Kelly McGonigal

The Upside of Stress reverses the standard advice by presenting evidence that stress harms health mainly among people who believe stress is harmful, and that the same physiological arousal can be experienced as readiness.

McGonigal teaches at Stanford and had spent years telling audiences the opposite, which she says openly and treats as the interesting part rather than as an embarrassment.

The Willpower Instinct came earlier and leans on ego depletion research that has since failed replication, a caveat worth carrying into it. The Joy of Movement is the later book and is about exercise as social and emotional rather than as a health obligation.