do is just deny the fact that you have a flat and keep driving and hope you make it. Who knows? Another thing you could do is you can possibly reframe the situation and say, “You know what, I’ve always wanted to have a flat tire. Let’s see if I can do it.” These are called emotional focus coping strategies. The idea here is we modify the meaning of the stress to ourselves.

Let’s try that again. We’re stuck on the highway. There’s a flat. We’re late. We could call a friend we know is also coming to the event and ask them to stop and help, asking for support. What we could also do is while we’re waiting for that support to come, we can actually read the owner’s manual and do a refresher course on how to change a tire.

Problem-Focused Coping

When your friend comes, you too can change the tire, be on the way, and hopefully make it before 6 o’clock. Now, these are called problem-focused coping strategies. The idea is we modify the situation. We modify the stressor in order to reduce the stress we are experiencing.

Research suggests we need a little bit of bucket A and a little bit of bucket B in order to cope properly with stressors. Different contexts desire a variety of different coping strategies in order for us to properly deal with the situation. Research also suggests that those who focus a little bit more on those problem-oriented strategies are more likely to experience growth, resilience, and do better in future challenges.

So, what did we find? When we asked retired cosmonauts, how stressful was your career? On average, they report very low levels of stress. Compared to you and I, the general population, there’s no significant difference. Surprising, right?

When we look over a variety of samples of people who went to space, we see that they use overwhelmingly seeking social support and planful problem-solving, those problem-focused strategies. But we need a little bit of those emotional ones as well. They mentioned using humor, positively appraisal, and accepting responsibility. The stress is low and they’re able to deal with it.

Values in Space

They’re up in space, you guys. The next thing we looked at is something called values. There are goals that drive our desirable behavior. There’s about 10 universal values that we each have that vary in importance. There are self-serving values, such as achievement. Yes, I got to do this talk tonight, you guys. Or there are self-transcending values, such as benevolence, universalism, spirituality, where you care more about those around you, your relationships, and the world. So I want to leave the world a better place for my kids.

I make sure we do shoreline cleanups and we learn how to reuse, reduce, and recycle. Over many samples of people who went to space, we see that they value achievement. They want to keep succeeding. And they value enjoyment. They have fun. They’re having fun and they want to do more. However, the longer individuals stay in space, the more we see this rise in values of benevolence, universalism, and spirituality. And we look at those real value markers that make up each value.

Changes in Perspective

We see that meaningful life, unity with nature, protecting the environment, world of peace are those value markers that are significantly changing as their flight changes. Being in space longer changes you for the better. You care more about people on Earth. You care more about Earth.

You care more about those relationships. Following that, we wanted to see whether people do change. We looked at something called post-experience change. It’s based on a scale measuring post-traumatic growth with modified scales, modified items.

Idea is, when we go through major life events, we change. We could change for the better. We could change in a positive direction, no matter what that experience is. When we looked at a retired cosmonaut sample, what we found is slight changes in ideas such as they experience and are able to have new opportunities because they’ve been in space.

They also say that they learn how to believe in themselves and think that they are capable of so much more than they thought they could do. And they all talk about the Earth, that blue marble. The Earth, the vastness of space. They realize how meaningful their one life is and how they have to do as much as they possibly can.

Earth-Based Analogs

Now, you’re thinking to yourself, “Jelena, we’re not going to space. Space is too far, too scary. Why are you telling us about this?” I am definitely not going to space. I talk too much. I move too much. Nobody wants to be stuck with me for any period of time. Maybe my husband, but nobody else.

Now, maybe we’re lucky enough to take up a job in the Canadian Arctic. I conduct research on Earth-based platforms such as the Arctic and Antarctic, because these are called analog environments. They have similar characteristics to space. Not the same, but similar.

The outside environment is harsh. We have to properly suit up to go out there. We have to be well-trained in order to succeed. And we have to rely on our team, ourselves, and our resources, because help is sometimes days, weeks, or even months away.

Research at Eureka Weather Station

Now, I was fortunate enough to conduct data at Eureka Weather Station in Ellesmere Island. That red dot, that’s where they are. That is far up north. We based this study on a project called At Home in Space that is led by Dr. Phyllis Johnson at UBC. And we are conducting that project at the International Space Station in real time. We wanted to do a similar project on Earth to see how they compare.

Now, at Eureka, people go up in teams of about six to eight. They’re up there for about two to four months, depending on the season, and their job, the reason they’re there, is to release these weather balloons every hour, 24 hours a day. That’s the building they keep the balloons in.

When you pulled out your phone today to check out that weather app, that’s them. That’s where the data is coming from. That’s why we know the weather. Now, when I asked them, “Is it stressful being up in the Arctic?” Do you know what they said? No, it’s not.

Compared to you and I, the general population, they don’t experience any more stress at work than you and I do. They mentioned using active coping, planning, seeking instrumental social support, other strategies. They also mentioned using coping and positive reframing. Now, does that remind you of anybody else we talked about tonight?

Similarities in Coping Strategies

It appears that two very different challenging environments, people use the same strategies and experience stress a very similar way. When we asked them, you know, did you change? This group had positive, moderate to great change in something called relating to others. Now, when I interviewed them, they told me, “Oh, my God, I made the best friends up there.”

Those relationships are so important. I want to make sure those relationships stay with me when I come back home. And I wanted to also make sure that my relationships at home with my family and friends were important to me and I would nourish them. They, too, experienced new opportunities because they took the work up at Eureka.

And they, too, standing in the vastness of the Arctic, realized they are little and their life is little and short. And look at this big blue planet we live on. I got to do the best I can with the life that I do have. You don’t want to go to the Arctic either. Too cold. I know. I’d rather be on the beach. Not for me.

BC Search and Rescue Association

I bet you, though, you hiked one of the local mountains. I do, and I hate going uphill, but I’ve done it. I am triple fortunate to be able to have worked with BC Search and Rescue Association. They compose about 78 groups across the province. They’re made of about 3,000 highly trained, skilled, unpaid professional volunteers.

Now, they don’t live in the extreme and unusual environment. They just work in it. But they, too, have to suit up for the conditions. They, too, have to be well trained to be able to go out there. And they, more so than anybody else, deals with a different challenge that risks their life every time they go out on a call. When we asked this group, after one of the busiest search and rescue season in British Columbia ever recorded, how stressful was it on a scale from zero to 100? They told us about 35 out of 100.

Don’t go calling them, though. Be safe. Now, they, too, mentioned using active coping, planning, seeking emotional support. But they, more than any other group, mentioned using acceptance, an emotional strategy that doesn’t modify the situation, doesn’t modify the environment, they just accept.

Acceptance in Challenging Situations

Imagine you’re on the call, there’s a skier, and all of a sudden, there’s an avalanche. You can’t do anything to change the environment. It is as is. You can be mad. You can be sad. You can be angry. That’s okay. Like, there’s nothing. You can’t modify that. You can’t change that. You just have to wait, accept, and wait until you can go and help people. Surprise, surprise, this group, too, experiences new opportunities of participating in these environments.

They, too, realize that they are capable of more than they thought they could. And they, too, more so than any group, realize how finite our life is. They have rescued people off these mountains. They realize that they have to do as much as they can with the time that they do have.

Conclusion: Stepping Out of Your Sandbox

Now, I challenge you, I made you go to Mars. Then we went to the cold Arctic. We should have went to the beach, but we went to the Arctic. And then we went into our local wilderness.

Three very different, challenging, extreme environments. These individuals stepped out of their sandbox. They challenged themselves, and they were okay, remember? They learned how to cope with those stressors. They perceived the stress to be low. They grew. They changed for the better. So, I challenge you to challenge yourself to step out of your sandbox, whatever that may be, because I know you are hardy.

I know you are resilient. And I know you can do way more than you thought possible. Thank you.

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