New resource: FT online
High-quality news articles can strengthen our teaching of the new curriculum. To support student learning, we should provide current events and real-world examples for them to analyse. This means identifying global events that are both psychologically relevant and engaging, and that align with our course content. One useful strategy, highlighted in this blog, is to use the Financial Times (FT) online. The FT has expanded beyond economics to cover a wide range of issues, including topics of psychological interest.
On IB Exchange through MyIB, there is a recording of a webinar that I attended recently: Webinar: Financial Times and Real-World Issues for IB Classrooms. (Log in to IB Exchange and search for the title.) The webinar explains how to visit the FT online and register your students and yourself for free access to FT articles. I will be writing the occasional InThinking blog, linking to an article I have written that is of relevance to our new curriculum, and suggesting how you may use it.
Sample article
This original article is from the FT, Sep 2nd 2025. The good stress guide. How to harness an everyday evil to your advantage. My article for a school DP psychology class related this original writing to the health and well-being context, with a focus on the Stress and health area of study.
Once you have signed up, you can use your free subscription to visit both articles and see the questions I posed from the original. The first question is factual, and can be answered easily from the text, but those that follow require some careful thinking
Questions
How were the author’s stress levels measured? Discuss the measurement of her stress in relation to validity of the research.
Her stress levels were measured through a saliva test and a sleep study. While the testing showed that her cortisol levels were “sky high” and her deep sleep “woefully inadequate” we are not told what her base measurement of cortisol might be in her day-to-day life, nor the length of her “inadequate” deep sleep and how this may compare to other females of her age. This lowers the internal validity of the research. However, the saliva test did uncover the presence of a genetic mutation that is present in about 23% of the general population and mediates the stress response by breaking down neurotransmitters responsible for mood and stress. This is more valid evidence of stress.
What does the author mean when she writes that “[O]ur stress doesn’t spike, it simmers. Why might “simmering stress” be a problem?
Long-term stress has been shown to affect the immune system and the heart, as well as to be related to poor mental health.
How do we often measure our own stress using personal technology? How does the article advise that we use that data?
Using smart watches, rings that measure heart rate and blood pressure, and heart rate variability (HRV) monitors. The article advises us to use the data to understand our own personal daily stress levels in order to determine our own stressors and manage our own stress.
The contributors to this article are the founder of a health clinic that diagnoses stress, chief product officer of a stress measuring device and head of nutrition at a health and wellness club. How might this explain the biological bias in the article?
These are all people who believe in the biological correlates of stress and that stress can be measured better through instruments than through self-report. This measuring and monitoring of physical symptoms is their livelihood, and it is much easier to measure biological signs than to measure cognition.
What steps are recommended in the article to promote resilience to stress?
The article recommends making diet changes, taking occasional supplements, and adjusting lifestyle by paying attention to sleep and spending time walking in nature.
The article states “Our goal shouldn’t be a stress-free life. It should be a stress-managed life”? As a student of psychology, do you agree, and what steps can you take to manage your own stress?
Answers to this will vary, and maybe students would rather discuss them in smaller groups than share with the whole class individually
Reference
Baird-Murray, Kathleen (2nd September 2025). The Good Stress guide. Financial Times online, Accessed 8th September, 2025 at https://www.ft.com/content/84fba57a-5e33-49ef-914d-ba5e92d25020