Can Stress Be Good?

February 13th, 2009 Posted in Anxiety and Stress

You might have heard it said that stress is a good thing!And, for early man, facing up to a sabre-toothed tiger it definitely was!The adrenaline rush that comes from such a situation causes increased heart rate and blood pressure while the stress hormone, cortisol, gets ready to fuel the muscles with glucose.Immediately, the body goes into fight or flight mode where senses are heightened and reaction times become faster.The reaction in that precise moment would have been proportional to the level of stress induced. A sort of natural stress management mechanism.

This was the type of stress experienced by early man, a type of life and death stress that happened with high intensity but was then countered by the physical environment in which he or she lived.This is why exercise is so good for reducing stress.

Modern man, although sometimes faced with high intensity stress, also has to face many other types of stressors that threaten both sanity and health The boss wants you, your children want you,there are bills to pay,appointments to make, e-mail to respond to and all those meetings you attend stop you from getting any work done.Stress damages health because our response to stress is invariably wrong.We just can’t react to stress in the same way as our ancestors. You might want to hunt down the boss but the consequences will hardly lead to less stress.Instead, for a lot of people stress relief comes in the form of alcohol, a night in front of the TV, a sugar fix or generally overeating.All of which provide a temporary fix for the sanity but none of which do anything to alleviate the build up of stress related health problems.

It is a bit of a paradox but the answer to stress reduction might be by exposing yourself to even more stress – the good type that is!

Research has found that there is such a thing as good stress, specialists refer to it as eustress, differing considerably to bad stress or distress. I can almost hear you asking, how can stress ever be good?

Eustress gives you that feeling of being alive and on top of the world.It may come about when you do something you’ve never done before or when you clinch a business deal etc. People actively involved in extreme sports often experience eustress, it may be what drives them on to perform feats that most of us wouldn’t even consider!

We experience stress in different ways. Eustress to one person will be distress to another.
As an example, consider someone taking their first scuba diving lessons. A good swimmer unafraid of open water would probably experience eustress when making their first dive. However, someone who had never been in the sea could very well experience distress.There is the actual situation and our response to the situation.For each of us, it’s the response to the situation that determines the type of stress we experience.

Although we can do many things, like exercise, meditation and yoga to fight stress there is one little trick often overlooked.Take advantage of good stress to ensure bad stress does not get the better of us.The way to build confidence and to ensure bad stress does not get the upper hand is by facing up to challenges that slightly extend our previous boundaries. Push the limits of your comfort zone but not too far. Regularly putting yourself under stress that you know you can handle, you’ll eventually reach a level where you can deal with almost any situation.In other words, if you are not comfortable taking that first scuba dive in the sea, then stay in the pool or try snorkeling!

The secret is not to push yourself too far, getting yourself into distressing situations. Instead, extend your limits to a point you know you can cope with and at the same time feel good to be there.If you regularly use stress relaxation tools, you should find pushing the boundaries a breeze.