Is Stress Good Or Bad For You?

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Is Stress Good Or Bad For You?

Stress is our body’s response (physical, mental and emotional) to new or difficult challenges. Different types of stress include acute stress, acute episodic stress, chronic stress and eustress. Acute stress is typically short-lived and a temporary protective response from your body to ‘danger’, which resolves when the danger has passed. Chronic stress is one that lasts for a long period of time, and can affect our physical and mental health. See article on different types of stress for more on acute and chronic stress.

Acute stress and chronic stress are typically seen as negative stressors as it can lead to an unenjoyable or distressing physical or emotional experience. On the other hand, eustress is a positive form of stress that can be beneficial in motivation, excitement, anticipation and better performance. This type of stress is more commonly perceived as positive stress as it is enjoyable, with feelings of excitement, and usually leads to a desired outcome.

Positive effects of stress

  • Stress is often associated as a negative feeling. However, suitable amounts of stress can actually help us in many ways. Besides being a protective mechanism (e.g.flight or fight response) to protect ourselves from danger, it has many benefits:
  • Motivates you to overcome challenges
  • Allows more efficient and productive use of time
  • Helps you reach goals
  • Can be energizing
  • Can help you be more focused on the task at hand
  • Improve performance
  • Building new skills and improving existing skills through overcoming challenges
  • Building resilience and emotional capacity to deal with future challenges

Negative effects of stress

It is important to watch out for signs that stress is having a negative impact on you. For example:

  • You feel that you cannot control or handle it
  • It becomes chronic and seemingly never-ending
  • You are unable to do things that are usually enjoyable, or lose interest
  • You lose sight of the goals and benefits
  • You experience symptoms of chronic stress including mood changes, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, frequent headaches and pains, feeling exhausted and tense, difficulty concentrating and fatigue.

In the long-term, positive stress can become negative, and negative stress can become positive. Regardless of the type of stress, it is essential to be equipped with stress coping skills.Read more on helpful tips to consider when feeling stressed.