No surprise here: Everyone gets stressed from time to time. Whether it’s due to an overwhelming project at work, your child is sick, or heck, simply that your dog ate your dinner after you left the kitchen for five whole seconds—stress comes in all sorts of ways at all sorts of times to all sorts of people. It doesn’t discriminate and happens to the best of us.

Because it’s such a common feeling and topic of interest, there are a lot of myths surrounding stress. For example, people tend to have their opinions of how to handle stress when you’re under it. But the truth of the matter is, a lot of these seemingly correct methods may be very much wrong—and may even be causing you more stress in the long run.

To help debunk some of these stress myths, mental-health experts Stephanie Cook and Teresa Leyro came on Insider to share their insights. Cook is an assistant professor of biostatistics and social and behavioral sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health, and Leyro is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Rutgers University, as well as the director of the Affective and Biological Underpinnings of Substance Use and Anxiety lab. Some of the myths they discuss may truly surprise you.

The two cover everything from whether taking a vacation will really cure your burnout (spoiler alert: it actually may not), to the idea of working under stress to coping mechanisms people try and use, such as turning to alcohol or binge eating. Take heed nail biters: Even biting your nails isn’t always a great method to reducing your stress levels!

Additionally, they also cover why stress isn’t always a bad thing, like most people may think. Even for parents who have young kids who get stressed—while it might seem like something that can harm them, these two may have a perception on the matter that can surprise you.

If you tend to bottle up your stress and then handle it on a way that doesn’t quite make things better, then you need to watch this video. Not only do they share the myths, they offer healthier alternatives to mange your stress.

The video is truly insightful and gives a good understanding on how to handle your stress in a beneficial way. Check it out below!

How do you typically manage your stress? Were there any myths that surprised you in the video?