--- title: Here's Why Uncertainty Makes You So Miserable description: Knowing an electric shock is coming is less stressful than being uncertain about it, a new study shows. canonical: https://time.com/4274201/uncertainty-stress/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-29T14:52:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:01.029Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's Why Uncertainty Makes You So Miserable og:description: Knowing an electric shock is coming is less stressful than being uncertain about it, a new study shows. og:url: https://time.com/4274201/uncertainty-stress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Uncertainty Makes You So Miserable twitter:description: Knowing an electric shock is coming is less stressful than being uncertain about it, a new study shows. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Why Uncertainty Makes You So Miserable > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Russell Simmons: Why Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian Should Meditate [Watch (HLS stream): Russell Simmons: Why Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian Should Meditate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/d7LJl6zR.m3u8) (3:09)  _Published 2014-03-13. Media mogul and Rush Communications CEO Russell Simmons talks to TIME's Belinda Luscombe about why he wants to convert Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian to meditation._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 29, 2016 2:52 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 29, 2016 2:52 PM UTC People like to know what’s coming for them, even if it’s bad, a new study suggests. A [small study](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160329/ncomms10996/full/ncomms10996.html) published Tuesday found that people are more stressed out when there is the possibility they will experience discomfort as opposed to when they knew for sure something bad is coming. In the study, published in the journal _Nature Communications_, people were shown a bunch of rocks and were asked to guess whether a snake was underneath them. When a snake _was_ under the rock, the men and women received an electric shock on the back of their hand. The researchers measured how stressed the individuals felt and looked at physical markers of stress like pupil dilation and sweat. They found that most of the men and women felt more stressed when they were uncertain, compared to when they knew definitively the shock was coming. Of course, there are many day-to-day situations sans snakes and shocks where this kind of thing plays out. “Knowing for sure that your plane was cancelled might be less stressful than being kept in nervous suspense as it is repeatedly delayed,” says lead study author Archy de Berker, of the University College London. “Another might be waiting for medical results. If you’re confident that it’s gone well, or you’re certain it’s gone badly, you might not be as stressed as when you’re completely uncertain about the outcome.” The researchers acknowledge that the study was small, but that it nevertheless adds nuance to the understanding of how people respond to stress. “Uncertainty is difficult for the brain because it makes it hard to figure out what to do \[and\] what decisions to make,” says de Berker. “I suspect stress—both the arousal component and the unpleasantness of it—help us deal with uncertain situations possibly by making us more alert, and also incentivizes us to avoid them.” While the current study didn’t look at this specifically, de Berker suggests practices like mediation could help mediate the stressful reaction to uncertainty. “I suspect that some meditative or religious practices which extoll the virtue of acknowledging only the present tense, or accepting our fate, might help reduce stress by attenuating our sensitivity to uncertainty,” he says. “Since uncertainty is about what’s going to happen in the future, if you’re completely absorbed in the present, then it seems likely that uncertainty will impact your stress less.” ## Transcript Aren't you worried that you have this reputation of being a super cool, hard core rap entrepreneur and super cool fashion designer that this whole meditation thing is too soft? People. I've been meditating for 20 years. I've been practicing yoga for 20 years. I've been writing books on happiness for 10 years. And I think everybody in the hip hop community knows Uncle Rush as a person who promotes well being. social, political, and philanthropic causes. I've been, things I've taken on over the years have, kind of, been a part of my, my persona. Well, you've sent teachers to Oprah, to Ellen, to a bunch of people. Is there, you mentioned Rahm Emanuel, but do you have a dream get, like somebody with a big mouth who really you would love to win over, and, and gah. I wanna get students. The people I get are people who share, ideas with the world. I'd like to get Kim Kardashian. Let me tell you why. Kim Kardashian? And, and, and Justin Bieber, two people. We had a big initiative to end, end the drug laws the way they are today. We had a, a, a letter that we sent, and Brad Pitt signed it, and everybody signed it, everybody. Every celebrity you could think of. We sent the letter off to the Attorney General, and a copy to the President. We pushed, made a big deal of it. We had a, we had a rally. We did all the work. Nobody did [ SOUND ], kinda quiet. Justin Bieber tweeted out, ding a ling, Attorney General on the line. [ LAUGH ] Justin Bieber, the man who gets legislation through. Well, we had another one where we said because Congress was attacking Muslims in a way that was unjust. Right after 9 / 11? Right. Un, right, un- American. No, later than that even. Un- American, so we said, I am Muslim for a day. We have this big thing, we have a rally. It made the cover of Daily News, Rally in the Rain. We had people, rappers came, preachers came, a lot of rabbis came, lots of rabbis. I am Muslim for a day, right? No one gives a [ SOUND ]. Kim Kardashian tweets it out. It gets on Al- Jezeera. It gets all over the news, international news, and then Congress shuts down the, the hearings. So, these people have such great influence that, that, you know, I want them to meditate, because as you meditate, you find greater purpose. And you find what makes you happy. And that is that greater purpose, you know, of service. You become more of a servant. You become more compassionate. Do you have a favorite yoga pose? [ COUGH ] Well, that would defeat the purpose. The idea of yoga is to smile and breathe. The physical yoga. And yoga is eight parts. The [ INAUDIBLE ] of practice. The most, the thing about [ INAUDIBLE ] is, you smile and breathe in difficult poses. Right. If I only went to the pose I liked, and the, I wouldn't be Right. So what's the most difficult, crow? Do you hate crow? I hate crow. No, crow's pretty easy. But, not for me. [ COUGH ], okay. My wrist, I can't do crow at all. I have bad wrists. I used to fall gracefully into a back bend, and stand up gracefully. My wrists are bad, I can't even do back bend. Oh. This is age setting in. Age. Certain [ SOUND ] I can't do. Inflexibility. No, I'm pretty flexible still, but I really can't do shit I used to do a lot of it. A lot of it is flexibility, yeah. I used to put both my feet behind my head and just like nothing, and now I. Just no, just one now? Just one now. Yeah, it's true actually, true. 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