So Tell Me...
Are you someone who is...
- Feeling constantly tense, wired, or exhausted — even when you try to rest?
- Struggling with poor sleep, brain fog, or physical symptoms linked to chronic stress?
- Caught in survival mode — just getting through each day without a sense of calm or control?
- Tired of quick fixes and looking for a deeper, lasting way to manage stress?
- Noticing how stress is impacting your mood, focus, relationships, or health — and ready to make a change?
- Wanting to understand why stress affects your body and mind — and how to take back control?
- Longing to feel calmer, clearer, more resilient — and able to handle life’s waves without being knocked over?
Ready to use practical, science-backed tools you can rely on — not just during stressful times, but every day?
If so... Then you've come to the right place!
Hi, I’m Dr. Estibalitz
A physician (MD, PhD), professor, and certified stress management instructor. With 20+ years of experience, I help you understand your stress and build resilience, so you can ride life’s waves with more ease.
How I Became a Stress Expert 🌊✨
Early in my medical and immunology training, I kept noticing how profoundly stress affected the immune system — in ways most people didn’t fully realize. That curiosity led me to pursue deeper knowledge in the fascinating field of psychoneuroimmunology — the study of how the brain, immune system, and stress are connected.
To expand my understanding, I earned a Master’s in Neurosciences and then a PhD in Health Psychology. For my PhD dissertation, I focused on stress and pregnancy outcomes — researching how stress influences both maternal and infant health.
For the past 10+ years, I’ve worked closely with people dealing with chronic stress — including endurance athletes, individuals with chronic illnesses, and anyone seeking to reclaim their health and well-being.
Through this work, I’ve become convinced of one thing: chronic stress is a silent killer — but the good news is, there’s so much we can do to reduce its effects.
I strongly believe that changing key health behaviors — from how we move, eat, and sleep to how we manage emotions and build resilience — can dramatically improve how we handle stress and protect long-term health. That’s why I created Surfing Stress: to give you simple, science-backed tools to navigate stress, build resilience, and ride life’s waves in a healthier, more sustainable way.
Find MoreThat’s how I can help you:
If you’re living with chronic stress or simply want to build stronger, more sustainable stress management, you’re in the right place. As a physician, neuroscientist, immunologist, and health psychologist, I bring a deeper understanding of how stress affects not just the mind, but the whole body — especially the immune system, brain, and long-term health.
Unlike many stress programs that focus only on meditation or relaxation, I believe that truly managing stress requires a much more integral, science-based approach. We need to go beyond surface techniques, and explore how your health behaviors, stress appraisal, and coping styles shape your entire stress response.
In Surfing Stress, I guide you through practical ways to change key health behaviors — in areas like exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional intelligence, and boundary setting — while helping you understand your own patterns of appraising and coping.
You’ll learn how to:
- Understand how stress really impacts your health
- Reframe how you perceive and respond to life’s stressors
- Identify and change behaviors that can reduce your stress load
- Build sustainable habits and coping strategies for long-term resilience
As a physician and health psychologist, my approach to stress management is deeply rooted in science and a whole-person perspective.
Here’s what I do — and what I don’t do or believe:
- I help people understand how stress truly affects their body and mind, especially the immune system, brain, and long-term health.
- I guide them in changing key health behaviors — including exercise, nutrition, sleep, and recovery — because these directly influence how we experience and manage stress.
- I teach how to recognize and shift stress appraisal and coping styles, which is critical for building sustainable resilience.
- I take an integrative approach, addressing both the biological and psychological sides of stress.
- I do not believe that stress can be fully addressed by relaxation techniques alone. While practices like meditation and breathing are helpful, they are just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
- I do not offer quick fixes or one-size-fits-all advice — effective stress management must be personalized and grounded in both science and self-awareness.
- I do not ignore the role of health behaviors. In fact, I believe these are among the most powerful levers we have to reduce the impact of chronic stress on health.
As a physician and stress expert, I believe that managing stress takes more than just relaxation techniques.
Yes, tools like meditation and breathing can help — but real, lasting change comes from understanding how stress affects your body, changing key health behaviors, and learning to shift how you think about and respond to stress.
I don’t believe in quick fixes or one-size-fits-all solutions. I DO believe that with the right knowledge, tools, and small daily changes, anyone can build true resilience — and that’s exactly what I’ll help you do in Surfing Stress.
Stress management is a dynamic, ongoing process, one that combines understanding, behavior change, mindset shifts, and self-care practices.
Surfing Stress was created to guide you through this process, step by step — so you can build resilience and thrive.
I’m so glad you’re here — and I can’t wait to share this journey with you.
Find More
FREE GUIDE: Resilience isn’t something you’re born with — it’s something you build. Start protecting your mind and body today!
"Surfing Stress — How to Reduce the Long-Term Impact of Stress on Your Health"
Download this science-backed introduction to the 10 key areas that shape how stress affects your body and mind.
By focusing on these essential factors, you’ll move from simply enduring stress to actively surfing it — in a way that strengthens your health and helps you become more resilient.
